This week's parcel: Halloween is over, the adrenaline isn't

Halloween falls on a Saturday in 2026, and for a lot of Quest owners that means an evening of scares in their own living room. Anyone who’s ever watched a horror movie before bed knows the problem. The scare is over, but your pulse isn’t. So this parcel has two halves: a loud one for the evening and a quiet one for after.

The parcel at a glance

Phase	Pick	What it’s for
The scare	HAUNTED: Are You Alone?	Mixed reality horror in your own room, 18+
The landing	MindIsland	5 minutes to wind down
The afterglow	Insight Timer	free sleep and relaxation content
The alternative	Calm	sleep stories and calm music

1. The scare: HAUNTED: Are You Alone?

HAUNTED is a story-driven mixed reality horror game for Meta Quest that turns your own room — scanned with the Quest — into the level. Arms break out of your walls, a hole opens in your floor, a witch glitches through your room. According to the publisher, the story runs about 25 to 35 minutes, so exactly one Halloween evening. After that, three endless arcade modes with high scores are waiting. No spoilers, just this much: there are secrets you should discover for yourself.

Important before you start: the game is PEGI 18 and, per its own content warning, not suitable for children. There are loud jump scares, flickering light and depictions of violence. The warning explicitly applies to pregnant people and people with epilepsy, heart conditions or anxiety disorders as well. You play standing or room-scale; you turn, duck and crawl. So clear your play space, push the coffee table and floor lamp aside, and make sure pets aren’t in the way. The camera never moves on its own, which makes the game more comfortable for a lot of players. More info in the Meta Store.

Best for: Adult horror fans with a Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3 or Quest 3S who’d rather get their scares in their own living room than in a virtual haunted house.

Skip if: Kids or teens are going to play too, or you don’t like jump scares. In that case, a Halloween movie with the lights on is the better call.

2. The landing: MindIsland, five minutes

Headset off, lights on, the living room is a living room again. Now comes the quiet part. MindIsland (mindisland.app) generates a new guided meditation from a sentence you type in. A fitting prompt: “Just played a horror game, my heart is still racing.” The session acknowledges the state first, works through it briefly, then leads into breathing and silence. It always starts with four seconds in, a short pause and six seconds out.

Our setting for this evening: 5 minutes, sitting on the couch or cross-legged on the floor, background music low. The guidance adapts to the posture you choose.

Best for: Anyone who has a hard time switching off after intense games or movies and wants a clear transition into bedtime.

Skip if: You can fall asleep right after a horror night anyway, or you don’t want an app with a subscription. After one free meditation, premium is required.

3. The afterglow: Insight Timer

Insight Timer offers a very large free library of meditations, music and sleep content from a wide range of teachers. If you want something calm in your ears after MindIsland, you’ll find plenty to choose from there without a subscription.

Best for: People who like to browse in the evening and appreciate a free selection.

Skip if: Big libraries tend to overwhelm you. Then the one session from pick 2 is enough.

4. The alternative: Calm

Calm is known for sleep stories and soothing music, pre-produced and sometimes narrated by familiar voices. That’s a format MindIsland doesn’t offer. For a lot of people, a story after a horror night is exactly the right thing to steer the mind toward something harmless.

Best for: People who want to hear a story as they fall asleep.

Skip if: You don’t want to sign up for another subscription. Calm is mostly paid.

The rundown for the evening

1. Before: Clear the play space, leave the room lights on (mixed reality needs good room lighting), keep your drink out of reach.
2. Play: HAUNTED, the story in one sitting or in chapters. Breaks are fine at any point.
3. After: Headset off, take a minute to look around the room, open a window.
4. Land: five minutes of MindIsland.
5. Wind down: Insight Timer or Calm, lights out.

And if you feel dizzy or nauseous while playing: stop right away and take a break. That goes for any VR game.

Price and platform note

As of Oct 10, 2026: HAUNTED: Are You Alone? costs £3.99 in the UK Meta Store, runs on Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3 and Quest 3S, doesn’t need an internet connection and is in English. MindIsland is free to download and includes one free meditation; after that, Premium Monthly costs $12.99 in the US App Store (iPhone and iPad on iOS 15 or later, Android). Insight Timer is mostly free, Calm is mostly paid; check current prices in the store.