Cursed Mansion see you solving puzzles and praying that you don’t accidentally get yourself killed with seemingly-innocent actions. There are lots of ways to die in this place.
Rose finds herself outside in a horrible storm. She finds some shelter in an old manor. After years of horror movies and games, I think I’d just take my chances with the rain and lightning. None of those things will absorb my soul and put them through perpetual misery. Unfortunately, Rose chose the scary manor option, so now you have to deal with all kinds of creepy hauntings that want you dead. In the proud tradition of other RPG Maker horror games, those hauntings will succeed often unless you are very, VERY careful about what you do in this place.
Being careful isn’t easy in this game, though. Certain actions you take might seem innocent and safe, but will lead to your death later on. You have to think about your actions and try to recall what got you killed later on, or take a whole different route just to be safe. It will take a bit of experimentation at times, but you’ll eventually find a safe path. Well, as safe as it can be in this game, as you’ll encounter many puzzles that will get you killed if you screw up as well. Or just places that will see you dead if you make one wrong move. It’s downright aggressive in how many things will kill you and how often, which creates this feeling of constant terror. It feels like anything you do can lead to your death, so every single thing you do feels terrifying.
Cursed Mansion is eerie and frightening as it constantly asks you to risk your life to do the simplest thing. That sense of impending death is almost overpowering, but it makes every step that DOESN’T kill you feel exciting.
Cursed Mansion is available now on itch.io and Steam.