Withering Rooms

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Survive a Victorian mansion that changes every night.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (96% of 1,613 reviews)
Length: about 20 to 30 hours
Players: 1
Made by: Moonless Formless
Released: 2024

Get it on Steam Perp Games (PS5 boxed edition)

What frightens A girl trapped in a Victorian mansion that rebuilds itself each night faces overgrown undead, invisible ghosts, axe-wielding madmen and scheming witches, with grim body horror and a house that is never the same twice.
Content: gore, blood, body horror.

Withering Rooms is a side-on 2.5D horror RPG set in Mostyn House, a Victorian mansion that rebuilds itself each night. As a girl trapped inside it, you scavenge weapons, spells and keys, avoid what you cannot fight, and face witches, invisible ghosts and the overgrown dead.

About Withering Rooms

Withering Rooms is the work of Moonless Formless, the studio of solo developer Troy West, published by Perp Games. After Early Access on Steam it was released in full in April 2024 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a boxed PS5 edition.

You play a girl trapped in Mostyn House, a Victorian mansion that does not stay the same. Each night the rooms are rearranged: corridors lead somewhere new, attics and secret passages hold treasure, and the gardens, tombs, caves and churches beyond the house open up as you go. You explore from the side in a 2.5D view, gathering weapons, distractions, magical artifacts, keys and crafting materials.

The house is hostile in many ways. Overgrown undead shamble through the halls, invisible ghosts can only be seen by their effects, madmen swing axes and witches scheme for body parts. Some threats are best avoided by hiding, laying a hex trap on a closet door or casting a decoy of yourself. Death ends the night and costs you what you carried unless you performed a ritual to keep it, which gives every venture into a new wing real weight.

The look is dark and painterly, with candlelit rooms, faded wallpaper and grotesque monster design, and the story is told through strange friends, merchants and liars you meet. It suits players who like survival horror with a strong RPG and soulslike side, such as Blasphemous or Darkwood, more than those after pure hide-and-seek horror.

How to play Withering Rooms

Explore Mostyn House room by room each night, picking up weapons, keys, artifacts and crafting materials.
Fight what you can with melee weapons, firearms and spells, and hide or use distractions against what you cannot.
Perform rituals to keep items from night to night or level up permanently, since death costs you what you carry.
Talk to the house's residents and merchants to learn the story and unlock new areas beyond the mansion.

Screenshots

Withering Rooms screenshot: the girl raises a round shield against a hulking sack-headed brute with an axe and shield in a wallpapered mansion hall, a hooded figure with a knife behind it

Withering Rooms screenshot: a hooded figure aims a rifle at a skeletal horseman with a torch, the Graverider, in a misty graveyard of candlelit crosses

Withering Rooms screenshot: a candlelit parlour with portraits on the wall, a man reading on a sofa and a dog at his feet, as he speaks of witches needing body parts

Tips

Learn each enemy's attack before committing; blocking and timing matter more than swinging fast.
Use rituals before risky trips so a death does not wipe out a good haul.
Secret passages and attics hide much of the best loot, so check walls and ceilings.

Questions

Is Withering Rooms scary?

Yes, in a dark and grotesque way: body horror, ghosts you cannot see and a house that changes each night. It is also a combat RPG, so you fight many of its monsters rather than only hiding.

What platforms is Withering Rooms on?

PC through Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, all released in April 2024.