In 2017 ATVG found a Halloween treat – Shoot the Zombirds – to help Apple TV gamers celebrate the annual pumpkin-fest.

In 2018? ATVG’s Halloween treat went AWOL and players had to find their own fun. Sorry.

But this year ATVG is back with a perfect Halloween treat, with more ghosts, goblins, and monsters than you can point a vacuum cleaner at (that will make a lot more sense over the page, trust me).

To gain access to this year’s treat you’ll need an Apple Arcade subscription and a controller. If you have an Apple TV, and you want to turn it into a gaming console with an instant library of currently 89 kickass video games across almost every genre imaginable, then you need to pick up those two things.

For those already equipped, and for those curious, click through to learn about this year’s ghastly Halloween recommendation – Dead End Job.

Had studio Ant Workshop gone with a title like Ghosts ‘n Guns, or Monster Shooty McShooterer, I would’ve been playing from day one.

My taste in games is as eclectic as my tastes in all other things – books, films, music, etc. With my wide-ranging tastes, I find it near-impossible to nail down favourites of anything. But if someone held a gun to my head and absolutely forced me to pick my three favourite gaming genres, I’d say RPGs (fantasy, sci-fi, first-person, top-down, doesn’t matter), 2D action platformers, and twin-stick shooters.

Dead End Job is a quality example of a twin-stick shooter, but because of its name, I didn’t even click through to the game’s page on the App Store to watch the trailer until a few days ago. I assumed it was some kind of menial Job Simulator clone, and I already have a job.

But that’s enough about names, because as already stated, Dead End Job is a helluva twin-stick shooter. Let’s talk about that.

There’s no shortage of twin-stick shooters available, so it comes down to the details that set the great ahead of the good. And on a quick side-note, for readers after another fantastic twin-stick shooter for Apple TV, you need Barbearian in your life, and you can read more about it right here.

The tongue-in-cheek story involves an office cleaner tasked with the menial job of tidying office spaces, which includes clearing out the ghosts that inhabit them. This involves a two step process, with step one being to shoot the ghosts until their health bar wears down to the point where they are stunned.

Step two is a wonderful nod to the 1980s classic game version of Ghostbusters, with players needing to get up close to the stunned spirits in order to suck them up into your vacuum. Love it.

Successful missions will gradually see your ghost scrapbook filled out, documenting the items you’ve collected on your adventures, and includes a funny grimoire detailing the ghosts and ghouls you’ve vanquished. The scrapbook is a wonderful little record of your progress.

While you’re busy hoovering ghosts, don’t forget to shoot the furniture to collect power-ups, health, and cash. This is a job after all, and no job is worth doing for free. A handy mini-map in the top right corner shows the rooms cleared in each level. Love a good mini-map, and there are a couple of options to re-size it as well.

The story is depicted in a Ren and Stimpy-esque visual style, and has your cleaner Hector saving up his hard-earned in order to save his mentor’s soul, lest she become destined to haunt eternally. A Saturday morning vibe hits right up front in Dead End Job, as the intro plays a song that gives all the exposition you’ll need, and if for no reason other than shits and giggles, I highly recommend listening to the song in full.

With Halloween coming up, I can think of no better recommendation than Dead End Job. Lovingly crafted, it will fill ooze from your Apple TV to your flatscreen with slimy Ghostbusters goodness.

Pure fun.

If you’re new to The Apple TV Gaming Blog (ATVG), or just new to Apple TV gaming in general, or both, then the best place to get acquainted is our Best Apple TV Games of 2019 article. You’ll find a great collection of games to play, and a bunch of useful links to our previous site content. Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.