PlayStation 1 Graphics. Tank Controls. 1980s Horror Music. Triple-B game developers “Puppet Combo” prove why they are Tripe-A in our hearts! Let’s review Murder House. 

1980s horror is a staple of the horror genre: The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Vampire’s Kiss…Mehhhh. The greats started in the 80s and influenced every hit from then on. Murder House takes the awesome cheesiness we love from the movies and puts them in a game.

A Puppet Combo lo-fi graphic intro sets the tone as were brought into the main screen VHS cover. Here we navigate the game menu. You can also change the video gameplay settings to take advantage of the immersion playing in VHS quality can give you.

Murder House gives you the option to jump straight into the Main Story or The Prologue. I highly recommend going ahead and doing The Prologue. It’s rad.

In the prologue, you take control of Justin. Justin is a child at the mall to have his picture taken with the easter bunny. You awake in a photo booth after you get your photo taken, seemingly alone in a closed mall. Here, the game lets you explore the blocky architecture while being brought to speed on the game mechanics and inventory system.

Lead Justin on his quest to reunite with his mother and make it out of the mall. Say hi to Janitor Jack, and be sure to hide from the easter bunny while you’re at it!

After little Justin’s story, you are brought to present-day 1988. Here you play as the game’s main protagonist, Emma, MTV’s Daria lookalike. Emma is a young intern for Channel9.

Emma starts out taking orders from the game’s best character(IMO), Gary. Gary has you find a way into the house and unload gear from the Channel9 van. This allows the player time to explore and learn the house’s layout.

After some menial tasks like getting the power on and retrieving water for Channel9 star Dana, Emma quickly learns that they are not alone in the house; the Easter Ripper has returned.

He wants to play a game. Find all the easter eggs, and you live, simple enough!

There are some genuinely great gory cutscenes Puppet Combo put in the game. Every Easter Ripper kill adds to the suspense of Emma’s impending doom.

Murder House does allow you, the player, to fight back. Combat in Murder House is not where the game excels, though. It can be a bit clunky and only serves to stun the Easter Ripper so Emma can get away and hide.

This brings up the game’s Save Feature. This can only be done by collecting pencils throughout the game and writing in a journal found in the game’s “Sanctuary” room. Before progressing too far in-game, be sure you save. After death, your save is where you will load from. You don’t want to push too far and lose all your progress if the Easter Ripper fatality’s you.

You will learn about the history of the Easter Ripper while progressing along with the story. While doing so, Murder House throws out some significant jump scares and panicked pacing moments.

Puppet Combo’s use of hair-raising music and the grotesque aesthetic of the home really give the player a sense of dread. Combine this with tank controls and camera switching, and you genuinely feel frantic trying to stay alive.

The climatic ending pits you one on one against the Easter Ripper in a very challenging fight. It took me a few tries to finish the game, but it wasn’t a bad experience.

Summary.

Murder House is a fantastic PS1-style survival horror game. It has the feel of an 80s slasher film and, overall, some great scares. Combat is not great, but this isn’t a fighting game. Gore, lousy acting, jump scares, Resident Evil-like feel. Murder House is worth owning.

Any Horror fan needs this indie game in their collection. Available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and even the Nintendo Switch. It’s about 3-5 hours of total gameplay, depending on how you pace it.

Side Note.

“The Booty Creek Cheek Freak’.  has a new game releasing 5/19/2022. The video game trailer is below. 

Have you played a Puppet Combo game before? Let me know!

Curious now what the Greatest Horror Game Ever made is? Click the link to find out!