From its distinctive setting to the ability to switch between first and third person in recent entries, the Fallout series is absolutely ripe for shifting into a full-fledged horror experience with just a few tweaks.

All the elements are already there: desperate people eking out an existence in small settlements while roving ghouls and super mutants rampage outside, the bleak nature of a post-apocalyptic setting, utterly amoral raiders and insane killer robots, to name but a few.

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While Fallout has utilized horror elements before (think of the haunted mansion taking cues from the Cthulhu mythos back in Fallout 3), on the whole the series prefers to be silly over scary.

You can change all that and radically shift Fallout 4 into a horror game for Halloween just by installing a few simple mods.

Pip-Boy Flashlight

This genius little mod changes the Pip-Boy light to a focused flashlight beam, really ramping up the atmosphere and tension in dark ruins or out in the Commonwealth wasteland at night. Not only does it already lend that horror movie vibe, but it really goes well with the rest of the mods that play with darkness and shading.

Note: this one doesn't work with other mods that change the appearance of the Pip-Boy, so if you've got that wicked awesome Nuka Cola Pip-Boy, it's going to break this mod.

Darker Nights

Pitch black landscaping and darkened corridors full of 'nope' are a horror genre staple, and that's what you get with this must-have mod. It becomes even more perfect if blended with the Pip-Boy Flashlight mod, making Fallout feel more like Alan Wake and less like an action game. How does civ 5 multiplayer work.

Wasteland Horrors Reshade

More than just changing the darkness levels with the previous mod, this one re-shades everything to give off a darker, creepier vibe. The whole Commonwealth gets a gritty makeover so the wasteland is less vibrant and more terrifying, just as a dead world should be!

Vault 1080

Celebrating the GTX 1080 graphics card, this mod doesn't come courtesy of some random fan, but instead is offered up straight from NVIDIA! Of course the focus is on the graphical side, with the mod creating better looking light, shadows, and debris objects.

There's a full new quest line in addition to the visual upgrades though, sending the Sole Survivor to a creepy, old, fog-shrouded church showing off those updated effects.

Mortal Settlers

This mod increases the stakes and make raids on your settlements more tense, as they can now be utterly wiped out with settlers actually dying instead of just falling down temporarily. This shift adds in an actual survival element, as currently there's not really much of a point to defending your settlements from the evils found out in the wasteland.

True Storms

The Far Harbor DLC added in some great green fog effects for a creepy vibe, but as is usually the case with Bethesda games, some intrepid modders had already beaten the developer to the punch!

True Storms not only adds more creepy and atmospheric weather (be sure to mix it up with the flashlight and darkness mods!), but can also add in dangerous radiation-causing rain so the outdoors become more dangerous.

Playable Ghoul

That's right, play as a ghoul - why let the NPCs have all the fun? There's actually several different mods that all tackle this from different angles, some only changing the textures and others actually giving ghoulish characteristics, like immunity to radiation.

I've yet to see one that significantly changes up the dialog or quest options though, so it's time to get on that modders, and let us really play through Fallout 4 in a very different way!

Creepy Monsters

While the ghouls are clearly meant to evoke that visceral 'Ahhhh zombies!' reaction, they aren't really as scary as they could be, and that's something the modding community just wouldn't stand for.

This mod makes horrific creatures like the ghouls and deathclaws look more menacing and terrifying, and even the lowly mole rat gets a scary work over.

Vault Of Horror Radio

Keeping up with the old timey radio theme from previous games, this radio station features '40s and '50s radio broadcasts of old horror stories from Lovecraft to Poe. That ought to get the atmosphere just right when you're wandering through the darkness with your flashlight mod installed.

With these select terrifying mods in place, Fallout 4 can legitimately replace games like Outlast or Left 4 Dead in your horror gaming rotation this October! What did you think of these picks, and what mods did we miss out on that should have made the list?