A Halloween event, also referred to as Halloween, Halloween Special, or Scream Fortress, is one of a series of anual events activated by Valve to celebrate the Halloween season. First introduced in the The Terrifying Team Fortress Haunted Hallowe'en Special of 2009, Halloween events feature activation of Halloween-themed start screens, spooky sound cues, haunted maps, scary or ridiculous Halloween cosmetics, Ghosts, and monsters.
From the beginning, Halloween events have been linked with continuations of the Team Fortress 2 Storyline, with the release of Zephaniah Mann's last will and testament and family portrait and the coupling of the Halloween comics with closely released main Storyline comics, notably the murders of Blutarch and Redmond, and the crossovers of Merasmus.
Most of the individual Halloween Updates introduced new features of the Halloween event celebration, whether new maps, monsters, or mechanics, like magic spells or the Soul Gargoyle. Valve treated the first seven Halloween events as "major updates", each with an update page on the official Team Fortress website and a comic of some form. However, with the 8th annual event onward, no update pages or comics were published. While the first six events released seven haunted maps (all but two developed by Valve) the next three events released 12 quality Community haunted maps. Another concideration is that the Halloween events of 2016, 2017, and 2018 released far fewer cosmetic items. The 2017 Halloween event was so minimal as to have no maps, no comic, and only one cosmetic item; however, it can be noted that that particular Halloween event (and the single item) was integrated with the ongoing massive Jungle Inferno Campaign.
Note: Clicking on the image opens the event's Update page on teamfortress.com, if available. Community maps are identified in italics.
|
|
The Terrifying Team Fortress
Haunted Hallowe'en Special
(October 29 - November 9, 2009)
2009-10-29October 29, 2009 Patch
|
|
Last Will and Testament
Ghost (Zepheniah Mann)
|
|
|
The Second Annu-Hell Scream Fortress
Hauntdead Halloween Special
(October 27 - November 8, 2010)
2010-10-27October 27, 2010 Patch
|
|
Family Portrait with Silas
Horseless Headless Horsemann
(Silas Mann)
|
|
|
Third Annual Scream Fortress
Very Scary Halloween Special
(October 27 - November 6, 2011)
2011-10-27October 27, 2011 Patch
|
|
Bombinomicon
MONOCULUS
|
|
|
The Fourth Annual Spectral Halloween Special
(October 26 - November 8, 2012)
2012-10-26October 26, 2012 Patch
|
|
Doom-Mates
Merasmus
|
|
|
The Fifth Annual Helloween Special
(October 29 - November 11, 2013)
2013-10-29October 29, 2013 Patch
|
|
Grave Matters
Skeletons
|
|
|
The Sixth Annual Halloween Special
(October 29 - November 12, 2014)
2014-10-29October 29, 2014 Patch
|
|
Blood Money
|
|
|
The Seventh Annual Halloween Special
(October 28 - November 12, 2015)
2015-10-28October 28, 2015 Patch
|
|
Gargoyles & Gravel
|
|
|
Scream Fortress VIII
(October 21 - November 16, 2016)
2016-10-21October 21, 2016 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress IX
(October 26 - November 8, 2017)
2017-10-26October 26, 2017 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress X
(October 19 - November 14, 2018)
2018-10-19October 19, 2018 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress XI
(October 1 - November 7, 2019)
2019-10-10October 10, 2019 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress XII
(October 1 - November 7, 2020)
2020-10-01October 1, 2020 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress XIII
(October 1 - November 7, 2021)
2021-10-05October 5, 2021 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress XIV
(October 1 - November 7, 2022)
2022-10-05October 5, 2022 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress XV
(October 1 - November 7, 2023)
2023-10-09October 9, 2023 Patch
|
|
|
|
|
Scream Fortress XVI
(October 10 - November 7, 2024)
2024-10-10October 10, 2024 Patch
|
|
|
