It’s time to come back to one of the best FPS games on Steam. Valve kicks off its Team Fortress 2 Halloween event today, marking the sixteenth ‘Scream Fortress’ since its launch back in 2007. If it’s been a while since you played the free Steam game, there’s no better time to return than now – the bot problem is largely behind us, TF2 players are happy, and there’s a wealth of new items and effects to snag in this spooky seasonal special.
I’ll always make time for Team Fortress 2 – from hopping around Harvest as a Scout to terrorizing rounds of 2Fort with a fully upgraded Engineer turret, there’s a pleasing simplicity to the design of TF2 that helps it stand tall as one of the best FPS games on PC. Even among newer challengers such as Overwatch and Apex Legends, it still consistently sits among the most-played Steam games.
It’s been a tough time for the shooter in 2024, with a flood of bots briefly dropping the game’s Steam reviews to ‘mostly negative’ for the first time ever. Thankfully, Valve listened to concerns, and a hefty crackdown followed by a colossal TF2 Summer update have restored faith in the iconic shooter, which is now back at its very positive haven, with 94% of recent reviews recommending it – all is right with the world again.
And now comes Scream Fortress XVI. You’ll get to play on seven new community maps – Toxic, Darkmarsh, Freaky Fair, Dynamite, Circus, Outburst, and Blazehattan – and grab Terrifying Trove Cases and War Paint Cases as you play. The Terrifying Troves offer a collection of 21 new community-created cosmetic items, while the War Paints include 12 new Scream Fortress variants. Both case types also have a chance each time you open one to award a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus on top.
Alongside that, Valve has added a wealth of other community creations perfect for the season, including 22 Unusual effects – 12 for hats and ten for taunts. Four taunts have been added to the Mann Co. store: Crushing Defeat, Peace Out, Commending Clap, and The Punchline. Opening cosmetic and taunt cases during the event will also award Halloween 2024 Unusual effects instead of their normal offerings.
Upon logging in, you’ll be given a Soul Gargoyle if you don’t already have one – this is used to track your collected souls and completed Merasmissions, and also grants access to Halloween item transmutations. All previous Halloween contracts have been reset, along with a set of new ones for the featured maps, and each one completed will net you a classic Halloween item and a chance to nab a Terrifying Trove Case.
The Team Fortress 2 Halloween event Scream Fortress XVI runs from Friday October 11 to Thursday November 7. You can play TF2 for free on Steam. Valve has also made some balance tweaks, in particular focusing on changes to its Zombie Infection mode, and a handful of other bug fixes and improvements.
Whether you’re on the lookout for the best multiplayer games in 2024, or just fancy trying one of the many great free Steam games available now, we’ve got you covered.
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