While the game itself is small, it’s still found great success (with a fair few technical hiccups along the way) thanks to the design of its locations. Each map is tiny, but is packed with places to hide and items to uncover. Every time you enter the map, the location of various things such as the radio, phone and car parts, shifts so it always feels fresh when you feel the urge to hunt down counsellors as Jason Voorhees, or be hunted by him. It’s the compactness of the camp that makes it special; it’s the perfect size to get lost in while still being tight enough to keep you on your toes. It’s a perfect example of a small space done well, utilising every inch of space to its fullest.

The facilities

There are also plenty of activities on offer to keep you entertained while you’re out there, including moonlit walks, classes in car mechanics and frequent hide-and-seek tournaments which award great prizes such as bear traps and even, if you’re very lucky, the gift of life.

Should you decide to visit you can get closer to nature and rough it in a tent by a log fire, but the only way to experience camp life at its fullest is to rent a rustic chalet with your friends. Each one has several rooms for you to spread out in and includes drawers to hide your knickknacks, as well as plenty of underbed storage space should you feel the need to hide. Scattered around the forest, they are little oases of hope in a wilderness full of dread – sneaking inside one gives you a brief moment of calm and a source of inspiration as you uncover items to plan your next moves. Healing items, car parts and makeshift weapons can all be found in your lodgings when taking part in one of Jason’s games.

Moonlit walks

There are two places in Higgins Haven that stand out above everything else – the main lodge, and Jason’s cabin. Spread over two floors with multiple rooms and a cosy fireplace, the lodge feels like a smaller map within a map. With plenty of room for the counsellors to run around in and narrow stairs to contend with, players are forced into attacking Jason to escape if he steps inside. It feels very much like a condensed version of the whole map – you’re forced into close contact so all of your interactions are far more intense, but being such a large cabin you’ve got loads of options in how you handle things. Do you dive out of a window? Or stand your ground and stun Jason with a flare gun? Or do you hide in a closet and hope he walks right past so you can escape later?

By comparison the forest outside feels positively wild; the tall pine trees feel overbearing, adding to the tension. You find yourself jumping at every shadow in the pale moonlight, nervously looking over your shoulder every time you duck into the bushes to hide. Stay outdoors long enough and eventually you’ll stumble across a tiny, isolated cabin with a morbid secret inside – the dried-out remains or Mrs Voorhees and a crusty jumper that can stop Jason in his tracks. Finding it feels like winning a horrible jackpot – the prize being the most powerful item in the game, though you’ll have to slip into a dead woman’s jumper to be able to use it.

No matter how horrible it is, Higgins Haven is a joy to explore inch by terrifying inch. The nights you spend there are dark and full of terror, but it’s worth the visit to see just how well a small space can build such a tense atmosphere.

This article originally appeared in Xbox: The Official Magazine. For more great Xbox coverage, you can subscribe here (opens in new tab).

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Halloween

Joss Whedon’s iconic show ran a number of Halloween themed episodes, but none quite so strong as this season two classic. Giles’ old pal Ethan Raine wreaks havoc in Sunnydale when he opens up a magical shop that transforms people into their Halloween costumes. Xander becomes a soldier, Willow a very un-spooky ghost and Buffy becomes a fairly useless princess. Meanwhile, the still-evil Spike and his gang go on the rampage around town. It’s a great fun adventure that saw the show at the height of its power. It’s certainly miles better than season four’s weak Fear, Itself.

The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror V

Look, you can’t talk about Halloween specials without mentioning The Simpsons. It is the law. The animated exploits of America’s favourite family have featured an annual Treehouse of Horror portmanteau episode in every season since the second which means that we’re now up to Treehouse of Horror XXVII!

Of these, V is surely the finest, as it features three fine sketches. The Shinning is a pitch perfect parody of Kubrick’s film of The Shining where Homer tries to kill his family in order to get a beer. Time and Punishment makes fun of Ray Bradbury’s classic time travel tale, A Sound of Thunder. But it’s Nightmare Cafeteria that really makes it. A wonderfully weird take on Soylent Green where it’s revealed that Skinner is eating children. Almost all of the Treehouse episodes are worth your time (Yeah, XXII is a bit weak, but it still manages a few laughs) but this is the best of the bunch.

Millennium, The Curse of Frank Black

Amazingly, The X-Files never ran a dedicated Halloween special. It’s sister series (it only became a spin-off retroactively), however, did. The Curse of Frank Black, penned by Files mainstays Morgan and Wong, finds Lance Henriksen’s splendidly haggard detective looking forward to spending some time with his daughter. Instead, he’s haunted by the ghosts of his past. As ever with Millennium it’s all very dour and there are the usual cryptic references to the Bible, but it’s also genuinely creepy. The show had left its season one serial killer fetish behind at this point and it became a far more interesting series for its embracing of the supernatural. Henriksen is superb (as ever) and it remains one of the best installments of this underrated show.

Friends, The One With the Halloween Party

Be as cynical as you like about Friends but when it was on form it was a non-stop joke machine. The One With the Halloween Party is a season eight classic which finds Monica and Chandler hosting a Halloween party where things go, inevitably, amusingly wrong. It’s a bottle episode, but a really skilfully done one. It also features Sean Penn as Eric, the short-lived fianc of Ursula Buffay Phoebe’s twin sister. And as it was the first episode of the show to be shot after 9/11, it features a subtle tribute to the Fire Department of New York, with Joey wearing a t-shirt bearing their logo.

Community, Epidemiology

One of the all-time great episodes of Community, this special takes the show’s pop culture obsession to new heights. The Dean has bought a shipment of cheap taco meat for students at Greendale to eat at the Halloween party, but it turns out to be an experimental substance created by the US military that transforms anyone who eats it into a ravenous zombie. Cue Abed (dressed as a Xenomorph from Aliens) and Troy (dressed as a power loader from the same film) battling to save the day. Typically for Community in its prime, the jokes come thick and fast, but there’s a real heart to the episode too, with Abed feeling let down by Troy binning him off for some babes (and changing his costume to that of a “sexy Dracula”). And the zombie attacks are great.

American Horror Story, Halloween Parts 1 and 2

The OTT schlock-fest featured a two-part Halloween tale in the middle of its superior first season. It’s a good one, too arguably the moment that the show first achieves a real sense of momentum. It’s Halloween night and the spirits of the dead can walk freely and do. In one creepy moment we meet the victims of a school shooting. The unexpected death of young Adelaide while she is out trick or treating is also a real gut punch. The first two seasons are reminders that this show used to be exciting and unnerving, rather than tedious and “wacky”. Plus, Frances Conroy as tormented spectre Moria is superb throughout.

The Office, Halloween

The US version of Ricky Gervais’ classic comedy had several Halloween episodes, but this is the best and most painful. It’s Halloween and, due to downsizing, Michael (Steve Carell, the US show’s equivalent of David Brent) has to fire someone. Inevitably, his attempts to do it as painlessly as possible only make things worse. The episode stings, not just because Devon loses his job (and doesn’t get it back until the final season), but because it returns Michael to a more antagonistic role, after we’ve slowly been warming to the annoying git.

Parks and Recreation, Greg Pikitis

Wonderful, sweet-natured Parks and Rec ran a few Halloween episodes in its time, all of which were pretty good. But there’s little doubt that Greg Pikitis is the pick of the bunch. It’s not particularly spooky, but Greg Pikitis Leslie Knope’s super-irritating teenage nemesis is a real horror. An expert prankster, he’s like South Park’s Scott Tenorman turned up to the max. Here Leslie and Officer Sanderson (the great Louie CK) try to foil his plans, but fail at every opportunity.

Angel, Life of the Party

Buffy’s spinoff show, Angel also tried its hand at a Halloween episode. Life Of the Party takes place in the show’s divisive fifth (and final) year, where the vampire with a soul and his pals allied themselves with the demonic law firm, Wolfram and Hart. Lorne has had his ability to sleep removed, the consequences of which are that his subconscious starts to wreak magical havoc around the firm. Mostly it’s fairly innocuous stuff he makes Gunn piss on the Wolfram and Hart buildings, and makes Fred and Wesley drunk but it all comes to a head when his subconscious takes the form of a hulking great monster. It’s not exactly a classic episode, but even a weak episode of Angel was better than a great many shows at their best.

Quantum Leap, The Boogieman

Perma-unlucky body-hopper Dr Samuel Beckett leaps into the body of horror novelist Joshua Ray, just as sinister things start to happen on Halloween night. Could it be that Ray has attracted the attention of the devil himself? Oh boy… With its supernatural overtones and evil version of Al, The Boogieman is an extremely a-typical episode of Quantum Leap so much so that many fans think that the whole adventure actually takes place inside Sam’s head after he gets knocked out at the beginning. It’s a more plausible explanation, perhaps, but not as fun as accepting the whole thing as being within Quantum Leap canon.

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However, while the garishly painted face of It is the most memorable, Stephen King’s monster is far more than just a scary clown. Even if that does feel like quite enough to contend with, the creature that lurks in Derry’s sewers taunting the Loser’s Club has many guises, each as terrifying as the last. Here are the 5 reasons you should be even more afraid of It. Sleep well…

 1. Derry is It’s playground 

 Is there anything more terrifying than a monster in your house? How about one that’s everywhere? It doesn’t just live in the Loser’s Club’s basements, it hunts across the whole town. Every 27 years, Derry starts to lose children as the monster returns to feed once again. Nowhere is safe. Little Eddie Kasprak is hunted by It in the showers at school as Pennywise tunnels effortless through the tiles, while Ben Hanscom sees his dead father waving across the Barrens. This is a monster with no physical limits and there’s no way to escape when the grown ups don’t believe you.

 2. It is your own worst nightmare  

 Even if you don’t have coulrophobia – the official name for that crippling fear of clowns – It can still scare you out of your wits. Like a Boggart from Harry Potter, It shapes itself to your fears. Stephen King has crafted the ultimate Boogeyman. Richie Tozier’s fear of the teenage werewolf from a recent movie manifests itself in the school basement while Bill Denborough is haunted through the photographs of his dead brother Georgie. It is a monster who knows what you are afraid of and creates your own personal worst nightmare like a customised Build a Bear from hell. 

 3. It has a sense of humour  

Normally a sense of humour is a good thing. An indicator of your compatibility with a date, for instance, or whether you get along with your co-workers. It turns out that this just isn’t the case when it comes to monsters. Whether Pennywise is making shower heads dance, somersaulting up to lamp posts or waving merrily across a lake with those far-too-pointy teeth, It having a sense of humour makes it even more terrifying.It knows exactly what it wants. To make you laugh until you die.

 4. The grown ups can’t see It 

What’s worse than a clown that can take many guises hunting you and your friends across the whole town? How about one that the grown ups can’t see? Making things even more terrifying, adults physically can’t perceive It’s handiwork. The most starkly ominous example of this is Beverley Marsh’s sink incident. A bubble of blood seeps from the drain, exploding all over her and the bathroom. Yet when Al Marsh wants to know what all the fuss is about, an A- spattered Bev has to lie about a spider when she realises he can’t see it. Yep, no-one can help you now. 

 5. It comes from another dimension 

No, seriously. This is no ordinary monster. Stephen King crafted It as an ancient creature from a mystical alternate dimension nicknamed ‘The Deadlights’ by the Loser’s Club. In not great news, those who see the Deadlights go irrevocably mad. Henry Bowers, who follows the Losers into the sewers in 1960, goes insane after catching a glimpse. The bully does return from Derry’s sewers but with claims that he was responsible for the missing children in town. Not only that but Bill’s wife Audra also sees the Deadlights and is only brought back from catatonia when Bill takes her for a ride on his trusty childhood bicycle, Silver. Awww, sometimes there can be happily ever afters after all. Well, kind of. 

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