one chapter each: haunted as a pass-the-headset night

Halloween, a few people, one Quest. The usual fix: one person plays, everyone else stares at the phone showing the stream, and ten minutes in it gets boring.

HAUNTED: Are You Alone? is better shared. Here’s the run-through for a night where each person plays their own chapter.

why this works

Three things make HAUNTED a good pick for a night like this:

Every chapter is unlocked from the start. In the chapter select you can jump straight into any of them. Nobody has to grind through the first twenty minutes before the next person gets a go.

Every chapter is different. A witch who gets closer when you look away. Hands in the walls. A doll that copies your movements. A hole in the floor full of skulls. So each person gets their own little experience.

You can see it from outside. The scares are physical. Whoever’s playing ducks, swings an invisible axe, crawls along the floor. For the onlookers that’s almost half the entertainment.

beforehand: a quick check

Before the headset goes round, an honest check with the group:

• PEGI 18. The game is for adults. Gore, extreme violence, loud jump scares.
• The content warning. Every time you start, a two-page warning comes up: sudden loud noises, flashing and dimmed light, blood, intense jump scares. According to the game it’s not suitable for pregnant people or anyone with epilepsy, heart conditions or anxiety disorders. If that’s you, watch or handle the music. That’s completely fine.
• Nobody has to. Pass-the-headset doesn’t mean compulsory. If you’d rather just watch, watch.

how the night runs

1. Prep the room. Clear floor, no coffee table within swinging distance, drinks on a shelf. The watchers sit outside the scanned area. HAUNTED isn’t played sitting down, so whoever’s playing needs room to stand, duck and crawl.
2. Scan the room. On start-up the game lists all your scanned rooms. If the living room isn’t there yet: Scan a new room.
3. Casting. Hand out the chapters by mood. If you like swinging, take the hands in the walls (Chapter II) or the doll (Chapter III, baseball bat). If you’d rather aim, take the hole (Chapter IV, revolver and torch). If you want to test your nerves, take the witch (Chapter I).
4. Share the screen. Casting to the TV makes it better for everyone. If you don’t want your flat on the stream, the settings have Hide my room: instead of passthrough you see a virtual padded cell on your real walls. The scares still work.
5. Pass the headset on. After each chapter, a short break, water, wipe the face pad, adjust the strap.

if someone gets stuck

This is where the game shines. After every death there’s a Help button that explains how to beat the chapter. From the third death in a chapter, Skip chapter appears too. So nobody holds up the night because the doll has won for the fifth time.

The watchers are allowed to chip in, of course. That’s part of it.

spoiler rule for the night

We wouldn’t hand out the late parts (Chapter VII, the finale and the epilogue) if someone still wants to play the story themselves. They live on you not knowing them. Save those for whoever owns the Quest.

The secret chapters and the arcade modes are a different story. The arcade modes (Grave Rush, Arm Cutter, Skull Hunt) have top-5 high scores per mode. That’s the perfect finish: one run each, and whoever’s on top wins the last chocolate bar.

the catch

• One Quest, lots of people. Waiting is unavoidable. Past five or six people it drags.
• English only. If you don’t follow English, you miss the voice on the phone, which carries a good chunk of the tension.
• Loud. Neighbours. Just saying.
• Hygiene. One headset, many faces. A wipeable face pad is worth it.

what it costs

£3.99 in the UK Meta Horizon Store (as of 10 Oct 2026), runs on Quest 2, Pro, 3 and 3S: HAUNTED: Are You Alone?. No internet needed, so no bother with the wifi in an old flat either.

one chapter each. one person screams. everyone laughs.