Scream Fortress XVIII, the annual Halloween event for Valve’s free-to-play class-based multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2, has arrived. Valve announced the update on October 1, 2026 through the official Team Fortress 2 blog and Steam Community. The event adds five new community maps, a new cosmetic case, new taunts, new Unusual effects, reset Halloween Contracts, and a list of community-credited bug fixes. It runs through November 7, 2026.
Five New Community Maps and a Haunted Hoard Case
The update features five new community maps, HolyHell, Scarypass, Trainsawlaser, Medi-Evil, and Scaredy-Cat. The Halloween event follows a steady run of community content for the shooter, including the Operation Lithium Lunacy charity event. A new Haunted Hoard Case contains 23 community-created cosmetic items that make up the Haunted Hoard Collection. Valve says the case also has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item.
New Taunts and Unusual Effects
Five new community-contributed taunts were added to the Mann Co. Store, including Hippocratic Hypocrite, Showrunner’s Spirit, Barrel Roll, One-Eyed Punt!, and Sear You Later. The update also adds 21 new community-created Unusual effects, split across 11 for Unusual hats and 10 for Unusual taunts. During the event, all cosmetic and taunt Cases grant Halloween 2026 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects. Valve notes that Crates are not included in that change.
Soul Gargoyle, Merasmissions, and Reset Contracts
Every player who launches Team Fortress 2 receives a Soul Gargoyle if they do not already have one. This item grants access to Merasmissions and Halloween item transmutations, and it tracks completed Merasmissions and souls collected. All Halloween Contracts have been reset so they can be completed again. New Contracts were also added for this year’s featured community maps. Completing a Halloween Contract gives players a classic Halloween item and the chance for a Haunted Hoard Case.
Special Events Queue and Community Bug Fixes
Players join Halloween matches through the Special Events category in Casual. The update also ships a list of general bug fixes, many credited to community contributors. Valve highlights fixes for UberCharge response rules not playing for Halloween items, a client crash related to a missing HUDAutoAim element, and map fixes for koth_sawmill_event, ctf_2fort, cp_dustbowl, cp_well, and pl_redwood.
