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Pinstripe is an emotionally charged adventure through Hell created entirely by the one-man team of Thomas Brush over the course of four years. You play as Ted, an estranged ex-pastor forced to venture through a mysterious frozen wasteland in search of his three-year-old daughter Bo, and her perverse, demonic kidnapper, Mr. Pinstripe. As your journey takes you to ever stranger lands and introduces you to ever more peculiar individuals, you will discover the dark secrets of Ted's past, confront Bo's kidnapper, and maybe, just maybe, earn your redemption.

Pinstripe was released on Steam on April 25, 2017 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, and can be found here. The website for the creator, which also has information about his next project, Neversong, can be found here.

Beware of spoilers! Many of the trope names themselves will give away a lot of the plot. Play the game first if you want to go in unspoiled.


Pinstripe features the following tropes:

  • Afterlife Express: The train at the start seeing as they were Dead All Along.
  • The Alcoholic: Everyone in town besides Miss Birdy and Mr. Dicky, with sack juice basically being alcohol in this setting. Ted was this as well, and it got him and Bo killed.
  • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Averted, as the final battle against Pinstripe takes place in a dreary, grey rendition of a room in the parsonage Ted and his family used to live in.
  • Antagonist Title: Pinstripe is Bo's kidnapper, and is implied to be a manifestation of Ted's guilt over his role in killing Bo and himself. He gets his name from a brand of gin
  • Anti-Alcohol Aesop: Ted got into this whole mess due to drunk driving, and Mr. Pinstripe is based around a brand of gin that he used to drink. It's safe to say that the plot is not kind towards alcoholism.
  • Apathetic Citizens: Nobody, save for Miss Birdy and Mr. Dicky, seems to care in the slightest about your quest to save your kidnapped daughter, only focusing on when their next portion of sack juice is coming.
  • The Atoner: Ted. Most of the game is him coming to terms with, and making up for, the fact that he accidentally killed himself and Bo.
  • Brats with Slingshots: Sort of; you're the one using the slingshot in the game, but it belongs to Bo.
  • Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Near the end of the game, a butterfly starts following you around. More butterflies are seen when you get to heaven, and once you catch them all you find your dead wife.
  • The Cameo: Many famous Let's Players did voice acting cameos for this game, including Felix Kjelberg, AKA PewDiePie, Sean McLoughlin, AKA Jacksepticeye, and Ross O'Donovan and Danny Avidan from Game Grumps.
  • Canine Companion: Ted has George, the rather talkative family dog.
  • Cheerful Child: Bo is a very happy and curious girl. It only makes her terror when she's kidnapped by Pinstripe even more heartbreaking.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Princle, the item salesman.
  • Cool Old Lady: Miss Birdy, who along with Mr. Dicky are the only people who genuinely try to help Ted save Bo.
  • Creepy Child: Bo after Mr. Pinstripe's adoption ceremony. You have to defeat him to turn her back to normal.
  • Daddy's Girl: Bo is very close to Ted, and clearly adores him.
  • Dead All Along: Ted and Bo died before the game started. The setting is Hell, or maybe Purgatory.
  • Death of a Child: Bo died at the age of three, before the story even began. Worse, the accident that killed her was Ted's fault.
  • Died Happily Ever After: The game ends with Bo and Ted reuniting with Bo's mother in Heaven.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: It's implied that Ted became an alcoholic after his wife passed away.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending:
    • Ted must solve puzzles and fight creepy robot drones to save his daughter and redeem himself for killing them both by driving drunk.
    • Also possibly for Mr. Dicky and Miss Birdy, the only people that are not addicted to Pinstripe's sack juice and who genuinely want to help Ted rescue Bo — they don't get eaten by the drones at the end and dolls of them are seen on the shelf when you arrive in "heaven".
  • Escaped from Hell: The end has Ted escaping from the hellish setting and into Heaven, with his child in tow.
  • Evil Is Petty: Pinstripe sure does spend a lot of time and energy taunting Ted and insulting him every chance he gets. Justified, since Pinstripe is heavily implied to be the manifestation of Ted's own inner demons.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Bo does get adopted by Pinstripe, forcing you to confront him directly.
  • Fantastic Drug: The sacks that everyone around seems to be addicted to that serve as a metaphor for Ted's alcoholism.
  • Fauxshadowing: When Bo gets "adopted," Pinstripe taunts you, saying, "If only there was a way you could turn back time." This, combined with the fact that you moved time forward with the mega-clock, implies that you have to use the clock to go back again, but... nope!
  • Final Boss: Mr. Pinstripe.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Mr. Pinstripe looks just human enough to make it very clear that he is not.
  • Interspecies Adoption: Mr. Pinstripe wants to adopt Bo. Bo's a human girl, and Pinstripe is... something. A metaphor for alcoholism or guilt, maybe?
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Although Ted is clearly a better choice than Pinstripe, and genuinely remorseful about his mistakes, Pinstripe is not wrong when he calls Ted out for being a poor parent. Ted loves Bo deeply, but his alcoholism got them both killed. Most of Ted's arc is owning up to this and forgiving himself.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • The title character Pinstripe bears the same name as the brand of rye whiskey that Ted drank that likely led to the crash that killed him and Bo.
    • Ted means "gift of God," which is fitting for a former minister.
  • Mirror Monster: Pinstripe can travel through mirrors, and jumps through one with Bo at the start of the game. Luckily, Ted can follow.
  • Missing Mom: Bo's mother died prior to the start of this game. Ted and Bo finally meet her again at the end, in what is implied to be heaven.
  • My Greatest Failure: Ted's is heavily implied to be a drunk driving accident that killed himself and Bo.
  • New Game Plus: Beating the game gives you a golden key, which can unlock one of several doors around the game on your next playthrough.
  • Papa Wolf: Ted will get Bo back.
  • Point of No Return: The lift from Pissward Falls to Red Wash serves as one of these.
  • Redemption Quest: The entire game is revealed to be one for Ted. His journey helps him atone for the fact that his drunk driving killed himself and his daughter.
  • The Roaring '20s: The aesthetics, fashions, and music come from this time period. The newspaper Mr. Happy gives you reveals that Ted and Bo died in 1922.
  • Sinister Minister: Averted. Ted is an ex-minister, and has made his share of mistakes, but he's overall a decent guy.
  • Sigil Spam: A capital P keeps showing up multiple times. It's the logo from a bottle of Pinstripe whiskey.
  • Suddenly Shouting: Pinstripe ends many of his sentences with this, usually with some kind of insult to Ted.
  • Talking Animal: George.
  • Title Drop: The title is revealed to be a brand of whisky.
  • Together in Death: The story ends with Ted entering Heaven with his wife and child.
  • Tragic Keepsake: The locket you find at the start of the game, which has a picture of Ted, Bo, and Bo's deceased mother in it.
  • Video Game Caring Potential: You can be a sweet, friendly guy to everyone you meet. There's even an achievement for it.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: On the other hand, you can also be a big jerk for no reason. Again, there's an achievement for this.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: The citizens around you all love Pinstripe, because he keeps them full of the intoxicating sacks.
  • Wham Line: The very last line of the game.
    Bo: Mummy?
  • Wham Shot: The last clue you collect, after you defeat the final boss. A bottle of gin from a brand called Pinstripe.
  • You Are Worth Hell: The setting is all but stated to be Hell. Ted fights tirelessly through it to get his daughter back.

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