A short, free, ‘walking simulator’ with a darkly atmospheric narrative focus, but ultimately, very little of substance. Certainly not for all audiences, but worth a look nonetheless.
Fingerbones is a roughly thirty-minute journey around the inside of a rural cabin finding and reading an assortment of order-less papers in the mould of the typical walking simulator. It rightly styles itself a “psychological thriller” amidst a series of trigger-warnings on its store page and does thankfully assures us that there are no jumpscares or other cheap horror gimmicks. Instead, this game uses it’s curious name, deliberately slow pace, dynamic ambient sounds, and combination of realistically well-lit but surreally pixel-textured environments to create a tone of intrigue rather than nonspecific fear.
I didn’t personally find the story to be anything great, but that is entirely subjective, and if the thematic warnings don’t put you off, this completely free, roughly 20mb download might be worth a look.
Cautiously recommended.
