The witching hour draws nigh, and ghosts, monsters, and worse lurk in the darkness suffocating Arkham’s streets. Besides possessing your own Elder Sign Amulet, there’s perhaps no better way to defend oneself against Hallowe’en haunts than to gather ’round the gaming table with some friends and a box or two of unrelenting horrors. We caught up with some of the staff from Asmodee, Fantasy Flight Games, and Edge Studio to ask them for their Arkham Horror board, card, and roleplaying game recommendations this spooky season. 

Arkham Horror Lovecraft Letter (2025) 

Released earlier this year, Arkham Horror Lovecraft Letter is a chilling twist on the classic deduction card game. It’s the perfect prelude to a longer board game night, and you can easily fit a game in (or even just a couple of rounds) while waiting for the rest of your friends to arrive, as it has a playtime of just fifteen minutes and can accommodate up to six players. 

Elder Sign (2011) 

Elder Sign is a fast-paced, cooperative dice game of supernatural intrigue for one to eight players by Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson, the original designers of Arkham Horror Second Edition. The game’s depth – and difficulty – belie the relative simplicity of its setup. It’s a game you can finish in one to two hours, so you try your luck again if doom befalls you on the first try. The game can also be played solo, and a digital adaptation of the game called Elder Sign: Omens is available on Steam and the Google Play and Apple app stores. 

Arkham Horror: The Card Game (2016) 

“I’ve always loved the Arkham Horror card game because of strange and memorable moments it creates for everyone at the table.”  

Josiah “Duke” Harrist, Game Designer at Fantasy Flight Games

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative Living Card Game® that blurs the distinction between card games and roleplaying experiences, and is perfect for anyone looking for a break from your standard head-to-head trading card game—or wants to play solo. You and up to three other players progress through sequential and sometimes branching scenarios that make up a campaign where your choices matter, and victory against the Ancient Ones is by no means guaranteed. When you select an investigator, your deck is your character, meaning it grows with you as you earn experience and suffer traumas.  

The Revised Core Set is all you need to get started and includes the ghoulish “Night of the Zealot” campaign to learn the rules in one harrowing night. The new Film Fatale standalone scenario (requires the core set to play) is a great pick for Hallowe’en night, as it features a haunted 1920s movie set and the story is self-contained. Fans of classic monster movies and creature features will love this one. 

Hungering Abyss (2024) 

“I love introducing people to the Arkham RPG, especially if they haven’t ventured far into exploring many TTRPGs. It does such a great job of capturing the feel of Arkham and the creeping madness which comes from understanding the esoteric.”  

Liv Sheppard, Community Manager at Fantasy Flight Games 

If you’ve never played a roleplaying game before, the Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set – Hungering Abyss is designed to initiate the curious. The premium boxed set is stuffed with full-color character folios, maps, tokens, puzzles, item and enemy cards, and enough dice to get you started. One player takes on the role of the game master (GM), while up to five other players step into the shoes of ready-to-play investigators. Each of the ten scenes teaches you the rules as you play, and can be finished in approximately one hour. For a shorter offering designed to be played in one sitting, check out the “Comets of Kingsport” adventure. 

Mansions of Madness Second Edition (2016) 

“Lots of people love to think they are smarter than the characters they see in horror movies. Who would walk toward the scream they heard in the basement? Who would pick up the glowing idol sitting alone in the jungle? Halloween is the perfect time to test your mental fortitude and put yourselves into your own story of horror and mystery!”  

Xander Tabler, Marketing Manager at Fantasy Flight Games

If no one in your group wants to be the game master, but you’d still like something akin to the experience of a roleplaying game scenario, Mansions of Madness Second Edition is a fully cooperative, app-assisted horror game that’s heavily narrative. The app takes the place of the Keeper from the original Mansions game, which not only allows all players to work together to solve the mystery—but also keeps a given scenario’s many twists and turns (and randomizations) hidden from view. Choose from short and sweet scenarios to epic, punishing scenarios, depending on what suits your group’s fancy that evening.  

If it’s been a while since you’ve stalked the halls of Mansions of Madness, “Turn of a Page” is the newest DLC available for purchase and features Tillinghast’s Esoterica & Exotics, which you might recognize from other entries in the Arkham Horror universe… 

Unfathomable (2021)

“Halloween is the perfect time for a more elaborate, lengthy game, and I adore the paranoia and tension created by Unfathomable!”  

Grace Holdinghaus, Senior Game Designer at Fantasy Flight Games 

If you’re ready for a competitive experience drenched in hidden loyalties and suspicion, Unfathomable is just the ticket. Designed for three to six players, some players are human investigators who are fighting for the survival of the S.S. Atlantica, using their skill cards to overcome the trials of the mythos deck and manage the ship’s shared resources to last the entire voyage. Others, however, are traitors sent aboard the ship by Mother Hydra and Father Dagon to ensure that it never reaches port. You’ll have approximately two to four hours to deduce just who is sabotaging the ship, or else be lost beneath the waves.

More Horrors Abound

“My favorite Arkham Horror game is probably the Second Edition board game! It was one of the two games that got me interested in board games.” – Samuel Gregor-Stewart, RPG Manager at Edge Studio 

Of course, there are many more Arkham Horror games than we could fit here, including the titular Arkham Horror adventure game, now in its third edition (although you might find a copy of the beloved second edition on a cobwebbed shelf). To peruse the entire catalog of games set in this classic shared gaming universe, visit the Games section of our website. 

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