Right up there with watching horror movies, visiting haunted houses, and attending Halloween parties, carving pumpkins is a mainstay of the spooky season, and one of my favorite traditions ever. I cannot adequately convey the pure, childlike joy I feel sticking a candle in a freshly carved jack-o'-lantern and displaying it proudly on my front porch until it inevitably rots and leaves a permanent stain on the concrete.
Yeah, that's the thing. Carving pumpkins is a mess. It's a mess I deeply love. The slimy guts, the seeds you roast and eat just this one time a year, the chunks of rind you discard. I love it all, but even I can admit there are times I'm just not up for all that. That's where The Annual Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival comes in.
Created by Adam Robinson-Yu, also known as adamgryu, of A Short Hike fame. Side note: if you haven't played A Short Hike, it's lovely and meditative and only about an hour long. Go play it.
Anyway, adamgryu hosts a virtual pumpkin carving festival in the form of an MMO, which for me is the perfect playground for such a thing. Just like in real life, you get to display your creations for the world to see. Instead of saving your jacks to a private collection, you preserve the spirit of Halloween by taking part in a beloved tradition and hopefully inspiring others to do the same. It's really a beautiful thing.
The Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival has been running for a few years now, but this year's updated version allows "up to 800 players at once" and "comes with new areas and new secrets to find." One of those secrets, says adamgryu, is a movie theater that plays old silent movies, and yes, it can be adorned with your flame-lit works of art. Hell. Yes.
One of the new things to look out for this year is the Ghost Town Cinema! A new area that plays old silent films and can be decked out in pumpkins like everywhere else!
— @adamgryu.bsky.social (@adamgryu.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-10-16T23:09:48.475Z
The main draw of Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival is, of course, the pumpkins. You can display your jacks wherever you want, as long as there's space, and other players can stroll by and leave cute little prize ribbons if they like what they see.
That said, the game is really a virtual encapsulation of the fall season and everything that makes it so great. There's a haunted house you can explore, a hayride, a spooky escape room, a maze, and all sorts of adorable little collectibles to find.
I left a link earlier in the story, but in case you missed it, you can download the game right here, for free. It's one of those "name your price" situations, so if you have the means to donate to what I consider a good cause, then you should consider it. Otherwise, I implore you to give it a download whether you're in the thick of the Halloween festivities like me or maybe, haven't been feeling it this year and need something to give you that spark. It's only here once a year.
Otherwise, here are the best horror games to play with the lights off and candles on.
