Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike for Windows

Get ready for a long drive

Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike is an adventure horror video game wherein you must drive through a strange night. Developed by Rayll, this 3D indie psychological horror game features creepy photo-realistic graphics with VHS-style effects and a narration-driven plot.

As the second episode in the Fears to Fathom series, Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike is quite similar to Fears to Fathom: Home Alone in how it plays out. You follow a short story in the form of an online horror post from someone who had experienced it and survived to tell the tale. 

Don’t trust anybody

In the second episode, Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike, you play as the 19-year-old Holly Gardner. She often goes to conventions and does long interstate drives to and from them on her own despite the possible danger. One time, she’s on the way back from an event and comes through the mysterious Norwood Valley—and ends up staying at a motel after a series of strange occurrences.  

Similar to the first game, you can freely explore an area—although you’ll always trigger narration text when you reach certain areas or do certain actions. This is the only way to even progress through the story, and in this case, you first need to drive in your car. You also get phone messages from NPCs to add context to the backstory.

The gameplay is much longer here, though, and it’s not free like the first episode. This is because Holly’s story encompasses more areas you can visit throughout your drive, as well as NPCs you can actually talk to. However, take note that there’s no option to skip past parts you’ve played before as there’s no save system—and this can be annoying if you’ve encountered a bug that gets you stuck.

Can be played on its own

All in all, Fears to Fathom: Norwood Hitchhike is a great sequel coming from an interesting psychological horror game series. While there’s no option to save in case something goes wrong, the overall creepy atmosphere of the gameplay makes it worthwhile to try and find your footing in this otherwise linear story. You also don’t need to play the other games in the series to understand this one.