Of beanstalks, frost, and lanterns: Junk Jack X goes full Halloween

Well, at least this neighborhood is well lit.

The Terraria-inspired mine-a-lot Junk Jack X was one of our runners-up for Action Game of the Year 2013 (losing out to Tilt to Live 2), and it looks like the game’s still going relatively strong with the recent version 2.2.3 update. It’s all Halloween-y, naturally.

Though they’ve clearly a missed opportunity in not calling this the “Jack-O’-Lantern X” update (or at least the “Junk-O-Ween” update), developer Pixbits have put together all the requisite spooky bits of digital bric-a-brac which are basically expected from games of Junk Jack’s stripe this time of year (and some bug fixes, too). Sure, witches and zombies are overused fantasy tropes, but now Junk Jack X has “Witch Zombies,” which one assumes are less Sabrina, more Henrietta. Acid pits are in too, so you can get your House on Haunted Hill… on. And–direct pull from the announcement–a “new rare placeable hanging skull,” which for some reason is a felony when I advertise on Craigslist but a plus here, so go figure.

Even having not played the game, holiday theming like this makes me grin. It’s extra work for, what, about a week or so of relevance? That’s some festive dedication right there. At the same time, I can’t imagine many jumping into the game for the first time on the strength of a holiday update alone–rather, this sort of decoration seems primarily a bonus for the faithful.

Junk Jack X is $4.99 on the App Store. Wholly unseasonal video after the jump.