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Lingering Shadow, a psychological-horror puzzle game set in a small Chinese town during the 2000s, released a free playable demo on Steam on October 16, 2026. The Windows demo arrives ahead of the game’s appearance in the October edition of Steam Next Fest, while the full game remains listed as “Coming soon” without a confirmed release date.
What is Lingering Shadow?
Lingering Shadow is a single-player psychological-horror puzzle adventure from Ferine Columba Studio (和平鸽工作室), published by 2P Games. Its story follows Lanlan, who returns home on her birthday and finds that her father has disappeared. She searches familiar locations, follows environmental clues and reconstructs fragmented memories while trying to uncover a disturbing truth.
The game uses a small-town setting rather than a conventional haunted-house scenario. Ordinary streets, rooms and landmarks are presented as places Lanlan knows, then become increasingly unreliable as she moves between the everyday world and a surreal counterpart. The horror is built around atmosphere, memory and subtle changes in familiar spaces.
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The free demo became available on Steam on October 16, 2026. An official Steam community announcement published that day described it as “a psychological horror puzzle game set in a small town in the 2000s” and confirmed its inclusion in the October edition of Steam Next Fest.
#1 Best Overall
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SteamDB identifies the demo as app 4432070, a free Windows package connected to the parent game app 4427280. The package record shows update activity on October 16, 2026. These identifiers describe the Steam listings; they do not indicate that the full game has launched.
Is Lingering Shadow free?
Yes. The playable Steam demo is free to download. That does not establish the price of the finished game: Steam still marks the full title as “Coming soon,” and no fixed release date or final price has been announced in the available store information.
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How the horror and puzzles work
Dreamcore early-2000s atmosphere
Steam describes the visual tone as a “Dreamcore early-2000 atmosphere — nostalgic, warm… and quietly wrong.” The hand-drawn 2D presentation gives familiar places a personal, illustrated quality before small distortions make them feel unsafe. The intended effect is unease created by recognition and gradual change, not a constant sequence of jump scares.
Exploration and environmental storytelling
Players explore Lanlan’s town, inspect surroundings and use details in the environment to understand what happened to her father. The store description emphasizes intuitive puzzles and environmental storytelling, so clues are embedded in locations and objects rather than presented only through detached menus or exposition.
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Choices and endings
The full game’s store description lists two distinct endings shaped by the player’s final decision. The available information does not specify how many puzzles are in the demo or whether both endings can be reached in the demo, so those details should not be assumed from the feature list alone.
Features and platform information
| Detail | What is confirmed |
|---|---|
| Genre | Psychological horror puzzle game with adventure, mystery and exploration elements |
| Setting | A small Chinese town in the 2000s |
| Protagonist | Lanlan, searching for her missing father |
| Presentation | 2D hand-drawn art with a surreal counterpart to the everyday world |
| Player mode | Single-player |
| Endings | Two distinct endings listed for the game, determined by a final decision |
| Audio controls | Custom volume controls listed on Steam |
| Current availability | Free Windows demo; full game listed as “Coming soon” |
| Languages shown on Steam | English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Japanese interface/subtitle support |
Steam’s categories and tags also identify the game as Indie, RPG, Atmospheric, Multiple Endings, 2D and Hand-drawn, alongside its horror, puzzle and exploration labels.
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Who made Lingering Shadow?
Ferine Columba Studio developed Lingering Shadow, and 2P Games is its publisher. The developer characterizes the project as a small 2D hand-drawn puzzle-horror game created for release on Steam. The credited developer name also appears in Chinese as 和平鸽工作室.
What to expect from the Steam demo
The demo is best approached as a short introduction to the game’s setting, investigation and visual language rather than as the complete story. Expect to move through recognizable locations, look for clues, solve environmental puzzles and encounter the shift between ordinary and surreal spaces. Because the title’s tension depends on sound and small visual changes, headphones can help reveal its atmosphere; Steam’s listing includes separate volume controls so players can adjust the audio mix.
Best Value
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- This Visa Virtual eGift Card is non-reloadable. No cash or ATM access. Visa Virtual eGift Cards are emailed active.
- Funds do not expire but your Visa Virtual eGift Card has a ‘valid thru’ date (9 years from date of purchase). If funds remain after this date has passed, please call the Toll Free number found on your Visa Virtual eGift Card for a replacement card. A one-time purchase fee applies at the time of checkout.
- This item is not eligible for refund, resale, or return. Available for sale within the United States only. Not available to residents of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota, West Virginia and the US Virgin Islands.
At present, the confirmed platform is Windows PC through Steam. Console versions, a physical edition, a soundtrack, an artbook, merchandise and a printed guide have not been announced in the available information. No audience, sales, review or player-count statistics have been published, so the demo’s reception cannot yet be quantified.
Release status and what remains unknown
The October 16 demo launch is the concrete release milestone. The full game has no announced launch date and remains marked “Coming soon” on Steam. Its final price, total playtime, system requirements beyond the Windows listing, and the exact scope of the demo are also not stated. Those omissions matter when deciding whether to treat the demo as a complete preview or simply an early look at the concept.
The Bottom Line
Lingering Shadow is a free Windows Steam demo available from October 16, 2026: a 2D hand-drawn psychological-horror puzzle game about Lanlan’s search for her missing father in a distorted 2000s Chinese town. The finished game, developed by Ferine Columba Studio and published by 2P Games, is still awaiting a release date.
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