Survival horror Zombie PS1 horror Puppet Combo Fixed camera horror Short horror

The Glass Staircase

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Good girls take their medicine. Good girls do their chores.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Stores: itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: 4.3 of 5 on itch.io from 135 ratings; 3.66 of 5 from 328 ratings on the US PlayStation Store; Rely on Horror praises its camera work and sound, and faults a hard final stretch
Length: about 1.5 to 2.5 hours (maker)
Players: 1
Controls: Tank controls with fixed camera angles; keyboard or controller, with aim assist for the gun.
Made by: Puppet Combo
Released: 2019

Get it on itch.io PlayStation Store (PS4, PS5)Xbox Nintendo eShop (Switch)

What frightens Girls kept in an old house obey a voice on the intercom: good girls take their medicine, good girls do their chores. That routine is the first fear, until the house turns and the dead rise. Fixed camera angles hide what waits around each corner as you run through blood-soaked rooms from zombies, with a slow rifle and health only where you find it.
Content: gore, blood, violence, disturbing images.

The Glass Staircase is Puppet Combo's homage to PS2 survival horror and Italian zombie films. Girls held in an old mansion follow the orders of a voice on the intercom, until the house turns on them and they must survive the dead with fixed cameras, a slow rifle and scarce healing.

About The Glass Staircase

The Glass Staircase was released by Puppet Combo on itch.io in 2019 for Windows, macOS and Linux, and came to PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch on May 24, 2024. The maker calls it an homage to PS2 survival horror and Italian zombie movies, and has named the Gates of Hell trilogy and Burial Ground among its inspirations.

A group of girls lives in an old mansion far from their parents. A voice on the intercom tells them what to do each morning: take their medicine, do their chores, be good girls, and The Master will look after them. The story runs over four days, and you play a different girl on each one, going through the house's routine and slowly learning who is keeping them there and why. The first three chapters are mostly exploration with some light puzzles across the house, its grounds and its outbuildings.

In the last act you get a gun and go down into the basement, and the game becomes open survival horror. It plays like the games it honours, with fixed camera angles that hide what is around the next corner and tank controls. Your rifle is slow and weak, and health packs must be used where you find them, so reviewers find running from the dead is often wiser than fighting. Letters scattered around the mansion piece together its dark history and the eldritch secrets under it.

The game saves at checkpoints. You can play it with CRT or film-grain filters or with cleaner, more detailed graphics. The 2024 console release added controller support, an aim assist, extra checkpoints in the long final chapter and easier fights, plus trophies and achievements on PlayStation and Xbox.

Players praise its atmosphere, sound and camera work; reviewers call the aiming awkward and the final stretch a sharp jump in difficulty. It suits fans of Puppet Combo and of the fixed-camera survival horror of the early 2000s who want something they can finish in an evening.

How to play The Glass Staircase

Buy it on itch.io for PC, Mac or Linux, or on PlayStation, Xbox or Switch.
Each day, follow the voice on the intercom through the girl's routine in the house.
Explore the mansion and its grounds through fixed camera angles, solve the small puzzles and read the letters you find.
In the last act, take the gun into the basement; run past the dead where you can and shoot only when you must.
Use health packs where you find them; you cannot carry them with you.

Screenshots

The Glass Staircase screenshot: a girl in a pink dress stands in a foggy, decayed dormitory with old iron beds while another girl waits by a window

The Glass Staircase screenshot: a glass of water and a yellow tablet on a bedside table, with the prompt Take your tablet?

The Glass Staircase screenshot: a columned mansion in thick fog behind an iron fence, in black and white

The Glass Staircase screenshot: a girl in a pink dress walks through overgrown grass in the rain toward a stone arch and iron gate

The Glass Staircase screenshot: a girl in a white dress shines a flashlight down a dark stone corridor lined with barred cells

The Glass Staircase screenshot: a girl in a white dress holds a rifle with a flashlight in a dark barred cell

The Glass Staircase screenshot: bloodied bodies wrapped in cloth hang upside down in a foggy tiled room above a heap of corpses

Tips

Treat the rifle as a last resort; it is slow, and running is often safer.
Face an enemy before you fire: the aim assist only helps when you are already turned toward it.
Remember where health packs are, since you have to come back to them to heal.
Read every letter; they explain the mansion's history.
Expect the opening days to be slow: the game changes in the last chapter, and that is where it gets hard.

Questions

How long is The Glass Staircase?

The maker puts the average playthrough at an hour and a half to two and a half hours. Reviewers took between about one and three hours, depending on how often they died in the last chapter.

Is The Glass Staircase on consoles?

Yes. Since May 24, 2024 it has been on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, as well as on itch.io for PC, Mac and Linux.

Does it have multiple endings?

No. The maker says there is one ending.

What languages is it in?

It is voiced in English. On PlayStation and Switch the text can also be shown in French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Latin American Spanish.

Is it suitable for teenagers?

The console versions are rated Teen by the ESRB for blood and violence, and the game opens with a warning about violent and disturbing images.