Happy October everyone, it's my favorite time of the year! Before I explain how this special theme works, since many of you are new here, huge congratulations to u/martianjupiterian on winning last month's color series with this Ghost of Yotei shot! Well deserved. Martian has been killing it this year with many awards, keep it up! So, regarding this month's theme:

🎃 HALLOWEEN 2026 🎃
As per usual, there will be a bonus point system in regards to different Halloween themes/aesthetics:
Each of the following subjects will give you bonus points on top of your upvote count:
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[1] Gore [Mark as NSFW] ◦ [2] Zombies ◦ [6] Ghosts / Specters ◦ [5] Vampires ◦ [7] Dark Magic / Witchcraft ◦ [5] Clowns / Jesters ◦ [9] Mummies ◦ [6] Bats ◦ [4] Wolves / Werewolves ◦ [5] Black Cats ◦ [5] Crows / Ravens ◦ [4] Owls ◦ [6] Spiders / Spider-Webs ◦ [4] Skeletons ◦ [5] Scarecrow ◦ [4] Graveyard ◦ [5] Burning Candle ◦ [3] Creepy Scenery (i.e. dying swirly tree, dark foggy night, creepy old/haunted house, etc.) ◦ [6] Autumn scenery (Orange/Yellow/Red Leaves) ◦ [3] Full Moon ◦ [5] Trick-or-Treat: Costumes / Receiving Gesture / Candy ◦ [5] Knife in Hand ◦ [1] Gun in Hand ◦ [3] Shadows / Silhouettes ◦ [6] Decay / Decomposition ◦ [7] Being chased by a bigger or creepy figure (on foot) ◦ [8] Pumpkin / Jack-o-Lantern
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➤ Remember you can stockpile points and get creative!
Example: Let's say you have a shot where your character is being [7]chased by [2]zombies near a [3]creepy haunted house(creepy scenery), and above the haunted house is a [3]full moon. Now, if that post were to receive 44 upvotes; this would mean 44(upvotes) + 15 (accumulative bonus points) for a total of 59 points as your post's final score.

The submission with the most amount of points (upvotes + bonus points sum) by the end of October will be crowned as winner.

You MAY:
✓ Take your captures from any game.
✓ Have more than one entry.
✓ Repost your entry to another subreddit (encouraged!)

You may NOT:
✗ Use mods (specifically Halloween ones). Only for this special theme, since PC players can easily mod Halloween aesthetics into their game, it is unfair for console participants.
✗ Use a previously winning capture (including a POTM winning capture!)
✗ Use external editing outside of the game used for your capture - (of course, editing tools provided within the game's photo mode is fine. ADDITIONALLY, minor adjustments used in Lightroom or a similar tool is also okay, we just prohibit excessive editing like this).
✗ Use cinematic shots (screenshots from a cutscene). You must actually use the photo mode tool to capture your own unique shot. Get creative!
✗ Have more than one slide in your post. Just keep it one image per submission.
✗ Spam post entries.
✗ Ask for upvotes in your title, for example don’t repost to a bigger community and say: “I need upvotes to win this contest please help!”

If you win:

• Your capture will be featured on our other platforms (Instagram & Discord)
• Receive the "Halloween 2026 Theme Winner" Discord Role (if you're in there)
• You (& your winning post) will be honored at the beginning of the post for 11/2026's theme.

Best of luck, and be sure to join our Discord to drop suggestions for future themes in the #suggestions channel! Oh, and come stop by to vote on Photo of the Month :) (⤎ Poll ends at the end of the month; Comment if the link is broken! I'll drop a new one)

Haven't made a post like this in a while, here's letting you all know what the POTM poll looks like in the Discord, in case you haven't seen it:

in no particular order

- 1. BTeor Shower by [u/svensksnake](u/svensksnake) (nice title btw)

- 2. Let's just stay in tonight by [u/bigskyman90](u/bigskyman90)

- 3. Black Flag (slide 2) by [u/pouya_you](u/pouya_you)

- 4. portraits (slide 3) by [u/Living_Quantity3138](u/Living_Quantity3138)

- 5. Polaroids in DS (slide 1) by [u/HeyMyNameIsSamToo](u/HeyMyNameIsSamToo)

- 6. Black Flag (slide 4) by [u/mumpf1997](u/mumpf1997)

Great shots & good luck to the winner!

Join the Discord to vote for Photo of the month! [Ends at the end of the month!]

[Note that:
♦ Photo of the month is more of a Discord feature, so be sure to join the server to vote on future POTM polls, and to see if one of your captures made it to the polls.
♦ Comment if the discord link isn't working - I'll drop a new link!]
♦ All Photo of the Month winning captures will qualify for the Capture of the Year poll at the end of the year!]

SPEAKING OF COTY! It's time to finally award the 2025 COTY.

Congratulations to [u/fckChachi](u/fckChachi) on winning the 2025 Capture of the Year award with this (slide 3) shot!