Steam Scream V Runs October 26 to November 2, With Horror Deals From $1.49

The trailer is the fastest way to read what Valve counts as horror this year. It mixes long-running survival horror with newer co-op scares and a few games that qualify through Halloween rather than fear: Pumpkin Jack is a Halloween platformer, not a horror game, and its 93% cut to $2.09 is the largest percentage discount on the deal lists checked on October

26. The list also includes games with an AI generated content disclosure, such as The Outlast Trials, which Valve does not remove from the event for that reason.

The narrowing matters for shoppers. A general Steam sale page rewards patience and filtering; a horror-only page rewards a short list. Players who want one game for Halloween night can start from the trailer and the under-$5 tier below, rather than sorting thousands of discounts. Players building a backlog should still check each store page, because the fest window is not the only deadline in play, as the next sections show.

The under-$5 tier is where Scream V is hardest to argue with. Outlast at $1.49, 90% off its $14.99 regular price, is the asylum camcorder game that made running and hiding the default for a decade, and it is rated Playable on Steam Deck. Outlast 2 at $1.99 pairs with it for $3.48 total. Amnesia: The Dark Descent at $3.99 and Amnesia: The Bunker at $4.99 cover two generations of Frictional horror, and the Bunker’s own store page confirms its 80% discount ends November 2.

Two warnings belong with the cheap tier. First, prices in this article are the Steam prices as checked on October 26 by deal roundups working from store pages, and individual offers can change or end early, so the store page at checkout is the final word. Second, the cheapest game is not always the best Halloween pick: Pumpkin Jack is the biggest percentage cut on the lists, but it is a cheerful platformer, and players who want to be scared should start with Outlast or Amnesia instead.

For a single Halloween night, The Quarry at $5.99, 90% off $59.99, is the standout value on the October 26 lists: Supermassive’s camp slasher with couch co-op, though Valve rates it Unsupported on Steam Deck, so it is a PC pick. SOMA at $5.99, 80% off $29.99, is the slower, stranger choice, an underwater science-fiction story players still bring up years later, and it is Deck Verified. Still Wakes the Deep at $8.74, 75% off $34.99, is a six-hour 1970s oil-rig story, rated Playable on Deck.

For a group, Sons of the Forest at $8.39, 72% off $29.99, supports survival horror for up to eight players, though it is Unsupported on Deck. The Outlast Trials at $11.99, 70% off $39.99, is Deck Verified, and Phasmophobia at $13.99, 30% off $19.99, is the smallest cut on the group list but the most reliable Halloween night: four friends hunting ghosts, rated Playable on Deck. The Resident Evil tier sits apart: Resident Evil 7 Biohazard at $7.99, and Resident Evil 2, 4, and Village each at $9.99 on the same lists, with Capcom’s offers ending November 3.

Three checks cover most Scream V mistakes. Check the Deck rating before buying for handheld play, since The Quarry and Sons of the Forest are Unsupported while SOMA and The Outlast Trials are Verified. Check the offer end date on the store page, since some deals outlast the fest and a few may end with it. Buy from Steam directly rather than chasing key resellers for a further cut, since the fest prices are already the event prices.

The calendar after Scream V is worth one line. Valve’s next themed event on the published 2026 calendar is the Auto-Battler RPG Fest on November 16 to 23, followed by the Winter Sale from December 17 to January 4,

2027. Horror games bought now will not get cheaper by waiting for the Winter Sale by any rule, but players with a backlog should still buy the one game they will play this week first, and leave the rest of the list alone.