House of Rules Reviews

I've downloaded a demo for this game at first not thinking too much about it, nor having any special expectations BUT when I saw how amazing the style , music and sound in general were I was ready to dive in. Then as the story started to unfold I was so drawn in by the mystery and the feeling of unease that it gave me at the same time. Then BOOM the demo was over and at that point I was so immersed into this game there was no way I wasn't getting the full version. The puzzles are decent and the library one got me thinking for a minute there. But the main thing about it that keeps drawing me in is the mystery part of the story and I think this is an amazing work. I can't wait to finish it and see what was it all about and most definitely can't wait to see more games from dev team. 10/10 one of best games in this genre I've played. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FROM ME, AND IT IS VERY INEXPENSIVE! Just thrilled with the experience!!!

story It all starts with a new workplace in a strange mansion. You will meet more than one psycho on the way. gameplay -riddle solving -chase sequence (some are very hard) It is all in all an Horror RPG with multiple endings.

This game was amazing. I went into it without any expectations, I was lured by the premise and style. However, as soon as I began playing, I became fully engrossed in the mysterious narrative. I found the story very original. It was quite chilling at moments, but above all, I was impressed by how emotionally engaging this was. The ending completely surprised me and touched me deeply. This is not a shallow horror game; the creator put a lot of thought and emotion into the narrative, which resulted in a beautiful story with rich characters and complex themes. Beyond this, I thought the puzzles were quite clever; the gameplay kept me interested and challenged. The setting was also very nice and always made you curious about your surroundings. I really hope Chii the Cat makes more games soon! I am beyond impressed and touched by this game. I hope it gets some great awards! The only flaws of this game will be fixed over time. It glitched a bit around 60-80%, and I had to restart it quite a few times. I also encourage players to save as much as possible because part of the game is discovering the alternate endings, but you have to pick up the game once you "die" with an ending, so make sure to save often.

This game is actually really well made,the atmosphere and story is engaging. The only problem i came across is a few bugs during the puzzles.but otherwise this is a pretty good game,i really enjoyed this.

I never have written a review before, but this game is absolutely perfect 1. storyline 2. Atmosphere in game 3. puzzle 100/100 just buy it and have fun!

Hey all, I don't think I've ever taken the time to write a review for steam but this game made me somewhat equally parts angry/semi-happy that I just had to say something. To keep it short, yes I do not recommend it to most 2d horror lovers. Reason being because of quality of life issues, some nonsensical puzzles, and no fast-forward/skip on text/cutscenes while playing the game. Those are cardinal sins (imo) while playing a 2d horror game. If you want to know more feel free to read below I'll try and keep it short. (Keep in mind all of this review is during the early access 10/12/2021) (Proceeds to not keep it short) [b]Pros:[/b] ~ The different art style was very eye catching in my opinion, and I was pleased to see this take on 2d characters for a horror game vs other somewhat similar (type rpgmaker looking) games.. ~ The length of the game was decent for what I got, keep in mind there were some puzzles (okay for me like 1 puzzle), that required some research, or backtracking. Your mileage may vary (YMMV) ~ The game is in Alpha/Early access and plays quite well with no bugs that I can see, or experienced currently. ~ The controls mapped well, for me using an xbox controller, not counting me needing to add an extra for the D-pad. ~ Music and sound effects were on point for moments of tension or straight out scary factor considering it's a 2d horror game. This is definitely one of those games you will want to wear headphones for, or have no background noise so you can get the FULL experience if that's your thing. ~ This game was excellent about letting the user know when they were about to need to high tail it! And I had fun doing those sequences because I got hyped ahead of time instead of frustrating surprises. (Yes some surprises are fine, but the chase sequences....who likes that?) ~ The story itself was well done, and different from what we normally see in these types of horror games (imo)... 3d,2d, or otherwise so it was refreshing. [b]Cons:[/b] (still this is all based on the early access): ~ Like I stated above, the game has a horrible habit of making you watch every slow text output from the characters....I'm assuming to elicit the type of atmosphere for that moment, but that should be up to the person watching it. I personally get the moment when it's tense, why can't I skip the text to either continue the storyline faster or get to the action? This game does not allow it. ~ Going with the above not being able to make text go faster, the game also forces you to watch (text)cutscenes you've already seen...aka you cannot skip cutscenes. In most horror games, the player knows they are going to die, or maybe they want to collect some achievements which also is a big thing in some modern 2d horror games.... Why can't we (I), skip these long (already viewed) cutscenes? ~ There are currently about 20 endings in the game, but I decided not to even pursue going out of my way to see all of them. Why? Because of what I stated above, it's too slow to go through old events, and read the text you've already seen. ~ Wording on puzzles: One of the meats of 2d horror games are their puzzles. Like most adventure/puzzle/horror games you have to keep picking stuff up and/or collecting clues to solve an upcoming puzzle. Something that left a bad taste in my mouth is that there was a puzzle that required you to move pieces in specific spots based off a nearby clue that may have been worded incorrectly. In the wording of the puzzle it seemed as though something needed to be placed in one spot, yet the provided solution given by the offical devs said it was put in another spot, that did not make sense in the clue. I don't know if that was an oversight or on purpose, but there are some other small situations like that in the game, that may make initial puzzle solving tedious. ~ This is more of my opinion (again...like all of this), but the current GAME is too short (for what I'm greedy for). We (aka myself, and future players) need more content to flesh out the story. I wish there would've been more of everything cause I did enjoy the flawed stuff of what I got. Yes...I would've personally paid more for more story and gameplay :) ~ Not being able to save anywhere is a huge con/taboo for me anytime nowadays regardless of the game genre. This isn't 1998/9. I could care less about needing to find a save point to make the tension high and all that other nonsense. Just let me save the game anywhere, so I can quit as need be, or right before a tense moment. Yes I understand that bugs may occur if you allow saving during scripted moments, but I also understand that you (as the dev), can also block those saving moments as need be. So give folks options in these types of games. My personal opinion has always been, in the game options, for horror games saving options: allow save anywhere/autosave, or save at save points. If some folks just have to have that save at save points... give it to them, but let the other folks who time is a commodity for, save anywhere. ~ The last one may be more of a me issue (like all of this) but I could not use the d-pad for movement. I had to use a third party program: xpadder to program the keyboard arrows to my xbox-one wireless controller for movement, so that might need to be looked into unless it's just me. Regardless of all of my opinionated opinions. I did enjoy the game after I got the (what I think is supposed to be the last?) ending. Since the game when I'm reviewing it is still in early access, it could change later, but till then I won't recommend it to the folks I know, but if you've read till now. I (since I don't know you random reader,) think you should try it out, as it's a good game so far. Enjoy the Rules of the House!!

It's a decent game, but sadly, some levels are really hard to complete. Therefore, I couldn't complete it.

Very nice game that should receive better recognition, because it is totally worth it to play! The story is interesting, art is cool, and the soundtrack really good. Controls are very simple, puzzles not too hard to complete, and there are jumpscares and chasing scenes. I missed playing a game like this since I've played games like "The Witch's House", "Ib", and "Mad Father" ("House of Rules" actually reminds me of them).

Fairly interesting story and atmosphere. The game seems very unpolished, though, with horrible controls (which isn't more than an annoyance in most of the game, but becomes truly frustrating when the game occasionally throws a sudden chase sequence at you), the clunky UI and inventory system, a save system that only forces you to replay uninteresting bits over and over if something goes wrong and the inability to skip dialogue, even if already seen. Could have been interesting, but the game ended up annoying me more than it entertained me. Completing it became a chore, so at 60 % completion according to the game itself, I gave up on it. And having completed 60 % in a little over 2 hours (with at least some of that time being spent going through the same scenes for the 3rd or 4th time due to the clunky controls making chases tediously difficult), the game is very short. All in all I really can't recommend this title as it is.

This is the greatest rpg horror game I've ever played. English is not my first language, but I want as many people as possible to read my review so I'm writing in eng. These are the factors of this game that I've fell in love with: 1. Puzzles were pretty hard to solve, though very interesting and unique. My favorite one was the one about 'lambs'. It took me more than 30 min to solve, but I'm proud about it.;) 2. I loved every single dialogue . It's not long nor evident, but it's enough for the player to make an assumption about "the truth" of what's really going on in the mansion, which I fail to guess because the unexpected twist at the end. (in a good way!) 3. Most of all... the whole story of the game is SOOO GOOOOD! I can't say more because I'm afraid I might spoil the fun, but let me tell you this. I forgot to go to the toilet for 4 hours while playing this game that I've almost pissed my pants. I can't believe this game only cost me 5 dollars. I've spent much more for far less enjoyable games. If you are having a second thought about buying this game, please don't. It's your lost. Trust me.