October Game 1 - The Final Pin
This October I'm going to highlight some free/cheap games that I think fit the mood of the season. Most of these are indies, made by a really small team, and all will be playable on PC. I'm going to shoot for a few a week, but we'll see how many I can get around to. Life gets busy, especially in 2025.
The first game is The Final Pin by JordiBoi. This is more of a visual novel or walking simulator than a full game, but the production values are incredible. There is voiceover work throughout and a great PSX-style to the visuals. I won't say much about the story to avoid spoilers, but you play a washed up police officer who has spent his career trying, unsuccessfully, to find a serial killer known as the Crow Killer. After a period of years without a clue, the Crow Killer seems to be active again and it's your job to catch him.
This is a very creepy game, but it achieves that creepiness through story beats and atmosphere instead of gore or jump scares. There are some light investigative gameplay mechanics (search a room for clues to unlock the next area kind of stuff) and there are some very creative crime scenes to investigate. It's available on itch for pay-what-you-want and it really is designed to be finished in one sitting. So if you check it out, and I really think you should, do try to find around 70 minutes of uninterrupted time to get through it at once. It's worth it.
Oh, and the creator made this when they were 16. I'm all for supporting young devs.