The time has come again: No one is pushing the lore, no point is captured and the secret files lie untouched on the table. It is the time of year, when all Team Fortress 2 players are occupied with fighting against a scary monster to get it's secret treasure on Skull Island.

The monster in this year is Merasmus, a wizard with a scary hat, which is this year's treasure on Skull Island, the Skull Island Trooper. Who is brave enough to play on the new map "Ghost Fort" (koth_Lakeside_Event) will eventually meet Merasmus, who spawns ever and anon at the control point and forces you to play his bewitched games. The goal is to kill him, it is said that the Huntsman of the Snipers shall be very good for that...

Similar to the events in the last years, Valve provides a huge wardrobe of costume items that can be worn mostly in the event time. Plus, there are new crafting items besides the obligatory hats, comparable to the Pyromania-Update. If you craft all seven of those "Voodoo" items, you will get the so called  Pile of Curses. This one is usable in the Backpack (it can be opened like a crate) in gives you a Voodoo-Soul for a random class. Then, if you equip this soul, this class turns into a brain-devouring zombie! No bother, this effect is purely cosmetical, so you won't develop a unusual appetite for humans.

In contrast to the passed Scream Fortress Updates, this year has a special crate (Eerie Crate) with the fitting special key (Eerie Key). The Halloween-Spells, that put special effects (similar to "unusuals") on your weapons and hats, are completely new as well.

• Items Toggle View

  • Bat Outta Hell

    

  • Skull Island Topper

    

    This terrifying (innocuous) witching cap was found by the all-powerful (mediocre) wizard Merasmus in the depths of the Hades Spiral (right near the entrance of the Hades Spiral).

  • Ghostly Gibus

    

    Dominate a player wearing any Gibus hat, collect the Ghostly Gibus, and take your rightful place on the Halloween-update-related-hat-throne.

  • Crone's Dome

    

    For hundreds of years, women have enjoyed all the perks of being a witch (making potions, having warts, getting burned alive) while men stood on the sidelines. No longer! Break through that haunted glass ceiling with the Crone's Dome.

  • Zipperface

    

    "Daddy, what does your skull look like?" "I guess we'll never know, thanks to my stupid face." Pow-zoop! Zipperface! Never look like an idiot in front of your kids again!

  • Wraith Wrap

    

    The perfect accessory for maintaining anonymity while stealing rings from midgets.

  • Voodoo JuJu (Slight Return)

    

    Bones: They hold your body up, keep all your meat in place, and they're all that separates us from jellyfish. Why keep them inside, where they can't get the acclaim they deserve? Here's to you, bones.

  • Grand Duchess Tiara

    

    Celebrate the life of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna with this somber historical costume. Enjoy this replica of the tiara she wore while governing Russia from atop her hundred-foot-tall gumdrop throne.

  • Master Mind

    

    Science fact: the human brain is 70% more effective when exposed to oxygen. Fashion fact: the human brain is 90% cooler-looking when you glue lots of Radio Shack stuff to it. Finally, an item that capitalizes on both.

  • Dead Little Buddy

    

    Take a hike, dogs--there's a new Man's Best Friend on the market. Your pet ghost is guaranteed to be loyal (he's dead! He doesn't know anybody else!), great around children (he used to be one!), and house-trained (ghosts don't poop).

  • Unknown Monkeynaut

    

    Have an actual ghost of Mann Co.'s first doomed monkeynaut expedition haunt your shoulder! Unlike the many other doomed monkeynaut expeditions undertaken by Mann Co., Operation Banana Catapult was unique in that no space shuttles were even used.

  • Boo Balloon

    

    These cheery (but terrifying!) balloons are made from the actual inflated faces of ghosts. Order now, before those uppity ghost rights activists get wind of this and shut it down.

  • Executioner

    

    Being an executioner is a lot more than just killing people. Sometimes you get to torture them first. Tip: To make things interesting, why not torture someone until they yell the secret word? (Hint: the secret word is "Freedom".)

  • Rump-o'-Lantern

    

    Since time immemorial man has had two dreams: the dream of flying, and the dream of tricking people into thinking your ass is haunted. Airplanes took care of the easy dream. This miracle ass lantern tackles the other.

  • Voodoo-Cursed Scout Soul

    

  • Spooky Sleeves

    

    Get these now, before Glenn Danzig finds out about them and buys them all! Seriously, you can have a world where these spooky sleeves are in stock, or a world where Glenn Danzig exists, but not both! Hurry! He's googling "spooky sleeves" RIGHT NOW!

  • Spooky Shoes

    

    From Hell! Size 666! Outside of Hell, that's a 5 1/2. Men's! Experience the agonizing terror of tiny man feet!.

  • Voodoo-Cursed Soldier Soul

    

  • Bonedolier

    

    Scare your friends into thinking you're carrying around deadly grenades. Bask in their relief when it turns out they're only harmless human skulls.

  • Voodoo-Cursed Pyro Soul

    

  • Coffin Kit

    

    Unlike other survival packs, this handy last-aid kit rightly assumes that the moment you're in a survival situation, you are going to die. Just pull the ripcord to inflate the minature coffin into a standard corpse-sized one that you can die right into.

  • Plutonidome

    

    It's a well-known fact that we only use 10% of our brain power. Which means there's a 90% chance that anything you do to your brain is only going to make you smarter. Like letting it float around in plutonium. Let's be honest, doing nothing isn't making you any smarter.

  • Voodoo-Cursed Demoman Soul

    

  • Voodoo-Cursed Heavy Soul

    

  • Grand Duchess Fairy Wings

    

    Celebrate the life of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna with this somber historical costume. Enjoy this replica of the fairy wings she wore while governing Russia from atop her hundred-foot-tall gumdrop throne.

  • Grand Duchess Tutu

    

    Celebrate the life of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna with this somber historical costume. Enjoy this replica of the tutu she wore while governing Russia from atop her hundred-foot-tall gumdrop throne.

  • Voodoo-Cursed Engineer Soul

    

  • Voodoo-Cursed Medic Soul

    

  • Voodoo-Cursed Sniper Soul

    

  • Sir Hootsalot

    

    If owls are so smart, why did this one let you glue it to your shoulder? Come to think of it, neither one of you is looking like a super-genius on this one.

  • Voodoo-Cursed Spy Soul

    

  • Exorcizor

    

    The power of Christ compels you... to get this snazzy exorcizing outfit!

  • Scarecrow

    

    Need a scarecrow but you're short on wood and straw? Why not capture the Spy, stitch his mouth shut, give him buttons for eyes and stick him in your corn field? He probably won't mind. Everybody likes corn.

  • Strange Part: Halloween Kills

    

    Adding this Strange Part to a Strange-quality weapon of your choice will enable it to track the number of enemies you kill during the Halloween event.

  • Strange Part: Robots Destroyed During Halloween

    

    Adding this Strange Part to a Strange-quality weapon of your choice will enable it to track the number of invading Robots you destroy with it in Mann-vs-Machine games during the Halloween event.

  • Eerie Key

    

    Used to open Eerie Crates. Eerie Crates contain
    Halloween-themed items that are only visible
    during the Halloween event and full moons.
    
    After 11/08/2012 this will turn into a normal key.

  • Eerie Crate

    
    • not available anymore
    • (not tradable)

    This crate's contents are unknown and only Eerie Keys fit the lock.
    
    A sinister presence lurks within.
    
    After 11/08/2012 this crate will disappear.

Appropos Zombies...

Mann vs. Machine Gamemode received a new map (Coal Town Event) and a brandnew mission: Mission 666. Here, you fight together with five friends against zombies instead of robots. Hordes of zombies! This mission requires a good deal of skill and is rather not suited for casual players. The new map fits perfectly to the mission. In fact, even the spawn has been redecorated: the Upgrade-Shop looks like a souvenir shop from hell! And the zombies spawn is crowded with tombstones.

Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Added mat_viewportupscale and mat_viewportscale to enable rendering the world at a reduced resolution. ("mat_viewportupscale 1" and "mat_viewportscale 0.5" will downscale world rendering by 50%.)
• Added a new convar mp_mapcycle_empty_timeout_seconds to trigger a changelevel when the server is empty
• Added positional audio support for Mumble clients
• Fixed a bug that prevented consecutive clicks on scrollbar buttons
• Performance and stability improvements

Team Fortress 2

• Scream Fortress Event 2012
• Fixed a bug where buildings would be invisible during their setup time
• Mann vs. Machine
  • Added the map Mvm_coaltown_event with a special Halloween mission
  • Fixed a bug where players money would not be set properly when restoring a checkpoint
  • Fixed server crash on vote to restart mission

Undocumented changes

• Updated the localization files
• Added voice lines for the Scout, Soldier, Demoman, Heavy, Medic, and Spy
• Added the new map Ghost Fort
• Added the Ghostly Gibus, Rump-o'-Lantern, Sir Hootsalot, The Master Mind, The Scarecrow, The Crone's Dome, The Executioner, The Bonedolier, The Plutonidome, The Spooky Shoes, The Spooky Sleeves, The Zipperface, The Boo Balloon, The Unknown Monkeynaut, The Grand Duchess Tutu, The Grand Duchess Fairy Wings, The Grand Duchess Tiara, The Dead Little Buddy, The Voodoo Juju (Slight Return), The Exorcizor, The Wraith Wrap, The Coffin Kit, The Bat Outta Hell, The Skull Island Topper, Halloween 2012 Community Bundle, Voodoo-Cursed Item (Armory), Voodoo-Cursed Old Boot, Voodoo-Cursed Skeleton, Voodoo-Cursed Bag of Quicklime, Voodoo-Cursed Robot Arm, Voodoo-Cursed Novelty Bass, Voodoo-Cursed Sticky-Bomb, Voodoo-Cursed Nail, Voodoo-Cursed Soul (Armory), Zombie Scout, Zombie Soldier, Zombie Pyro, Zombie Demoman, Zombie Heavy, Zombie Engineer, Zombie Medic, Zombie Sniper, Zombie Spy, Pile of Curses, Eerie Crate, Eerie Key, Strange Part (Armory), Strange Part: Halloween Kills, Strange Part: Robots Destroyed During Halloween, Halloween Paints, and UGC Season 6 Medals
• Added new unusual effects: Knifestorm, Misty Skull, Harvest Moon, It's A Secret To Everybody, Stormy 13th Hour.
• Updated Haunted quality colour from #8650AC to #38F3AB.
• Fixed a glitch wherein sniper rifles were unable to destroy Pumpkin Bombs and hurt halloween bosses.
• Added a pumpkin icon to backpack item images that can be worn only on Halloween.
• Added a Balloonicorn icon to backpack cosmetic item images that can only be seen in Pyrovision.