Most of the “free” games on Steam are actually free to start playing, or multiplayer titles with microtransactions. It’s rare to find games that are truly free and actually good, at that. If on a Winter’s Night, Four Travelers is one of those rare gems that’s available for completely no fee, and is worth every moment of its short runtime.
Created by Dead Idle Games, a tiny studio comprised of Laura Hunt and Thomas Möhring, the free adventure game is a masterpiece in both presentation and storytelling. The title is a nod to the surreal, genre-bending novel If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, and it carries on the novel’s legacy well.
If On A Winter’s Night, Four Travelers Is Storytelling Done Right
Atmospheric, Intervowen Tales Unfold
Like its novel namesake, If on a Winter’s Night, Four Travelers is a collection of seemingly unconnected short stories. Together, they reveal the often dark nature of humanity, touching on some difficult topics like mental illness, addiction, and the horrors of war.
The game is made up of four short tales, connected only by a 1920s masquerade ball aboard a train. As the train barrels through a snowy nighttime scene, three masked passengers share their stories with a woman in a skull mask. The tales take players from a bright hotel room in Rome to a dreary mansion overtaken by the shadow of tragedy and, finally, to the medical care center of a raging war.
As you go through each story, completing point-and-click-style puzzles and challenges, you discover more about each main character. What do the four travelers have in common, and how are their stories connected? You’ll have to play this short experience to find out, and maybe catch a glimpse of the darkness of human nature while you’re at it.
It’s Hard To Believe This Steam Hidden Gem Is Free
You Can Still Support The Creator
By its own self-description, Dead Idle Games makes “weird little pixely games,” and it’s surprising that such impactful and beautiful narrative fiction is entirely free. If On A Winter’s Night, Four Travelers is the studio’s only title available on Steam, but two more experiences can be found on Laura Hunt’s Itch.io page.
The studio is currently working on its next game, and if the images occasionally shared on the Dead Idle Games X are any indication, it will be just as darkly beautiful as their debut.
In the meantime, you can show your appreciation to the two-person team by buying the Supporter Pack for $3.99, which includes the artbook and soundtrack. Or, you can just play it completely free on Steam and experience a series of unforgettable stories about the folly of being human.
