This Is Not Your House sees an older man having his house stolen while he’s out and you’ll need to help him survive the aftermath.
Coming home from the grocery store to find that all of your locks have been changed and your home has been taken – it’s a scary thought. Especially so given that the protagonist in this game, Roger, is a frail and vulnerable old widower. A quick conversation with the intruder soon leaves you without your car and utterly naked on your front porch on a winter night. It’s freezing cold and you have no shelter. What do you do?
You’ll spend the rest of the game wrestling with this question as you explore a variety of options as you steadily weaken from the cold. It’s such a surreal situation that it might be hard to grasp what’s the right way forward, as reclaiming your home is a bit difficult when you’re locked outside and naked. Not only that, but if you give in to your anger, hunger, or vulnerability at this situation in the wrong way, you could very easily end up dead or doing something that might not look too good when the police arrive. There are a lot of ways this unsettling situation could go wrong quickly, so you’ll need to really think about your decisions. You know, while you’re freezing to death.
This is Not Your House navigates a chilling situation effectively and eerily, making use of a yellow pixelated art style that makes everything feel unreal and disturbed. There’s this sense of a decay in reality as this simple, yet terrifying situation unfolds – that the grip we have on shelter and safety is so tenuous and easy to break. The look of the game really makes it premise stick with you and makes the decisions feel so sickening and upsetting, creating an excellent short horror piece.
This Is Not Your House is available now on itch.io.
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