The skin stapler wiki
The Skin Stapler is a retro-styled PSX grindhouse horror adventure set in the rotting, crime-soaked sprawl of Carrion City. Players follow jaded detective Dick Slater and his eager rookie partner Robbie Knox as they hunt a mysterious serial killer known only as The Skin Stapler.
About the game
The Skin Stapler is a retro-styled PSX grindhouse horror adventure from developer Tainted Pact and publisher Assemble Entertainment. It released on August 6, 2026 at $11.99 for Windows PC. This is a finished 1.0 release on Steam, not an early access title, and it is strictly single-player with no co-op or multiplayer modes.
"The Skin Stapler is a retro-styled PSX grindhouse horror adventure set in the rotting, crime-soaked sprawl of Carrion City."
You follow jaded detective Dick Slater and his eager rookie partner Robbie Knox as they hunt a serial killer known only as The Skin Stapler. The campaign is split into named chapters, and every chapter completion unlocks a Steam achievement, so the achievement list doubles as a perfect progress checklist.
- Release date: August 6, 2026
- Price:$11.99
- Developer / Publisher: Tainted Pact / Assemble Entertainment
- Genres: Action, Indie
- Steam features: Single-player, 16 achievements, Family Sharing
PC system requirements
The game is friendly to older hardware. Minimum specs ask for Windows 10, a dual-core CPU,4 GB RAM, and a GTX 760 or higher, with only 2 GB of storage required. A 64-bit processor and operating system are mandatory.
- Minimum: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHz, 4 GB RAM, GTX 760 or higher.
- Recommended: Intel i5-9600K or equivalent, 16 GB RAM, GTX 1070 or higher.
Quick links
Jump straight to the most useful pages on the wiki. Everything here is built around solo campaign progression, chapter order, and achievement hunting.
- Getting started
- first-hour
- Chapter guide
- every main chapter from The Burrows Apartment through The Closing In.
- Achievements guide
- all 16
- System requirements
- minimum and recommended
New to the wiki? Read the getting started section below first, then open the chapter guide once you reach The Burrows Apartment. The early chapters teach the investigation loop before the horror starts tightening the screws.
Getting started
Your progress is tracked entirely through chapter completion. The campaign flows through locations like The Burrows Apartment,Carrion City PD,Luna's Cream Filled Donuts, the Underworld VHS store, and Lazar's Blood Bank, with four Aftermath interludes breaking up the pacing. Finish a chapter and you earn its achievement automatically, which makes the trophy list a reliable map of where you are in the story.
Your core loop for the first hour is simple:search the environment,interact with anything unusual, and push through each chapter's ending trigger. Early achievements like FeFe - Master Baiter and Dick Slater - Big D unlock naturally as long as you let each chapter play out fully instead of sprinting to the exit.
- Follow the chapters: progression is linear, so you never need to worry about open-world wandering.
- Fix the tapes: repairing The Skin Stapler tapes unlocks Runebee - Jank Ya Later! and fills in case details.
- Check the office: interacting with the "Thank You" note in Dick Slater's office fires the Skin Successfully Stapled! achievement.
- Reach the ending: getting to the Final Cutscene awards Robbie Knox - Mind Officially Blown, the campaign's closing achievement.
Do not rush the back half. Chapters like Gutters End and the Aftermath parts hide some of the game's best set pieces, and every one of them feeds the final chapter,The Closing In. Treat each chapter as its own short horror vignette and the achievements will take care of themselves.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When will The Skin Stapler be released?
The Skin Stapler releases on August 6, 2026.
How much does The Skin Stapler cost?
The game costs $11.99.
Who developed and published The Skin Stapler?
The Skin Stapler is developed by Tainted Pact and published by Assemble Entertainment.
What is The Skin Stapler about?
It is a retro-styled PSX grindhouse horror adventure set in Carrion City, following detective Dick Slater and rookie partner Robbie Knox as they hunt a serial killer called The Skin Stapler.
What genres does The Skin Stapler belong to?
The game falls under Action and Indie genres.