Highlights
- Gamers can find easily recognizable and replicable video game costumes for Halloween, such as Mario and Luigi or characters from Baldur's Gate and Uncharted .
- Link and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda franchise offer a wide range of costume options, with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom providing plenty of inspiration.
- Dressing up as Mortal Kombat characters allows for creativity and customization, with the ability to go simple or detailed, depending on preference. Resident Evil 4 and The Last of Us also offer iconic costume options for horror fans.
Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year. Its combination of festivities, treats, and costumes makes it highly anticipated all over the world. Whether gamers are casual customers or hardcore cosplayers, there's no better excuse to flex the imagination and scour the internet for the coolest outfits to wear.
For Halloween costume ideas, look no further than the video game world. Some of the most loved characters in gaming have staple outfits that would be instantly recognizable even to the non-gamer. There's a multitude of easily replicated looks for last-minute parties, or low-effort fits, as well as choices that will take a bit more work but will ultimately be worth it.
8 Mario and Luigi - Super Mario
Mario and Luigi, and indeed all denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, are easy choices for gamers looking to sport a classic, universally known video game costume. These two plumbing brothers are iconic enough that any combination of their trademark outfits will be easily identifiable, meaning gamers can make them as simple or complicated as desired.
An easy Mario or Luigi costume only requires their respective color tops (red and green) underneath some form of denim. This can be dungarees, a denim dress, or even just jeans for the casual costume-wearer. Gamers can easily print out their classic letter logos and pin them to their outfits to add a little more detail. It's a great choice for last-minute Halloween plans and can easily be elaborated with hats, mustaches, and logos.
7 Your Baldur's Gate Character - Baldur's Gate 3
Almost all gamers have delved into the Baldur's Gate world since its release, and what better way to pay tribute to the time and effort spent designing a player character than dressing up as them? There's also always the option to go as another character from the game, especially if players choose to play as origin characters. This is a great choice for any gamers into Baldur's Gate, Divinity, or D&D.
Of course, the difficulty of this outfit depends on the intricacies of each player's character. This alone makes it highly versatile, allowing easy-going players to make a more simple, adventurer outfit and letting cosplay enthusiasts recreate all the small details that make their character unique. This also makes for a fun conversation starter, and committed gamers can even try to replicate classic dialogue and mannerisms.
6 Elena Fisher and Nathan Drake - Uncharted
These are either brilliant options for individuals or the perfect combo for couples and friends. These two iconic adventurers - from one of Naughty Dog's highest-rated games - sport easy-to-replicate outfits that will have everyone at the Halloween party impressed. Players have a few outfits to choose from depending on the game they draw inspiration from, and groups of friends could even replicate characters from Uncharted's expanded cast, like Sully, Nadine, and Chloe.
All gamers will really need to put together one of these costumes is a long-sleeved t-shirt or tank top, a harness, and some earth-colored trousers or dark jeans. Gun props are optional, and gamers could also add some dirt to their face and clothes to add more detail. Many people will have the components of these outfits lying around, making them the perfect last-minute choice.
5 Link and Zelda - The Legend of Zelda
Thanks to the dozens of games in the franchise, these two video game legends have no shortage of outfits to choose from. However, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, in particular, have provided a massive amount of content for gamers to select Halloween costumes from. Although classic Link is relatively simple to cobble together, Zelda is a far more accessible costume now that they've switched up from her past complicated dresses.
Players can pair a long white dress with gold accessories to imitate Zelda's Breath of the Wild ceremony dress. Alternatively, costume pros can layer a blue crop top over a white corset above gray leggings and boots to sport her more commonly worn look. For Link, gamers can either don his classic long green tunic over white pantyhose or attempt one of his many, many outfits from Tears of the Kingdom. This is definitely more of a challenge, but well worth it for the epic looks.
4 Mortal Kombat Characters - Mortal Kombat
The best part about dressing up as a Mortal Kombat character is the ability to go as simple or detailed as players wish. Some of these characters have the most distinct outfits in video game history and will be instantly recognizable, even in a casual form. There's also a wide range to choose from, which lets gamers pick the difficulty of their costume well before they begin assembling it.
A great choice for a casual costume would be Johnny Cage, particularly his Mortal Kombat 1 outfit, in which he sports a shirt and trousers with some classic shades. Another good but more challenging pick would be Kitana, which could be achieved with the right blue co-ord and headpiece or elaborately put together with all the brilliant details.
3 Leon Kennedy, Ada Wong, and Ashley Graham - Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil is host to a whole cast of characters that are the perfect Halloween costumes, but with Resident Evil 4's 2023 remake, these three icons are on the minds of many gamers around the world. These outfits will bring a little more horror to Halloween, with the choice to make them as simple or scary as players like.
For Leon's get-up, players can wear black cargo pants and a fitted t-shirt, with or without his iconic leather jacket. Additional accessories like his harness and prop guns would add to the costume but aren't totally necessary. Meanwhile, Ashley's outfit simply needs a checked green skirt with a yellow cable-knit jumper and boots; once again, her blazer is optional.
For gamers looking to embody the coolest spy around, Ada Wong is the perfect choice. Her newer look is more practical and would only take a red sweater dress, black leggings, black boots, and, of course, a gun harness. Individuals can decide how much dirt and blood they want to add to their costume once it's finished.
2 Joel and Ellie - The Last of Us
Off the back of its highly successful TV adaption, The Last of Us costumes are bound to be a popular choice for Halloween. These two video game stars have great looks, especially if gamers choose to do this as a double-up costume.
For Ellie, her staple red shirt with a long-sleeved, black undershirt is the best choice. Paired with jeans and sneakers, a backpack, and brown hair - put up in her signature ponytail. It would help to have some grime and maybe even a fake zombie bite to really nail the character. As for Joel, the facial hair is an absolute must - real or fake - as well as his staple dirty button-up, dark jeans, and backpack. Both Ellie and Joel can carry a fake gun or knife to add an extra bit of detail. Together, these two will be instantly recognizable.
1 Mike, Jess, Chris, Ashley, Josh, Emily, Matt and Sam - Until Dawn
Until Dawn is one of the most well-known horror games of the 21st Century, known for its phenomenal acting and intense scenes. It is also home to a huge group of characters to choose from. This is the perfect Halloween costume option for big groups of friends, particularly those all attending the same party.
Every character in Until Dawn has a distinct look, especially since most of them don't change their clothes at all during the game. Some great examples are Jessica, with her plaits and blue snow jacket, Ashley, with her pink beanie and zip-up hoodie, and Matt, with his turtleneck and letterman jacket combo. If the whole group commits to the theme, it'll make for some killer pictures - and it's the perfect opportunity to replay the game.