Cold Front

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A snowstorm in July, and two childhood friends with no way back.

Platforms: PC, Mac
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: Rated 4.8 of 5 by 1,527 players on itch.io
Length: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Players: 1
Made by: racheldrawsthis
Released: 2022

What frightens On a July day two estranged childhood friends get into a car and find themselves stranded in a freezing blizzard. The white, silent road under power lines hides chilling dangers, and the snowstorm makes old resentment between them come to the surface, with blood, gore and disturbing images and sounds.
Content: blood, gore, disturbing imagery, disturbing audio.

A short, free RPG Maker horror game by racheldrawsthis. Childhood friends Augustine and Winnie spend one last day together before Winnie leaves for university, and suddenly find themselves trapped in a blizzard in the middle of summer, with two endings and about an hour of play.

About Cold Front

Cold Front is a short horror game by racheldrawsthis, made in RPG Maker in 25 days for a Korean RPG Maker game jam and released on itch.io in August 2022. It was her second game, before Elevator Hitch and Dead Plate, and it is free to download, or name your own price, for Windows and macOS.

Augustine and Winnie grew up inseparable, from elementary school to their high school graduation. Winnie has been accepted to his university and is about to leave town, so the two spend one last day together. Not long after getting into Winnie's car, they are standing in a freezing blizzard on an empty road. It is July.

You walk the pair through the white landscape on a 2.5D RPG Maker map, talk between them through drawn portraits and visual novel style dialogue, and work together to find a way out. The pale blue art, snow falling over telephone poles and a buried car make the place quiet and cold.

The horror is in the strange storm and the dangers in it, and in what the two friends feel about each other underneath. Its maker warns of blood, gore and disturbing imagery and audio.

At 45 minutes to an hour, with two endings and choices that change what you see, it suits players who like short, character-driven RPG Maker horror and the later games from the same team. It can be played in English, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese and Russian.

How to play Cold Front

Download it from its itch.io page for Windows or macOS; it is free, or name your own price.
Walk through the snow with the arrow keys and interact with what you find.
Read the conversations between the two friends and pick their replies when given a choice.
Follow the road and solve the small problems in the way to escape the blizzard; your choices decide which of the two endings you get.

Screenshots

One friend in a hat and coat shouting Why am I suddenly standing in the middle of a snowstorm in July, with the other on the snowy road behind

A snow-covered car on a white road lined with telephone poles, with the two friends standing beside it in pixel art

The other friend, in a sweater vest and tie, raising a finger, saying We have no choice but to walk forward

Tips

Talk to your friend often; the dialogue between the two carries much of the story.
Look around each area for items before moving on, since the puzzles are simple but easy to walk past.
Play it in one sitting; it takes under an hour.
Replay and make different choices to see the second ending.