It took until this very week for a whiff of cool, autumnal foliage to finally blast by my nose, prompting me to pick up a pumpkin on the walk home. Frightening to think we only have a week until Halloween, when ghouls and ghosts roam cul-de-sacs for candy. If the holidays creeped up on you as well, it’s not too late to cram in some last-minute spooks.

Many players gauge video games on how many days, months, years they’ll be playing after release. Horror games, thankfully, seem to be the exception. A genre that rewards a well-timed exit. And while P.T. is tricky to come by, there are plenty of other short and sweet scares to get your shivers from. Here are thirteen little haunts, ranging from 20 minute screams to three hours nightmares, to cram in before Halloween goblins get ya.

What Balazs Ronyai’s Children of Clay accomplishes in a matter of minutes would humble games that stretch on for days. Akin to M.R. James’ A Warning to the Curious, you are studying a small, uncanny figurine in a dimly lit parlor. Intimate and ill-advised, you’ll refer to your notes to decipher the relic’s secrets, all the while the shadows inch towards you.

Jessica Harvey’s Paratopic is a Lost Highway -like waking nightmare. You swap between three perspectives, a hired killer, a smuggler and a birdwatcher. Living their moments in real time, from small talk to highway drives, you’ll find your surroundings begin to unfurl. Revealing alarming creatures, cursed video tapes and a conspiracy you may only be nibbling at the periphery of.

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