If you crave the chills of old-school horror like Silent Hill, but want something new and free to try, check out Welcome to Doll Town. This indie gem from Bad Wish Games just released its full first episode demo on Steam. The demo immediately drops you into a sad, spooky nightmare world, all wrapped in that perfect grainy PSX aesthetic. With the full game slated for February 2026, this is your chance to experience a low-risk story that will stick with you.
Imagine a quiet Japanese village, once famous for its beautiful hand-made dolls that drew visitors from afar. Now, it’s a decaying ghost town, cold and still after a tragic event claimed young lives. You play as Yumi, a high school student who takes a night job at a rundown store right on the edge of this forgotten place – Doll Town.
What starts as a boring shift behind the counter turns weird fast: shadows move wrong, whispers echo from empty rooms, and those dolls? They don’t sit pretty anymore. As Yumi pokes around the misty streets after dark, she digs up bits of a broken love tale tangled in pain, crazy fixations, and stuff from the other side that won’t stay buried.
The game creates fear slowly and genuinely, avoiding cheap jump scares. You explore in third-person through locations stuck in the past: dusty classrooms with faint chalkboard notes, old doll factories with machine ghosts, quiet shrines lit by fading lanterns, and shops full of forgotten goods. Every corner feels hand-built, with soft light casting long shadows that fuel your dread.
