Deep Rock Galactic’s Halloween event gives new and returning hats separate assignments

The event runs until November 5

Ghost Ship Games' October 22 Steam update says Hoxxes Halloween is live in Deep Rock Galactic. The preview published on October 16 gives the start as October 22 at 13:00 CET, and both notices put the end at November 5 at 13:00 CET. The event therefore has a stated closing time as well as a closing date. The notices print CET without a separate regional timetable; players using another time zone should check the in-game event timer before leaving an assignment until the last day.

The live post points readers back to the preview for the full announcement, then recaps the activities available during the event. There is a new headgear reward, an assignment for earlier Halloween hats, flying skulls in the caves, and seasonal changes around the Space Rig. The two reward assignments have different names and purposes. Picking up an older hat collection and earning the new Straw Boss item require attention to the relevant assignment rather than a single checklist that the announcement says covers everything.

Straw Boss has its own assignment

The new headgear is called Straw Boss. The preview says players earn it by completing the special assignment before the event ends, and the live recap repeats the Halloween-assignment requirement. Neither notice lists a mission count or a sequence of objectives. The assignment description inside the game is needed to see those steps. The announcement does not make hunting skulls or finishing the older-hat assignment a stated requirement for this new reward.

The preview introduces the hat in a section called Hat's in the Bag. Its description jokes about whether the wearer is a Glyphid in disguise or has a face more frightening than a scarecrow. The public text presents Straw Boss as headgear and provides an illustration; it does not describe a weapon, a new character ability, or a statistical bonus attached to wearing it.

Earlier hats use Last Year’s Horrors

The Last Year's Horrors assignment is the return route for earlier Halloween hats. The preview addresses both newcomers and players who missed previous Hoxxes Halloween events, and says this assignment lets them claim the headgear from those earlier events before November 5. The live recap explicitly describes the reward as all the previous Halloween hats. It remains a separate assignment from the one for Straw Boss.

The notices do not publish an item-by-item list or an exact number of returning hats. They also do not explain how the rewards are displayed for an account that already owns some of them. A returning player can compare the game's assignment reward list with their collection before choosing what to complete. The word all describes the earlier Halloween headgear in the announcement; it does not turn the returning-hat assignment into the route for this year's newly announced item.

Earlier developer posts give examples of that history. The 2025 preview introduced Dawn of the Spawn headwear, while the 2024 preview introduced the Creeper Wolf Mask. The 2024 post also mentioned a jack-o-lantern hat in its returning-cosmetics section. These are names from earlier event announcements, not a newly published, itemized 2026 reward list. They can help returning players recognize which Halloween releases they collected before. Both older previews also use Last Year's Horrors as the returning-cosmetic assignment's name, although each announcement describes the rewards and window for its own year.

Keep the dates on those older posts with their original years. The 2025 event ran from October 30 through November 13; the 2024 window was October 24 through November 7. Those deadlines belong to the earlier celebrations. For the current event, the two 2026 announcements specify October 22 through November 5.

Depositing a skull earns the stated bonus

Flying skulls are back in the caves. The live recap tells players to shoot them down and deposit them to earn a Double Performance Point Bonus. It describes a sequence of actions, so simply spotting a skull is not the completion condition stated in that notice. The preview's skull section likewise says a player is rewarded for bringing back a skull. Follow the game's deposit interaction rather than assuming a shot alone has completed it.

There is a wording difference within the preview itself. Its introductory paragraph calls the event's bonuses Double XP, while its detailed skull section already uses Double Performance Point Bonus. The October 22 live recap uses the specific Performance Point name again. That is the wording used here; the notices do not establish that every type of experience doubles. They also do not give a numerical award per skull, a stacking rule for multiple deposits, or a mission type that guarantees a skull.

The Space Rig has Halloween decorations

The preview says pumpkins and ghosts are being put up around the Space Rig. The live post confirms that the hub is haunted again and singles out ominous whispers at the Abyss Bar. The studio describes those sounds as ambience in its announcement. This is the social-space part of the event, separate from the assignment reward descriptions and the instructions to bring back skulls from the caves. The public notices do not attach a new reward condition to inspecting the decorations.

Keep the published deadline separate from missing details

The confirmed closing time is November 5 at 13:00 CET. Neither announcement provides complete assignment instructions, and the preview's fictional R+D commentary about investigating skull patterns does not publish spawn coordinates. Its questions about randomness are part of the studio's event introduction, not a map or a guaranteed farming route. Players looking for mission-by-mission instructions will need the live game or a further developer explanation. The two announcements establish the reward categories and timing, but leave those detailed rules open.

Mug preorders have an earlier deadline

The October 22 live post also carries a separate merchandise notice. It says Scorched Steel is closing preorders for DRG Beer Mugs on October 31, and links to a BackerKit preorder page. That date falls before the in-game event's November 5 finish. The mug notice is a purchase opportunity for a physical product; it is not described as a reward for completing either Halloween assignment.

The announcement does not quote a mug price, delivery date or shipping terms. Those details need to be checked on the linked preorder page before ordering. A reader planning only the in-game rewards can keep the November 5 event timer as the relevant deadline. Someone interested in the mug needs to check the October 31 preorder cutoff separately, since the studio's two dates apply to different things.