I played through 4 free indie games today that you can get off Steam. I'd say all 4 had their merits. I'll list them below.
#1 - September 1999: Very short horror game that only lasts for about five minutes, but has good atmosphere and also no jumpscares to worry about. Has a found footage aesthetic. Neat little experience. Similar to another free game called The Static Speaks My Name, which I'd recommend checking out as well.
#2 - When the Darkness comes: Stanley Parable type game about anxiety and depression with a bit of a horror aspect to it that has a length of about 40-50 minutes, but can be replayed for different endings. Bit of an in-cely feel to it at times, but has some otherwise good/unsettling segments in it that actually feel relevant to being perpetually socially isolated and struggling with mental illness and thoughts of suicide. The developer speaks as the narrator and has a very thick (French?) accent and sounds like he's about 16 years old which can also be quite distracting/annoying, so fair warning on that.
You also have the option to just hang yourself at the end, which I appreciated and is the only ending I chose, or cared to see. #3 - Burning Daylight: LIMBO/Inside type sidescrolling adventure game set in a neon laden cyberpunk dystopia that lasts for about 30-40 minutes. Pretty high production values for a free game, which is commendable. You don't really do much except walk to the right and take in the scenery, but it does that sort of thing well enough and has good atmosphere to soak around in while taking note of the environmental story telling going on in the background. Reminded me a bit of that show 'Love, Death, and Robots', in the sense of it being almost like a playable segment similar to the likes of the stories you'd see showcased there. Would be interesting to see it become a full game someday, but it's a solid and complete experience as it stands.
#4 - Answer Knot: Short first person narrative that lasts about 25 minutes. Kind of annoyingly normalfag at first, since you play as a guy listening to your wife's phone messages that she periodically leaves you while stumbling around some house and interacting with items based on what she's talking about while inevitably seeing photos of their obnoxious normalfag life plastered everywhere, but the game picks up once the actual story/strange events start coming into play, which takes roughly about 5-10 mi
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