House

About House

House was made by Bark Bark Games, a two-person team in the US, and grew out of a 2016 game jam entry on Newgrounds. It was released on Steam for Windows on 30 October 2020, and itch.io also sells a macOS build. Glowstick Entertainment brought it to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch on 29 March 2024, and it is also sold on Xbox. The Steam page warns of excessive cartoon violence, blood and gore; the console stores rate it Teen for blood, crude humor, partial nudity and violence.

You play a young girl exploring a house that is doing everything it can to kill you and your family. The house changes and reacts to your actions in real time, and you race against the clock to change fate, or fall into darkness yourself. Its pixel-art rooms look homely, a bedroom with an old TV, a chequered kitchen, a tiled bathroom, until something strange is in them.

Play is non-linear and challenging. You experiment with the items you find to try and survive, uncover the dark secrets of a twisted family, and decide whether to befriend or behead the people you share the house with. There are multiple endings to discover, and its makers promise that it never ends.

The 1.5 "Melodies" update in January 2022 made Tabby's depressed sister, Melody, playable, with a twisted version of the house, songs that reshape the loop, new deaths and a new soundtrack. Isaac Nite, one of the two developers, wrote the music.

It suits players who like short-session, trial-and-error horror with grim humour.

How to play House

1. Buy it on Steam or itch.io for PC, or on the PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo stores.
2. Explore the house as the girl, room by room.
3. Pick up items and try them out to survive what the house does.
4. Race against time to save your family, or yourself.
5. Play again to find the other endings, and try Melody's songs from the 1.5 update.

Tips

• Experiment; many items have uses you only find by trying.
• Expect to die and learn; the house reacts to what you do.

Questions