Dota 2 Turns Into A Haunted House For Halloween

Dota 2 has always led the MOBA pack in rad game modes and fun seasonal Halloween content, but they managed to outdo even themselves this year with “Haunted Colosseum.” It’s a new custom game mode that makes Dota much more…haunted. More in a ridiculous slap-stick way than a creepy one.

As the name implies, “Haunted Colosseum” takes place in a dungeon full of big ugly monsters and spiky contraptions. Unlike normal Dota 2 games, which challenge both teams to breaks through the enemy’s defences and destroy the large “ancient” at the heart of their base, the new mode focuses on king of the hill-esque point control. There are five “control points” on the map. Players capture them for their team by standing on top of them.

Once one team has captured three control points, they start accumulating in-game points. Having four or five makes you gain points faster. The first team to get 5000 points wins the game.

But the fun doesn’t stop there in the haunted colosseum. Things start to get really interesting once you introduce deadly traps and NPC golems into the mix. Like the control points, traps are activated simply by standing on top of them. After that, some deadly contraption like a gigantic bladed pendulum drops in to obliterate anything caught in its path:

Thing is, traps hurt anyone caught in their way. This makes for some hilarious moments, like when the DotaCinema YouTubers shown above accidentally trip a pendulum trap…and end up killing two of their own teammates:

Oooooof. Rekt!

The chaotic clumsiness of “Haunted Colosseum,” combined with its numerous semi-scripted events and objectives, make the game mode very reminiscent of Blizzard’s new-ish MOBA Heroes of the Storm, in a good way.

Valve didn’t say how long “Haunted Colosseum” will be around, but fans have been responding to it very positively so far, so hopefully we’ll all get a chance to play a few games before it goes away (if it goes at all).

You can play the Haunted Colosseum by starting Dota 2 through Steam and accessing it in the custom games section of the client. Happy Halloween!