THE WITCH’S HOUSE MV Review for Steam

Introduction

              Waking up from a heavy slumber, Viola pulls out a letter from her father warning here to be safe and to come home quickly. Stumbling through the leaves and forage, Viola comes out to a field with a house standing in the middle of it. Entering the house, the atmosphere shifts as you begin an adventure to survive the dangers that lurk in the house and understand the messages left behind in the Witch’s Diaries scattered throughout the whole house. A modern take on the 2012 released game developed by Fummy and published by DANGEN Entertainment, The Witch’s House MV takes Viola into the frightening and terrifying depths of a mysterious home.

Gameplay

              The player controls Viola, a young golden-locked hair girl, through the trials and perils of the Witch’s House. This horror RPG genre focuses on puzzle solving and heart-pumping reaction base events. Using the arrow keys, Viola navigates through all the rooms on a floor of the Witch’s Hose where she must solve the puzzles of the floor in order to advance higher into the building. The game’s main avenue of challenge are these difficult puzzles, many of which require attention to detail and cerebral thinking about clues given on notes of paper. The clue or piece of one puzzle would often be found in another room, so solving these would require exploration and trial and error. Trial and error as many of the items Viola can interact with can lead to her gruesome demise. Cleverly, however, much of the tasks involves using another item that permanently changes another item, allowing its use in another puzzle.

One of the most brilliant aspects, however, is how the game scares you while playing. When moving about a room, a chair will suddenly cross your path, or a vase will fall over and crack while going about the puzzle-solving, adding a layer of tension on top of the task Viola is already performing. Chase sequences and time-based events create that sense of urgency and danger as well. You never know when interacting with an object if it will end your life or be the key to advancing on. There’s even a charming little black cat that acts as the save point.

Story/World Building

              The Witch’s Diaries serve as the main vehicle with which the story of the game is conveyed. Reading each of the books on each floor as Viola pushes through the house lets the player gain insight on the reasoning behind why so many torturous and horrendous things are occurring at the house. It also clues in on the history and motivation of the Witch herself. The items in the game also fill in some of the holes, with the item descriptions revealing information about where they came from or what they can be used for in the house. Some gaps in the diary entries did cause a bit of confusion, such as jumps in time between when the entries were written. But for the most part, the story remains fluid. The player knows virtually nothing about Viola however, and the connection to the witch is muddy looking back on it. Yet the plot drives the player to see this through to the end because of the open ends presented throughout the rooms.

Aesthetic (soundtrack/art style)

              Visually, The Witch’s House MV is stunning. It remains in the realm of Japanese horror RPG games in terms of building styles, floor layouts, character design. But added effects and details onto objects gives them so much more life and texture. Especially the detail on flowers and roses, which constantly show up in the rooms. Light and shadows are played very well, providing depth to objects in the world. Most of the objects in the world are rendered equal levels, so it isn’t always clear what can and cannot be interacted with and act as a part of a puzzle. Despite the gory and dark theme of the plot, there are portions of the house that are filled with colors. Doll stands and fields of flowers bursting with bright reds.

In terms of sounds, the soundtrack is the typical creepy house high piano notes that one would imagine. The genius of the sound design lies outside of the soundtrack. There are countless footsteps, glass breaking, metal shifting, bumps just off screen that happen simply while walking around. When solving a puzzle, there is often a sound that indicates a change in something in the environment as a direct consequence of solving the puzzle. Every little item and insect and board and danger makes some sort of goosebumps raising sound.

Overall

              Witch’s House MV finds a way to be simple in idea and absolutely nail the execution of that idea. It is thrilling, heart racing, unnerving and some what sickening. It compels the player to continue to the end, to understand what happened. To understand the madness of that house. Gorgeous and intelligently built, Witch’s House MV makes the player question every decision, every action, every step they take. And it is an absolute blast going through it all.

Check Out The Witch’s House MV Trailer:

The Witch’s House MV is available for PC for $14.99 via Steam.