Halloween event

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Halloween event
HHH chase.jpg
Terrorizing RED and BLU alike, the Horseless Headless Horsemann was the first Team Fortress 2 Boss monster introduced in a Halloween event.

The Halloween event, also known as Scream Fortress, is an annual event for the month of October and several days into November, a time when enchantments, hauntings, and family curses fall upon the world-wide facilities of Mann Co.. First introduced in the The Terrifying Team Fortress Haunted Hallowe'en Special of 2009, Halloween events now feature activation of Halloween-themed start screens, spooky sound cues, Halloween cosmetics, haunted Halloween maps, soul-harvesting contract campaigns, Ghosts, and monsters, with Scream Fortress Patches adding new Halloween content.

Halloween event

On the first day of October, the game activates several features, including the Halloween main menu background and class images, Halloween mode, a selection of past Halloween maps on the Casual Mode menu, and soul collection on all maps. Later, a content patch is added with activation of Halloween Contracts and Soul Gargoyles. After the patch, annual Halloween Cosmetic and War Paint Cases drop while players are given a several week-long campaign to level up their Gargoyles and complete contracts to earn Halloween Packages.

Development of the Halloween event

The first Holiday-restricted Halloween events each opened with a Major Update content patch a shortly before October 30 and concluded 10 or so days later with removal of Halloween cosmetic effects.

Most of the individual Halloween Updates introduced new features to 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. 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. However, from the 8th annual event onward, no update pages or comics were published. The first six events released seven haunted maps (five developed by Valve), but the next four events released 12 Community maps and one Valve map.

From 2019 onwards, Valve has activated Halloween mode on the first of October, with the update arriving later that month. This allows players to play on the old Halloween maps before the next Scream Fortress update is out.

List of Halloween events

Note: Clicking on the image opens the event's Update page on teamfortress.com, if available. Community maps are identified in italics.
Event Title
(Dates)
Update
Maps
* Haunted
Comic
Monster
* Introductions
Haunted Hallowe'en Special.png
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)
Second Annu-hell Screm Fortress.png
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)
Scream Fortress Very Scary Halloween Special.jpg
Third Annual Scream Fortress
Very Scary Halloween Special

(October 27 - November 6, 2011)
2011-10-27October 27, 2011 Patch
Bombinomicon
MONOCULUS
Fourth Annual Scream Fortress.jpg
The Fourth Annual Spectral Halloween Special
(October 26 - November 8, 2012)
2012-10-26October 26, 2012 Patch
Doom-Mates
Merasmus
Fifth Annual Scream Fortress Special.jpg
The Fifth Annual Helloween Special
(October 29 - November 11, 2013)
2013-10-29October 29, 2013 Patch
Grave Matters
Skeletons
Sixth Annual Scream Fortress Special.jpg
The Sixth Annual Halloween Special
(October 29 - November 12, 2014)
2014-10-29October 29, 2014 Patch
Blood Money
Seventh Annual Scream Fortress Special.png
The Seventh Annual Halloween Special
(October 28 - November 12, 2015)
2015-10-28October 28, 2015 Patch
Gargoyles & Gravel
Scream Fortress 2016 showcard.png
Scream Fortress VIII
(October 21 - November 16, 2016)
2016-10-21October 21, 2016 Patch
Scream Fortress 2017.png
Scream Fortress IX
(October 26 - November 8, 2017)
2017-10-26October 26, 2017 Patch
Scream Fortress 2018 showcard.png
Scream Fortress X
(October 19 - November 14, 2018)
2018-10-19October 19, 2018 Patch
Doomsday 1177x987.jpg
Scream Fortress XI
(October 1 - November 7, 2019)
2019-10-10October 10, 2019 Patch
Scream Fortress 2020 showcard.png
Scream Fortress XII
(October 1 - November 7, 2020)
2020-10-01October 1, 2020 Patch
Scream Fortress 2021 showcard.png
Scream Fortress XIII
(October 1 - November 7, 2021)
2021-10-05October 5, 2021 Patch
Scream Fortress 2022 showcard.png
Scream Fortress XIV
(October 1 - November 7, 2022)
2022-10-05October 5, 2022 Patch
Scream Fortress 2016.png
Scream Fortress XV
(October 1 - November 7, 2023)
2023-10-09October 9, 2023 Patch