Pine Falls

You are a writer, and since the city has stopped giving you anything, you head out to the countryside. An accident nobody can explain ends the drive in Pine Falls, a place you would never have gone looking for on a map. And you are not getting out again.

Alice, Mia and Grace tell you what started here a few years back: the residents vanished, the men in particular, and only a handful of people are left. Anyone who tries to leave the town finds themselves back at the starting point shortly after. And once it gets dark, things happen outside that nobody likes talking about.

That mixture is what the game runs on. Something grows between you and these women because you depend on each other, and at the same time every conversation carries the sense that something here is fundamentally wrong. This sits closer to a mystery series than to the usual titles in this corner.

Technically notable: Pine Falls is voice acted, which is rare in this genre, and the scenes are smoothly animated. It plays free with no download, right in your phone browser: tap, arrive, fail to leave. Pine Falls is made by Daniels K, playable here as part two.