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The top five best mobile horror games for Halloween 2015

Step this way, into our house of horror...

The top five best mobile horror games for Halloween 2015
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| Into the Dead

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Oh hello! And welcome to the Pocket Gamer House of Halloween Horror.

Step right this way, please. Don't mind Freddy Fazbear, he looks that way at everyone. Oops - sorry about all that blood, we'll be cleaning that up later.

Right! Now you're sitting comfortably, let's run you through the top five best mobile games you'll find on mobile this Halloween.

Papa Sangre II

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You might not have heard of the Papa Sangre series, but if you're into unique mobile horror experiences, you need to give this one a look. Well, a listen.

You see, the entire game plays out through your headphones, with Boromir himself Sean Bean guiding your through the groaning, moaning depths of the underworld.

You tap out your footsteps on the screen, and using position of the sounds in your headphones, work out where you have to go by spinning around with the phone or tablet in your hand.

It's original, it's eerily immersive, and something that could only work on a portable device. Close your eyes and take the plunge.

Into the Dead

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Into the Dead
takes two fairly stale concepts - auto-runners and zombies - and mashes them up in a way that makes both elements shine a little brighter.

By playing from a first person perspective, the game thrusts you headfirst into a world where the undead are literally rushing toward your face.

It's twitchy horror - no deep psychological messages or Cthulu mythos to be found here - but the constant momentum and lack of weaponry makes for tense runs, with near misses frequently propelling your heart up out of your chest and into your throat.

Definitely one of the stronger auto-runners of the past few years.

Limbo
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Despite being created for consoles a good few years back, Limbo survived the transition to smartphones with its thick, cloying atmosphere intact.

This melancholic tale of a child trying to save his sister from purgatory starts stronger than it finishes, but succeeds at meshing platform and puzzle gameplay with a darkly gorgeous aesthetic, while also managing to generate some genuinely chilling moments.

The 8-legged antagonist from the game's first act is one of the most memorably creepy enemies we've ever come up against, and the touchsceen controls do a good job of replicating the feel of the original build. Short, elegant, and superbly sinister.

Five Night's at Freddy's

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Well yes, this list wouldn't be complete with a trip to Freddy Fazbears. With four entries in the space of a year, plus talk of a movie and real-life theme park, the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise has gained instant cult status among PC and mobile gamers.

Though it embraces classic survival horror tropes - the weaponless, underpowered protagonist, the emphasis on defensive, combat-free tactics - it's the perfect game for the YouTube generation, providing an endless number of jump scares and fall-out-of-your-seat shocks.

It's not the most technically sophisticated shocker, but it gets the job done, and that's more than most horror games can say.

The Walking Dead

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Again, this should come as no surprise to anyone, but that won't stop us from acknowledging what The Walking Dead Telltale series manages to achieve. Rather than creating fear through jump scares, the trauma inflicted by the story of Lee and Clementine is emotional.

Much like The Last of Us, The Walking Dead exploits the fear of parenthood, and the threat of loved ones in peril to turn your stomach in knots. Over the course of the first series, the questionable decisions you've made and allegiances you've struck and broken begin to pile up along with the body count, resulting in a crescendo of guilt and uncertainty.

An oppressive and often downbeat game, but one that proves that real horror comes from within.

Alysia Judge
Alysia Judge
After spending months persuading her parents that it's a valuable career path, Alysia is still not bored with writing about games. That's a good thing really, since skills like spaceship navigation and zombie slaying are pretty much non-transferable.