Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Announces New Events for Halloween Week

October is the perfect time for ghostly things, and that extends to the world of Pokemon. This month, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players can check out a brand-new 5-star Tera Raid event that will be centered around Gengar. During this event, the beloved Ghost/Poison-type will begin appearing in Raids in the Nintendo Switch game. The Gengar that players encounter will have a Ghost Tera type, so players won’t be able to take advantage of its Poison-type weaknesses! The event will begin on October 28th, and will run through October 31st.

When Gengar made its debut in Pokemon Red and Green, it had a lot of negatives attached. While Ghost-type attacks have a type advantage against Psychics, Gengar’s Poison-type makes it susceptible to taking heavy damage from Pokemon like Mewtwo and Alakazam. The beauty of Terastallization in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is that it can help a Pokemon shed some of its weaknesses. In this case, by becoming a pure Ghost-type, Gengar is now harder to type match against (at least while Terastallized). That makes it slightly harder for opponents, but also a lot easier to use in battle! Players that plan on checking out Raids during this event will want to bring in a Dark-type, or a Pokemon that can use Ghost-type moves.

In addition to the Gengar Tera Raids, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players can celebrate spooky season with a mass outbreak event. Starting the same day as the Gengar event, players can expect to see mass outbreaks featuring Gastly, Misdreavus, Shuppet, and Bramblin. These mass outbreaks will all take place throughout Paldea, though nothing seems to be happening in Kitakami or Blueberry Academy. During the event, players will have an increased chance of finding these Ghost-types with the Crafty mark. When that mark is assigned by the player, it will apply the title “the opportunist” when the Pokemon is sent into battle.

All in all, this is a pretty minor event, but it’s nice to see Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is still getting some kind of content to keep players invested. At this point, the game is nearly two years old, and it’s pretty atypical to see Game Freak giving fans a reason to spend any time with an existing game that far into its lifespan. The next mainline game in the franchise is Pokemon Legends: Z-A, but that still does not have a release date at the moment, and we don’t know of any other Pokemon games coming to Switch. Basically, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is going to have to continue to tide fans over for the time being, so even these small events are welcome. As 2025 starts to approach, hopefully we’ll start to get a better idea of when the next Pokemon game can be expected!

Are you planning to check out these Gengar Tera Raid Battles? Are you still spending time with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!