The Knife Sharpener

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Sharpen knives for the strangers of an indifferent city, one at a time.

Platforms: Browser, PC, Linux
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: 4.4 out of 5 on itch.io (134 ratings)
Players: 1
Controls: W A S D to ride the bike, mouse to look, A and D to centre the cursor in the minigames, E or left mouse button to play the flute, right mouse button to zoom.
Made by: Puko
Released: 2026

What frightens A travelling knife sharpener rides through an empty city of identical white blocks under a reddish, rainy sky, playing a flute to draw customers who are all a little wrong: blank-eyed men, a woman in black glasses who laughs that you look like you have seen a ghost. Its dread is Lynchian unease that builds to a bloody, chilling end.
Content: blood, disturbing imagery.

The Knife Sharpener is a free, first-person surreal horror game by Puko, made for a game jam in honour of David Lynch. You ride a knife-grinder's bike through an empty, rain-soaked city, playing your flute to call in customers, and every stranger who answers is a little stranger than the last.

About The Knife Sharpener

The Knife Sharpener is by Puko, a small studio that describes itself as making weird horror games (it also made the PS1-style CANINE). It was made for the Catch Ideas LIKE FISH jam in honour of David Lynch, whose one rule was that each game mention coffee, quinoa and a horse, and it was submitted in March 2026. It plays in the browser on itch.io, with Windows and Linux downloads, in English or Spanish; the music is by LIBELLE.

You are trying to make a living in an indifferent city full of freaks, one knife at a time. The city is a grid of white apartment blocks with air conditioners on every wall, empty streets wet with rain under a dull pink sky, and it seems to fold back on itself. You pedal your grinder's bike around it and play your flute, as knife sharpeners do, and people come out: a sad-eyed man in a cap, a woman in red hair and black glasses, and others who talk in riddles and jokes that do not quite land.

Each customer hands you a knife, and sharpening is a minigame: keep the blade against the wheel and hit the moving mark while sparks fly. Between jobs the conversations, the sameness of the streets and the polite wrongness of the people slowly build a feeling that something is very off, and players say the ending gave them chills.

It is eerie rather than full of scares, closer to a Lynch film than to a monster chase. It suits players who like Paratopic or Anthology of the Killer, and anyone who enjoys short, odd PS1-style games that leave them puzzling over what they saw.

How to play The Knife Sharpener

Open the itch.io page and press Run game, or download the Windows or Linux build; English and Spanish are available.
Ride the bike with W A S D and look around with the mouse.
Play your flute with E or the left mouse button to draw customers out.
Talk to each customer and take their knife.
In the sharpening minigame, use A and D to keep the cursor centred and stop on the mark until the blade is done.

Screenshots

The Knife Sharpener screenshot: a low-poly man in a cap with a sad photo-textured face looks down between towering white apartment blocks

The Knife Sharpener screenshot: a kitchen knife held to a spinning blue whetstone with sparks flying, a timing bar across the screen, in an empty street

The Knife Sharpener screenshot: an empty crossroads of identical white apartment blocks under a hazy pink sky in the rain

Tips

Take your time with the sharpening minigame: some players find it hard, so keep the cursor centred rather than rushing.
Talk to everyone you meet more than once; the city's people carry the story.
Use the right mouse button to zoom in on faces and details.

Questions

Is The Knife Sharpener free?

Yes. It plays free in the browser on itch.io, and the downloads are name your own price.

Is The Knife Sharpener scary?

It is unsettling more than frightening: a strange, looping city and odd people, inspired by David Lynch, building to a bloody end that players say gave them chills.

What languages is The Knife Sharpener in?

English and Spanish, according to its makers.