The Open House

About The Open House

The Open House is a short first-person horror game by corpsepile, the itch.io developer who also made the Bad Ben game. It is presented as a product: Northtree Real Estate, in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs, is proud to offer a state-of-the-art open house simulator, and invites you on a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home.

The tour starts as exactly that. Each room is labelled at the top of the screen, KITCHEN, GUEST BATHROOM, with a 'not for distribution' watermark and an information button, and the house is clean, empty and a little too bright, like a model home in a sales demo. You walk through it, look at the fittings and move on.

The horror comes from what the demo was not meant to show. Without spoiling it, the house turns dark, the tour shows things a buyer should not see, and the game reaches out of its frame toward the person playing it. The maker warns streamers that one part displays your computer's username.

It is an experimental piece more than a game with goals, and suits players who like quiet, uncanny horror that plays with its own format.

How to play The Open House

1. Press play; if the browser version has trouble with WebGL, try another browser or the download.
2. Look around with the mouse and walk through the house.
3. Follow the tour from room to room and click the information prompts.
4. Keep going until the tour ends.

Screenshots

Tips

• Play with sound on and in a quiet room.
• If you stream it, know that part of the game shows your system username.
• Take the time to look at each room closely.

Questions