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Good Bones: A Haunted Housewarming

by Leon Lin

2023

Web Site

(based on 5 ratings)
3 reviews

About the Story

In this haunted house you'll run the gamut of danger from A to Z...


Game Details


Awards

Entrant, Le Grand Guignol - English - ECTOCOMP 2023

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Member Reviews

5 star:
(2)
4 star:
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3 star:
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Number of Reviews: 3
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A delightful comedy horror game, November 4, 2023
by alyshkalia
Related reviews: Ectocomp 2023

From the get-go, this game was just plain fun. You wake up in the middle of the night in your newly-purchased house, a fixer-upper with "good bones", and you have to pee. But beware--it turns out the house has some surprises in store, and creatures ranging from apparitions to zombies are out to get you! With frequent, humorous asides (one of my favorites: "something like a leg or maybe an arm, with too many joints and fingers (like something out of AI-generated art)") and player-friendly design (after dying, you have the option to jump back to the choice that got you killed and try a different option), it was a delight to play.

Despite the frequent deaths, the game stays away from gore, which felt like an appropriate choice in a story meant to elicit more laughs than chills. Part of the fun in fact is collecting deaths; the game keeps a list of which premature endings you've reached, and once you've won, it lets you jump back to any checkpoint to find the ones you missed (in case, like me, you're compelled to learn exactly how each creature can do away with you in an alliterative manner. Yes, I may have perished once again, but this time it was because I was yeeted by a yeti!).

The game also has a very attractive presentation, including the color scheme, the font, and the skull emojis marking choices you've tried that have led to a death. A very polished and enjoyable game!

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A wild adventure trying to use the toilet at night, November 17, 2023
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 1 hour

This game is a sprawling and varied horror comedy twine game about trying to use the toilet at night.

The style is kind of like a gauntlet but with more branching. You can select between multiple paths, but along each path, there is often only 1 choice that lets you live, while others let you die. The deaths give you many, many different endings, with comedic names and which are listed on the main page of the game after you unlock them.

The story draws on a wide variety of horror tropes, from witches and imps to shadow-creatures and eldritch horrors. It's low on continuity and high on amusing moments and subverting expectations.

The writing is descriptive and funny.

Overall, this game has a lot to like; however, I think for my personal preferences (that do not reflect all players!) I would have preferred some more coherence in the storyline, or more unity in the themes.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
An excellent mix of horror and comedy!, November 10, 2023
by manonamora
Related reviews: ectocomp

What a riot of a game this was, and so, so well done. The writing is hilarious, and had me wheezing at every passage. The premise is honestly insane an absurd, with the moral of the story essentially being that fixer-uppers are not always the way to go... (/jk)

It was honestly so fun essentially running around the house, at night, half-asleep and needing to go to the bathroom, trying to survive the crazy amount of danger in that house (realtors are always sus, of course they'd downplay the bad stuff!). Everywhere you end up, there is something that wants to hurt you. So you die, respawn, try something else... and repeat!

And even with its simplistic look, it is such a polished entry. The writing is impeccable, balancing the horror and comedic aspects brilliantly - it is never too dark or too comical. You're never really stuck, as the game includes check points to “undo” your last action when facing a dead end, as well as indicating whether a path lead you to a dead end before.

And there are 20+ different endings to find, some of them being secret endings. Trying to collect them all was a hoot and a half, each of their title being a joke by itself (the alliteration were fantastic!).

I really enjoyed playing this game! Laughed so hard it hurts.
Might be one of my favourite game of this year!

The witch and the vampires were the most funny thing I encountered

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