Stealth horror PS1 horror Horror escape Horror Slasher horror Puppet Combo Survival horror

Stay Out of the House

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Escape a cannibal butcher's house before your three days run out.

Platforms: PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, iPhone, Android
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 1,715 reviews); OpenCritic average 84; 4.73/5 on PlayStation (924 ratings), 4.6 on the App Store (36), 4.2/5 on GOG (10).
Length: 12 to 15 hours for every achievement, per TrueAchievements
Players: 1
Made by: Puppet Combo
Released: 2022

No. 7 of the horror games with traps · No. 1 of the gas station horror games · No. 11 of the kidnapping horror games · No. 8 of the cannibalism horror games

Get it on Steam Puppet Combo PlayStation Store Xbox Nintendo eShop App Store Google Play GOG

What frightens Hit with a hammer and dragged into a cage in a cannibal butcher's filthy house, you have three days before you become dinner; the masked Butcher roams the halls listening for you, traps wait in the rooms, and other victims are locked up beside you.
Content: gore, corpses, decapitation, violence, cannibalism, nudity, drug references, strong language.

Stay Out of the House is a PS1-style slasher escape game from Puppet Combo. Kidnapped and caged by a masked cannibal known as the Butcher, you sneak through his house over three days, past an old woman who screams for him and cameras that sound the alarm, finding tools, avoiding traps and deciding whether to save the other victims or only yourself.

About Stay Out of the House

Stay Out of the House is by Puppet Combo, the studio known for low-poly horror like Murder House and Nun Massacre. It went through years of early access before its full release on Steam on 13 October 2022, with Night Shift built in as its first chapter, and came to PlayStation, Xbox and Switch in June 2023 and to iOS and Android that December.

The story opens with Night Shift, a shift alone at a roadside gas station, and a prologue on a road trip through rural Oklahoma that ends at an old house in a cornfield. Then you wake after a hammer blow in a cage in the Butcher's house, a rotting old home full of meat, blood and the remains of earlier guests. You have three days. If he knocks you out, you wake back in captivity the next day, and he adds more cameras and traps.

The house works like an immersive sim: doors, vents, keys, tools and shortcuts can be used in many ways, and the Butcher reacts to what you do. He listens for noise and patrols. Security cameras sound the alarm when they spot you, an old woman in a wheelchair screams to bring him running, and if you anger him he lays bear traps. You can try to slip away unseen, use his own traps against him, or find his .38 revolver and fight back. Other prisoners are held in the house, and whether you free them changes how things end. Clues hidden around the house explain why he chose you.

You choose a difficulty level before you start, and the lo-fi look can be switched between a PS1 style with shifting textures and a VHS filter. It is very gory, with nudity and strong language as well. Destructoid compared it to Puppet Combo's Deadly Night and Nun Massacre and noted a few remaining bugs. It suits players who liked Granny's hide-and-escape idea but want something grown-up and grim.

How to play Stay Out of the House

Get out of your cage and explore the house quietly, searching rooms for keys, tools and clues.
Listen for the Butcher; hide in the shadows or behind cover until he passes.
Watch for security cameras and traps, and use his traps against him when you can.
Find a way out within three days, deciding whether to free the other captives on your way.

Screenshots

Stay Out of the House screenshot: the sack-masked Butcher holding a long knife over a table of raw meat and a severed limb in a blood-spattered room

Stay Out of the House screenshot: the Butcher in a pale sack mask and bloodstained plaid shirt walks toward you along an upstairs hall by the banister

Stay Out of the House screenshot: a white-haired old woman in a wheelchair beside a skinless figure slumped in a stained armchair, in a filthy, blood-marked room

Stay Out of the House screenshot: the Butcher on a dark staircase landing by the banister, with peeling wallpaper and papers scattered on the floor

Stay Out of the House screenshot: a skinless figure sitting on a striped sofa under crooked picture frames, lit by the flame of a lighter

Stay Out of the House screenshot: in the Night Shift chapter, a customer in glasses at a gas station counter asks if you are here all alone, with dialogue choices

Stay Out of the House screenshot: a dirt path through a foggy cornfield with a windmill and a tractor

Tips

Move slowly; running makes noise, and he is listening.
Learn his patrol before you try to cross a room.
Look for the revolver, but don't count on it to save you.
Stay out of the old woman's sight; she screams to call the Butcher.
Each time he catches you, the house gets more cameras and traps, so treat the three days as three lives.
Pick your difficulty with care; GOG players say the puzzles can be unforgiving.