Steam Scream Fest 2026: Dates, Times and Horror Deals

The bigger surprise is who can't come. Scream V is a themed fest, not one of Steam's four seasonal sales, and Valve's 30-day discount rules apply to it in full. A game released in October can't take a Scream discount unless it set up a launch discount before release, so Hellraiser: Revival, Silver Pines and Valor Mortis stay at full price all week. We list them below, next to the horror games we have covered and what each costs now that the fest is live.

Updated 2026-10-27: Scream V is live. We re-checked every game below on Steam at 02:20 UTC on October 27 and added the Scream V price, the discount and when it ends, plus Valve's Scream V trailer and key-store prices for the full-price October releases.

When does Steam Scream Fest 2026 start and end?

Valve's dates are 10 AM Pacific on both ends. Here is that moment in other zones (we converted these ourselves; the UK and Central Europe change clocks on October 25, the US on November 1):

So the fest runs 169 hours, not 168: everyone gets the hour US clocks hand back. It also means a reminder set for "17:00 UTC, November 2" fires an hour early, which is the best kind of wrong. Valve's upcoming events schedule lists the fest as October 26 to November 2, and our Steam sale calendar for 2026 has everything that follows it.

What's on sale in Steam Scream V

Valve's eligibility line is short: "Games that fall into the horror category, and explicitly Halloween-centric games." Its themed-fest rules add that "discount games are prioritized", while free games, games still in Coming Soon and games with demos are "also welcome to participate". So expect demos and wishlist bait next to the discounts.

Valve posted the Steam Scream V trailer on its YouTube channel on October 26, and it shows the kind of game Valve wants in the window: Resident Evil 4 at 0:08, The Outlast Trials at 0:14, Escape the Backrooms at 0:16, Dead Island 2 at 0:20, Phasmophobia at 0:26, Devour at 0:30, Metro 2033 Redux at 0:36, Inscryption at 0:50, MiSide at 0:58 and Signalis at 1:04, with the dates on the end card from 1:12. Being in the trailer doesn't promise a discount; the store page of each game decides that.

Last year's edition gave the same shape. Steam Scream IV ran October 27 to November 3, and Valve's announcement promised discounts "from now through November 3rd"; its trailer put Phasmophobia on screen at 0:40.

Screenshot: Steam Scream IV official trailer, Steam (YouTube), 0:41

Sons of the Forest is the one to watch from our own coverage, and it joined. On October 27 Steam had it at $8.39, 72% off $29.99, until November 2. That beats last year: during Scream IV, an r/GameDeals deal post listed it at "68% off" for "$9.59", and one player on r/SonsOfTheForest wrote that they "finally got this for 416 INR($4.7) during the Steam scream event". This October it was already 71% off in the Autumn Sale and back at $29.99 on October 23; the Autumn Sale is seasonal, so it didn't block the Scream discount. Our Sons of the Forest complete guide is the place to start.

GODEEPER: Bought it and want a partner? Sons of the Forest multiplayer and save guide →

Horror games we've covered: Scream V prices

These are Steam US prices, first on October 23, three days before the fest, then at 02:20 UTC on October 27, once Scream V had opened. "Ends" is the date on each game's store page; the October releases can't be discounted on Steam until the date shown.

Five games we cover took a fresh Scream V discount, all ending November 2. Two of the others only look like Scream deals: Static Dread and The Sinking City 2 kept offers that were already running on October 23, and THE DEAD WE KNEW is still on its launch offer, on a game our Early Access report says to wait on. Security 51's 30% offer ended on October 24 as expected, and the cooldown keeps it at $9.99 for the whole fest.

Why October's new horror games stay full price

Screenshot: Steam Scream IV official trailer, Steam (YouTube), 0:58

Valve's discounting page is blunt about it. "A product cannot be discounted for 30 days following its release", with one exception: a launch discount, which "can only be set up prior to product's release date". Launch discounts run 7 to 14 days. And a game "cannot be discounted within 30 days of another discount".

The exemption you may remember from the big sales doesn't stretch this far. Valve exempts only "the four seasonal seasonal sales: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter" (the typo is Valve's), and its FAQ says the cooldowns apply to "Steam Fests" by name. Scream V is a Fest.

In practice that rules out Hellraiser: Revival and Silver Pines (both out October 8) and PAPERHEAD (October 9) for the whole event. It also rules out anything whose last discount ended within the past month, which is why Security 51's offer matters. The flip side: games launching during the fest can carry a launch discount. Curse of Resthaven, one of our Next Fest horror demo picks, launches October 29, and HANDS OVER, the party horror game from our Next Fest demo preview, enters Early Access on October 30.

Steam Scream V deals we've checked

The short list from the table: Sons of the Forest at $8.39 is the deal to take if you don't own it, Saint of Chains at 40% off is the biggest cut among the smaller games, and Fears to Fathom: Scratch Creek at $5.59 is the cheap one for a group. All three end at 10 AM PT on November 2. If a game you care about isn't on our list, check your wishlist: Valve says any discount of 20% or more "can automatically trigger wishlist notifications", so Steam will already have told you.

For the October releases that Steam can't discount, a key store is where to look for a lower price this week. On October 27, Eneba (sponsored) had the Global Steam key for Hellraiser: Revival from $28.72, against $39.99 on Steam. Eneba (sponsored) had Silver Pines from $18.07 (Steam: $24.99), and Eneba (sponsored) had Valor Mortis from $31.55 (Steam: $39.99). Key-store prices move with sellers, so check the price on the page before you pay. Among the discounted games, Eneba (sponsored) listed Static Dread's Global key from $3.19, well under Steam's $8.99; for the rest, Steam's own Scream price was the lowest we found.

Temper the expectations a little. On r/Steam's Scream IV thread, one player asked "Am I the only one who feels this year's scream sale feels underwhelming?" The reply that stuck was the accurate one: "Valve just puts on the events, it's publishers who choose if they want to participate and what kind of sale they have."

GODEEPER: Got a group for Halloween? Fears to Fathom Scratch Creek: can you play it alone? →

Halloween: The Game is the timely odd one out. Its Halloween 2026 content update adds a free Tower Farm map, and new paid versions of Michael go on sale on October 27, the day after Scream opens. Our Halloween: The Game review says who it suits at $39.99.

Our take

Treat Scream V as two lists. The older horror on our list is where the discounts landed, and Sons of the Forest went deeper than last Scream's 68% and this Autumn's 71%, to 72% off. The October releases are out of reach on Steam until well into November, so the question is whether each is worth it now. Our Hellraiser: Revival review says buy it for Pinhead and wait if you want a shooter; the Silver Pines review is for old-school survival horror fans who can live with clumsy fights; and the Valor Mortis review is for parry lovers who can forgive some jank.

How we checked this

On October 23, 2026 we read Steam's Scream page (store.steampowered.com/category/scream) and banner, Valve's upcoming-events and discounting pages, and Valve's Scream IV announcement. We pulled every price above from Steam's US store data, read each running offer's end date on the store page, and watched Valve's Scream IV trailer to log its timestamps. Valve's Scream V event page in the Steamworks docs returned an error, so the dates rest on the store page and the events schedule. At 02:20 UTC on October 27, after the fest opened, we pulled every price again from Steam's US store data, read the offer end dates on each discounted store page, stepped through Valve's Scream V trailer, and read the Eneba prices in US dollars from each product page.

References

• Steam Scream page on the Steam store
• Steamworks: Upcoming Steam Events
• Steamworks: Steam Themed Sale Events
• Steamworks: Discounting
• Steam: "Steam Scream 4 has arrived!" announcement
• Steam Scream V 2026 Trailer on YouTube and Steam Scream IV: Official Trailer
• Sons of the Forest on Steam
• Fears to Fathom: Scratch Creek on Steam
• Halloween: The Game on Steam and its Halloween 2026 Content Update
• The Sinking City 2 on Steam
• Static Dread: The Submarine on Steam
• Security 51 on Steam
• Creature Kitchen on Steam
• Saint of Chains on Steam
• The Last Winter Knight on Steam
• Luna Abyss on Steam
• Scarlet Deer Inn on Steam
• Besmirch on Steam
• Temple 13 - Time Collapse on Steam
• Yunyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis on Steam
• THE DEAD WE KNEW on Steam
• PAPERHEAD on Steam
• Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival on Steam
• Silver Pines on Steam
• Valor Mortis on Steam