The House (2025)

Well, I gave the game an hour. There is no save feature and you must complete the game in one sitting. According to the dev it can be 1 or 2 hours long. While this is their first time making a game and it is a passion project I have to note the current problems with the game. 1. Throughout the game there are translation problems. One note I found under the stairs didn't even translate. 2. Triggers. When a trigger is done right it makes sense but in the game there are triggers that are annoying. Look at a table and there isn't a key. Find a note and then a key magically appears on the table I was looking at. Find a door that is locked and once you've proceeded further then the door is magically unlocked. 3. Using keys for the first time is clunky but you'll figure it out. There was one good jump scare so that was something. I'll wait for the game to bake before it is ready to fully play. I got as far as getting the night vision camera. At the very beginning you can see a camera in your car as you are a reporter but you are not allowed to open your car and get the camera. That makes zero sense as a reporter.

Okay, so here's the thing: if there were a “maybe” recommendation option, I’d probably go with that. The game is worth playing if you're into this genre. Once you overcome a couple of rough patches (more on that in a second), it’s actually pretty solid. The environments are well-crafted, there are some great jump-scares, and the graphics are nicely done. Some of the puzzles are intuitive and feel rewarding to solve, which really adds to the experience. There were two issues that significantly impacted my game-play in a negative way. The biggest was with the keys, specifically the bedroom key. Once its spawn was triggered, it was extremely tiny. I must have looked at it 20 times before realizing it was even something I could interact with. While being thorough is part of the challenge, that key felt a little too hidden and I don’t think it was meant to be that hard to find. The second issue was with the code system. As you move through “The House,” you’re trying to determine a code. The code itself isn’t the problem, but the penalty for too many incorrect guesses is. After a few wrong attempts, a deafening alarm is triggered and it doesn’t stop until the correct code is entered. …