Pumpkin Spice 2021 | Best Games (On Game Pass) To Revisit This Autumn

Autumn is my favourite season, and making the most of it before the dreaded winter months roll around is really important to me. I have a handful of games that I love to revisit during these autumnal months that get me feeling cosy - or super ready for the best time of year, Halloween - and I want to share them with you.

Having recently purchased an Xbox Series S to give my overworked PC a rest, you’ll be happy to hear that all of the games I discuss below are accessible on Games Pass! While I am a horror fan through and through, this list is about autumn - it’s about getting that little bit of Pumpkin Spice into your life, so  I’ve been sure to include some non-horror games too. I am thinking about you too, self-proclaimed scaredy cats…

Cosy Autumnal Games

Fable

The entire Fable series holds a special place in many hearts, including my own. As I sit here patiently awaiting the new instalment the developers keep teasing, revisiting TKTK is about all I can do to try and make the waiting period go a little faster.

YEAH! Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back!

Fable 2 is my favourite to regularly revisit. As a young child, I remember getting a second-hand Xbox 360 and a copy of Fable 2., I plunged hours into following gold and sparkly trails around the land. You could say that this is what sparked my love for RPGs and ultimately led me to become so obsessed with The Elder Scrolls games - specifically, Skyrim.

The environment for the Fable games, especially Fable 2, is a wintery one. But sometimes, you see the sun peeking from behind the clouds and eventually you unlock autumn after completing the game. This makes it one of my favourite games to witness the changing of the seasons. You start from humble beginnings in Bowerstone and then delve down a path of your own choosing. Be a hero or give in to debauchery? It’s up to you. 

And now here is Ye Olde Wonderful Wall!

Social simulation and a mass of decisions to make are so well embedded into the world of Fable 2 that it’s easy to regularly revisit the game. I maybe won’t load my save up every year, but when I do, it’s during these colder months. Being able to take my character down a different path each time I play means Fable 2 rarely loses its zest for me.

Now can Playground Games please give us the new Fable game already?

Golf With Your Friends

I’d normally be embarrassed to say this, but considering I enjoyed myself so much, I am taking zero shame in saying that Golf with your Friends was the first game that I played on my Series S. 

As you’d expect from the title, this one is much better with a friend or two playing alongside you. For reasons that I just can’t put into words, this game made me feel cosy and comforted. 

It is all chill and good vibes until someone gets a triple bogey.

It was dark outside, pouring down with rain and the wind was making it lash up against my windows. It was miserable. There’s a snapshot into life in my Manchester apartment for you. I loaded up Golf With Your Friends for the first time after a particularly long day - me and my friend wanted to play a game together, but we needed something easy. Let me tell you, Golf With Your Friends is far from easy. I missed many a hole. But did the bright maps, some of them an ode to other games such as Worms: Open Warfare, make me feel a little cosier? Did they make me forget about the miserable weather outside as I shot my pink ball off the map? Yes, they did. 

Golf With Your Friends is the perfect distraction from the darker nights, and it’s a great laugh too.

The Sims 4

Ok, so technically this one is a part of EA Play. However, if you’re a user of Game Pass Ultimate, then you’ll be able to jump into The Sims again too. 

I swear, if the next time you visit my hotel you insist on sharing your poetry I will go full Norman Bates on you.

I’m an avid believer that The Sims 3 was probably the best Sims game ever, and the fourth instalment didn’t quite reach the same pedestal. I would argue that’s more to do with how many hours I funnelled into The Sims 3 though, rather than there being any issues with The Sims 4. I say this because when it does come down to playing it, The Sims 4 grants me just as much joy and satisfaction as the prior Sims games did too.

I’ve never been one for the story within each of the EA simulators, and I’ve had friends try to tell me about the narrative only to meet them with blank stares. All I know is that The Sims 2 on Nintendo DS had aliens, and that was pretty cool.

This actually looks like a neighbourhood straight out of a Halloween movie.

Back to The Sims 4. All I care about is putting together some funky and unique builds, or acting incredibly sadistically towards my Sims. Maybe I’ll try to recreate Squid Game in the game this autumn when I need some time to unwind and not think about the real world. 

Either way, having the opportunity to spend a few hours dedicated to these simulated relationships or just building something spectacular is the perfect way to wind down, switch off, and forget about the outdoors for a little while.

Spooky Autumnal Games

Five Nights at Freddy’s

This list would not be complete without a mention of the timeless Five Nights at Freddy’s series. However, I can’t do that without also mentioning that I do not support nor condone FNAF creator Scott Cawthon or his beliefs. It was revealed he donated a lot of money to Donald Trump and other Republican politicians, which felt like a betrayal to the dedicated queer fanbase Five Night’s at Freddy’s has.

*taps mic* the real horror monster are in senate, amiright…?

All instalments of the animatronic fright-fest are on Game Pass, meaning his money has been made, and that by playing them using the service, you will not be giving him any more, so you can play guilt-free. So whether you want to replay the first game, or delve into the second, third or fourth one… the opportunities to revisit our animatronic friends are endless (or at least until they’re removed from Game Pass, that is).

In the build-up to Halloween, trying to make it through just the first night in any of these games is a world of fun - and scares if you’re unlucky. Using those security cameras at Freddy Fazbears personally never gets old for me. Whether I’m playing the game myself, watching friends slowly get creeped out as the tension builds, or watching Markiplier revisit it himself. The series, especially the original game, just seems to never get old for us Freddy fans. 

This season, more than ever, is certainly the best time to play the game whether it’s new to you or simply old news. They’re short games to get through, but provide plenty of scares - and laughs - for all. That being said, one of the main appeals for me when it comes to Five Nights At Freddy’s is the nostalgia value, and admittedly, this has been a tad ruined for me as of late.

I understand why some of you may still choose not to play these games given what we’ve learned about Cawthon, but given that playing them on Game Pass or second-hand won’t give him any money, you can enjoy the frights relatively guilt-free. 

Jack Baker in a Louisiana swamp farmhouse?
Xenomorph on corporate station in the cold vacuum of space?

Alien: Isolation

I’m not a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat or anything as I mentioned earlier. I’ve faced the likes of Outlast, Resident Evil 7, and SCP: Containment Breach and I have lived to tell the tale. However, Alien: Isolation is a game I am yet to play. 

That being said, I have watched large chunks of the game being played. I am a little too scared to play it on my own in the dark during one of these eery autumnal evenings - and that’s okay. I am, however, going to face my fear soon. I have admittedly watched enough gameplay now that there is no reason the game should scare me, especially considering the breadth of other horror games I have been able to overcome. 

Honestly, this is still kind of terrifying.

For those familiar with the Alien movies the game stays true to them, the first one in particular, and really immerses you in an isolated sci-fi experience. Obviously, I can’t talk about immersion that much since I need to play it myself. Yet, just from having watched some of my favourite people stream the game, I have felt just how engrossing it is. The game seems to remain timeless due to this - the fact that it really feels like you’re in an Alien movie. 

Even when you aren’t in immediate danger, the game maintains a tense atmosphere, and that’s why I and my anxiety are yet to face the game head-on. However, this autumn, that needs to change. I don’t think you’ll catch me playing it off-stream and alone though… I need someone to keep me company as I let that xenomorph scare me senseless. This will make a great Halloween playthrough.

Outlast 2

In an ideal world, I would be listing the first Outlast game right now. But, since it isn’t on Game Pass, so I’m going to talk about Outlast 2 instead. It doesn’t have the same jumpscare magic that its predecessor did, or even the same intricacies, which makes it quite the large let down in the eyes of myself and many others. 

Airbnb really sucks.

However, for some simple scares and to jump into the Outlast world as Halloween approaches, without having to pay for the original game itself, Outlast 2 still helps if you have a horror itch that needs a scratch.

In a way, it’s actually really fun to ditch the Asylum of Outlast that we’re so familiar with thanks to countless lets plays and livestreams, in favour of a more cult-based experience. There’s still moments of sheer panic and anxiety throughout the game as you go delve into the Supai region and deeper into Outlast 2’s story. This one takes you away from the confines of domesticity as you experience horror outside and still face monsters just as gruelling and terrifying as that of the initial game.

The Outlast series is not for the faint-hearted, I’ll tell you that much! Yet, for those who want to opt for scaring themselves senseless this autumn rather than surrounding themselves with more cosy seasonal vibes, Outlast 2 is definitely a must-play.

What Will My Pumpkin Spice Be This Autumn?

Well, amidst the occasional game of Golf With Your Friends and Five Nights at Freddy’s for alternating between both comforting and terrifying autumnal vibes as and when I’m in the mood for them, I’ll be playing a lot of Fable 2. 

We would be remise of to not mention that Carrion - a game where you play the monster - is on Game Pass right now.

It’s been a couple of years since I sold my Xbox One and Fable Anniversary doesn’t hold the same nostalgia value for me that Fable 2 does. So, while it is on Game Pass and I have my Xbox Series S to make the most of, Fable 2 is going to be my friend when the nights slowly get colder and darker throughout autumn.

And, as I mentioned, it’s about time that I faced Alien: Isolation this year, so I’ll be making that my Halloween game to play! There’s strength in numbers, so join me and play it too. The xenomorph can’t kill all of us, right?

Just in time a return to the USG Ishimura.