The gas leak story is bullshit, obviously, but that's what makes it perfect for the Halloween edition. I spent twenty minutes poking around the abandoned college map, clicking on every suspicious pixel like a proper journalist, before the ghost showed up. Not the headmistress. Some other spirit with a very specific idea about how to pass the time.

The investigation mechanics are thin. You click things, you get text, occasionally a choice pops up that leads to either a jump scare or a sex scene. I respect that efficiency. What I don't respect is the way the game keeps pretending there's a mystery to solve when the only real mystery is why the ghost's tits clip through her Victorian nightgown during the second encounter. It's not a bug, it's a feature, I tell myself, then immediately feel bad because the writing in those scenes is actually decent. Better than the horror parts, which rely on the same creaking door sound effect every single time. My cat got up and left the room.

Halloween as a setting for porn is always a gamble. You can lean into the camp or try to make it genuinely creepy. This game splits the difference and ends up with a ghost who moans like she's trying to remember the lyrics to Monster Mash. There's a moment where you can ask her about the gas leak while she's, uh, occupied, and she just whispers "carbon monoxide" and keeps going. That made me laugh harder than any comedy game this year.

The replay value is there if you want to see all the endings. I got the one where the newspaper article wins an award. Felt wrong. The ghost deserved better. Or maybe I deserved worse. Either way, I'm not going back to find out. The sound of that creaking door is still in my head.