If you’re stuck in a small town

There’s nothing inherently autumnal about a tiny neighborhood, I don’t think. Still, I feel that, by the time red leaves spin around you, they’re imbued with a sense of close-to-the-chest Twin Peaks mystery and opportunity.

That’s the idea behind Scarlet Hollow, a narrative-driven gothic horror game about a North Carolina coal town brimming with nightmares. Only four of its seven planned episode installments are currently available to play, but don’t let that hold you back. Even in its Early Access state, John Walker writes for Kotaku that Scarlet Hollow has “superb writing and [an] astonishing number of incredibly detailed drawn scenes,” all of which fuse to form intricate narrative arcs that are remembered across existing episodes.

“I found myself having to willingly refuse to think about how complex the back-end must be, to allow it to let me see major characters live or die in Chapter One, when seven chapters are planned and their non/existence carrying over significantly into Chapter Two,” Walker writes. To summon your hometown’s magic, play Scarlet Hollow

Play it on: PC, Mac, Linux