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About the StoryA unique horror game, inside another horror game. 80’s text-adventure by way of psychological horror and meta-representation. A short story, free, for PC and Mac. Game Details
Language: English (en)
First Publication Date: August 31, 2016 Current Version: Unknown Development System: Unity Forgiveness Rating: Polite IFID: Unknown TUID: 3a27dvcapc5fg3cz |
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Member Reviews
| Average Rating:  Number of Reviews: 3 Write a review |
in the dark, dark street there was a dark, dark house.., July 27, 2020As a pure text adventure, it's passable: a standard short horror story with a twist of the type that now litters the internet. The parser is awkwardly non-standard (use LOOK ROOM, LOOK <object> and GO <location> instead of LOOK, EXAMINE and compass directions) and causes initial frustration.
But it's not a pure text adventure, it's displayed on a monitor screen attached to an old computer in a dark room: and this visual and sonic ambience surrounding the text is crucial to the experience, delivering the shocks and surprises so the text adventure itself doesn't need to.
This forms chapter 1 of "Stories Untold", a commercial compilation of four spooky adventures, and it sets the creepy tone very well. This chapter can be downloaded for free from Steam and GOG.
Short horror game with impressive sound and visual design, February 16, 2017This isn't a pure text adventure: it's a simulation of a text adventure, coded in Unity, with a fairly static visual background that changes alarmingly as the story unfolds.
The entire experience gives off a "Stranger Things" vibe, from the Stephen King-esque typeface to the Tangerine-Dreams inspired ambient electronic music playing in the background.
The parser was frustrating at times: it seemed to struggle to understand very similar commands, but was workable, and thankfully there are no convoluted puzzles or complex verb/noun issues.
The overall experience was short and well-plotted. I think the central conceit is one that could easily grow stale, but the author ended this perfectly, while the idea was still novel, frightening, and evocative.
This is a very cool work that plays with nostalgia and horror in very satisfying ways.
A Fresh Approach to the Classics, April 14, 2019Play this one with the lights off and the sound on so you can enjoy an innovative text adventure that moves beyond the ordinary.
If you enjoyed The House Abandon...
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Recommended Lists
The House Abandon appears in the following Recommended Lists:Favorite Horror Games by thecanvasrose
The horror IF that I most love and enjoy! (I generally prefer narrative over puzzles and scare-factor over narrative.) Ranked from least to most favorite. For a list of other horror games with good ratings, see my other horror games...
Nontraditional Parser, Gamebook, IF and Systems by thecanvasrose
This list is based on a poll you can add votes to. I will update the list from time to time to reflect what's on the poll as I play the elected games and can write snippets about them. See here: https://ifdb.org/poll?id=9xs5adb1gvesf3tk...
Polls
The following polls include votes for The House Abandon:Nontradiational Parser, Gamebook, IF and Systems by thecanvasrose
I'm making a list based on this poll as I play the elected games and can write snippets about them. See here: https://ifdb.org/viewlist?id=3n6rheokfkcsntf - - - - - - - - - I'm looking for games which are: 》Neither parser nor gamebook...
This is version 5 of this page, edited by thecanvasrose on 27 October 2019 at 6:59pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item