With Halloween quickly approaching, my thoughts drifted to my favorite horror games of all time. That didn't take long, honestly; while I'm a fan of some horror games, most of those are from a distance, and the number of actual horror games I've played is rather slim. The first one that came to mind was... Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness.

"But wait," The voices of the old-time computer gamers cry out, "That's not a horror game!"

I say it is. Quest for Glory 4 is a horror game in the old sense of the word, back when it was more about foreboding atmosphere and dreariness rather than the dark side of humanity and jump scares. The game cribs heavily off Slavic folklore, the Cthulhu mythos, and the old black & white Universal monster flicks, but the tone itself leans most towards the monster flicks: there's dark things afoot, but you're a hero and you're going to drive them out.

The whole Quest for Glory series is about being a hero, but the previous games felt like standard fantasy fare: a bright and cheerful town is threatened by evil, so you go vanquish it before the town is harmed. The evil has already taken root in Quest for Glory 4, from the various undead who roam the lands to the cultists' abandoned monastery at the edge of town that none of the townsfolk dare approach. The townsfolk themselves are gloomy and wary of outsiders, and many of them openly doubt you're here to help them (or that you could actually do anything about it). It's telling that the most friendly and helpful person in town is a Dr. Frankenstein expy who obviously has a few screws loose.

But despite the doom & gloom, it's surprisingly humanistic as well. The same burgomeister who eyes you warily also argues against burning a random gypsy at the stake just because he was found right after the gravedigger disappeared. The same townsfolk who gave you a cold shoulder at first genuinely warm up to you as you help them out, thanking you for bringing hope back to their lives. Even several of the monsters (including one of the Big Bads) have sympathetic backstories, and you "defeat" them by helping them out rather than fighting them to the death. As dreary as the game is, it also does a great job of making you feel like a hero who's bringing light to a dark land rather than a glorified errand boy.

The gameplay itself is a mash-up between King's Quest and old CRPGs. At the beginning of the game, you choose whether to play as a Fighter, a Mage, or a Thief, which determines your combat abilities and your main method of solving problems. You can even import your character from previous games in the series. The combat is a bad arcade minigame that's nothing to write home about; the meat of the game is in the King's Quest-style puzzle-solving, and the multiple (usually minor) solutions to them depending on which class you are. It's nothing outstanding, but it'll keep you entertained through the story bits (and, perhaps, encourage you to replay the game as a different class).

But have no doubt, the story and the characterization are why you want to play this game. It nails the feeling of dreary Slavic folktales, and Halloween itself, in a way few other games do: gloomy and macabre, but with its own beauty and optimism, too. (Not to mention a dark sense of humor...)

You can buy Quest for Glory 4, along with the entire series, at GOG for just $10.