With every year that passes, I appreciate the smaller things in life more - the crisp autumn leaves, pumpkins showing up on people's doorsteps, and the ability to dress my characters up for the season. Oh, wait, I can't, because Hoyoverse doesn't give us spooky season skins.
Each year, we get some spooky artwork filled with Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero characters. Last year saw Anby, Nicole, and Nekomata dressed as zombies and a cat while trick or treating, and there are even pictures of bangboos wearing costumes like witches and vampires. Over on the Astral Express, Sampo donned a vaguely Little Red Riding Hood-like outfit, and Clara became a werewolf with a mummy-themed Hook next to her.
So, if we get this artwork with effort and love put into it, why not some in-game cosmetics? As much as I'd love some spooky-ooky skins in Genshin, it doesn't really fit the vibe of the game, so I can let that one slide. That said, we do have Klee's witch skin and Kaeya as a pirate, and some new themed artwork on merch this year - so there are some costume vibes already, even if they came out during summer and not fall.
Some ideas that Hoyoverse could so easily implement include a classic vampire skin for ZZZ's Hugo, or themed outfits for the entirety of Victoria Housekeeping - or even, you know, the Spook Shack group. Lycaon is already a wolf, but there's room to give him a skin of some kind.
Imagine it in Star Rail: Huohuo dressed as a ghost to match her vibe, Boothill as a pirate instead of a cowboy, Jade as a witch, Hysilens being a full skeleton… the material is there. Sampo dressed up as a five-star version of himself, or Dan Heng being either of his other forms for a Halloween party would be a vibe.
Funnily enough, a gacha game that released in June of this year has actually implemented some Halloween skins for the most wonderful time of the year. Etheria: Restart has almost Disney-like pumpkin-themed outfits available for the male and female main characters to wear, going live during the Spirit Gathering event. I'll be there, getting my creepy vibes on, and then running around as a pumpkin head.
Another game that cottoned on to the Halloween skin idea is Arknights, bringing in classic horror icon-inspired outfits like mummies and rogue scientists,
Zenless Zone Zero already has skins and different cosmetic items available for the Proxies, so where's my skeleton mask? Or a bag of candy to hold? Little devil horns, a candy-corn-shaped badge, even a spiderweb. I just want to be spooky. Give me a floating Wubbaboo companion in Honkai Star Rail, for goodness' sake!
Of course, I'm glad there isn't a predatory amount of skins being pumped out, but it would be nice to see maybe a couple more options across the year. If you are interested in kitting out your characters with what's available, you can see every Genshin Impact skin here. As always, you can also find all the Honkai Star Rail codes and Zenless Zone Zero codes, too.