Midnight Scenes: The Highway

About Midnight Scenes: The Highway

Midnight Scenes: The Highway is the first of a series of short horror tales with adventure elements by Octavi Navarro, an artist on Thimbleweed Park and the maker of Photographs, with Susanna Granell; as White Blanket Games they also made The Supper, The Librarian and Unwelcome. It was first released in 2017, came to Steam in July 2020 and was remastered in 2026 with better visuals, sounds and extra content. The Steam package holds both the 2017 original and the 2026 remaster, a PDF art book and the soundtrack; the store art announces the remaster as a free update.

Each Midnight Scenes episode is introduced like an episode of a TV anthology. In this one, what had to be a short road trip becomes a journey into darkness for Claire Barnes: an unexpected obstacle appears in front of her car on a deserted road at night, and as she tries to get back on her way she discovers what kind of horrors lurk there.

You explore, interact with what is around you and solve puzzles in a story-driven point-and-click adventure played with the mouse alone. The art is black and white pixel work inspired by 1960s horror and mystery shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, with an eerie soundtrack and atmospheric sound. The scenes show an old car on a highway between telegraph poles, a log fallen across the road, a wrecked pickup truck by a wooden fence, a gate with a MISSING poster of a smiling child, a photograph lying in dark stains below a steering wheel and a large tree by a picket fence.

The store warns of mild horror and cartoon blood, and the frights stay on the eerie side. It takes about 30 minutes and suits players who want a quick, old-fashioned horror story to play with the lights off. It is a good first episode before the later Midnight Scenes tales such as The Goodbye Note, The Nanny and A Safe Place.

How to play Midnight Scenes: The Highway

1. Start the episode as Claire drives the deserted highway at night.
2. Explore each scene by moving Claire and clicking on what you see; the game plays with the mouse alone.
3. Pick up items and use them on the world to get past what blocks your way.
4. Solve the puzzles that open the next part of the road.
5. Follow the story to its end in about half an hour.

Tips

• Play it in one sitting with the lights off, as the store suggests.
• Look closely at posters and photographs; they tell you what has happened on this road.
• Try the 2026 remaster first, then the 2017 original included with it on Steam if you want to compare.

Questions