Did you know this Halloween there will be no moon in the sky? It’s been 19 years since the last time All Hallows’ Eve fell on a New Moon. What could be more creepy than spending an evening exploring an abandoned mansion without the moon to light your way? Visiting that mansion’s graveyard, perhaps!

As you’ve already read, real world phenomena are important in Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, out this week for PS4 and PS Vita. This is a game that seeks to blur the line between video game and reality. When you play during a real life rainstorm, it’s also raining in the game. If you play in the evening, it’s night at Blackbird Estate, the creaky abandoned manor in which the game is set. And the moon phase outside your window is the same in the game as well. There are mysteries, rare moths, and secret passages that you’ll only encounter during certain phases of the moon. The New Moon is particularly significant.

So yes, this is your chance to spend Halloween seeking clues in stained glass windows and decrypting ancient stone etchings on the darkest of nights in a game that uniquely echoes real life. But there’s more. We programmed Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon to know what specific day of the year it is, too. And we created a little surprise that only appears the week of Halloween. While we were working on the game, we asked all of our fans for a particular type of Halloween submission, and we chose our favourite. You’ll have to find it for yourself in the sprawling Blackbird Estate, however.

Much has been made of the game’s Platinum Trophy. Obtaining it will require devotion and cleverness far beyond what you’d normally expect. You see, Halloween isn’t the only time of year that changes Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, and rainstorms and moon phases aren’t the only way that reality seeps into your game experience.

Centuries ago there was a secret society called The Knights of the Buried Chambers whose membership included key figures of the Illuminati, the Freemasons, and the Order of the Asiatic Brethren. We researched this group thoroughly, and the secret society in Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon is modeled after them, faithfully depicting their rituals and customs. The game even features the cipher alphabet the Knights used to write secret messages! Doing your own research will reveal a whole new understanding of the game, explain what is afoot in the deepest levels of the story, and put you on the path to the real life mystery of the Knights of the Buried Chambers. There are certain events which only occur a few times every year. You will comprehend all of this and know how it fits into this fiendish puzzle before that Platinum Trophy is in your hands.

“I thought Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon was an action game?” you may be asking yourself. Don’t worry. It is! You don’t have to pay attention to any of this nonsense to build your own webs, tackle hornets out of mid-air, or hunt insects. You never even have to understand the story of the family that once lived at Blackbird Estate, nor learn why The Knights of the Buried Chambers built the place. A real life spider wouldn’t care, so why should you?