IAfter five consecutive years attempting to steer clear of spending £80 for a stroll around the local park to admire the extravagant Halloween decorations or securing tickets for a wet day at a pumpkin farm in Scotland, I resolved to do something different this Halloween with the kids. We opted for a virtual pumpkin festival.

ghost town pumpkin festival. This game was born during the 2020 pandemic when developer Adam Robinson Yu’s local pumpkin festival was canceled. (Yu also crafted the charming “A Short Hike.”) Each year, the event has returned briefly, letting players take the form of cute ghosts to explore a whimsical micro-world brimming with player-made pumpkins. Each iteration has brought little enhancements, with the 2024 updates featuring a haunted house escape room that took my kids and me quite some time to solve. This year also introduced a movie theater showcasing spooky silent films in vacant rooms.

As you traverse the festival, you’ll encounter other players floating around as traditional sheet ghosts, often adorned with charming hats. Pumpkins populate every corner, from the benches outside a skeleton-themed barn to the corridors of the haunted house. True to form, many designs reflect game themes. Among smiling faces and cat silhouettes against a lunar backdrop created by children, we noticed tributes to Hollow Knight and a meticulous recreation of Majora’s Mask from the spookiest installment of the Zelda franchise.

The advantages of a virtual Halloween festival are numerous. You won’t fall prey to overpriced £8 watery hot chocolate or subpar food van fries. You have the freedom to carve as many virtual pumpkins as your heart desires, and if you make a mistake, you can simply erase it. Plus, it’s no problem if your 6-year-old refuses to don a coat. We were pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival turned out to be. In addition to the obvious allure of a nerve-wracking hedge maze and a tractor ride through a barn decorated with both cute and cheesy creepy elements, there are countless hidden gems (and collectible pin badges) I stumbled upon during an hour of solo exploration.

Take, for instance, the movie theater. When exiting, I attempted to open the bathroom door only to find it locked. A key was hidden behind the popcorn counter. There was an intriguing code posted on a bulletin board by the bathroom door. Once we cracked that, we discovered another key in one of the stalls and a “restricted access” door beside the theater screen. The compelling little horror game hiding behind that door was too intense for the kids and, honestly, even for me. (Luckily, you can disable all the frightening elements through a menu featuring options like turning off fake blood splatters and swapping out scary images for pictures of dogs.)

The Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival runs until a week after Halloween and can be downloaded below. itch.io Pay as you wish. We highly recommend lingering after your pumpkin carving to explore more.