This review contains spoilers
MyHouse.WAD is such a strange horror game, since it doesnt really use alot of classic horror conventions. It doesnt have any jumpscares, it doesnt have mascots you can turn into marketable plushies, hell, outside of being a doom wad, it doesnt really twist some innocent childhood memories at all. Its really the opposite of current horror norms. And I feel thats why its so great.
Instead of these, my house instils a general sense of dread and unease by bringing in subtle changes and abnormalities, like the basement, which should not be possible in dooms engine, and changing certain sprites and sounds permanently without any warning. After all of this, it just gets stranger and stranger. room layouts change, you see non existent secrets, the house breaks the laws of reality, not just doom, and so much more.
It also uses the sense of familiarity to disarm you, with the house's layout being constantly repeated, be it in the brutalitarian maze, the airport, gas station, hospital, or the bathhouse. Its such a subtle thing you wouldnt notice at first, but it makes the game so much creepier as a result, knowing that no matter what, you are still in this god forsaken house.
Not only that, but the secrets you can find continue to confuse and perplex, with a literal backrooms, a never ending maze that leads nowhere, a mirrored version of underhalls, and random rooms in the brutalitarian maze which do seemingly nothing, all continuing to feed into the idea that this is far larger than what we can see.
This is not even getting into the story, the themes of trauma, grief, and nostalgia, the music, the usage of the medium of a DOOM WAD OF ALL THINGS, and so much more. For a '10 minute map where you go through a dudes friends house', this wad does so much that i havent even scratched the surface
TL:DR, If you love horror, doom wads, fighting shrek, and a game that surprises you at every chance, play this.
9.5/10
Instead of these, my house instils a general sense of dread and unease by bringing in subtle changes and abnormalities, like the basement, which should not be possible in dooms engine, and changing certain sprites and sounds permanently without any warning. After all of this, it just gets stranger and stranger. room layouts change, you see non existent secrets, the house breaks the laws of reality, not just doom, and so much more.
It also uses the sense of familiarity to disarm you, with the house's layout being constantly repeated, be it in the brutalitarian maze, the airport, gas station, hospital, or the bathhouse. Its such a subtle thing you wouldnt notice at first, but it makes the game so much creepier as a result, knowing that no matter what, you are still in this god forsaken house.
Not only that, but the secrets you can find continue to confuse and perplex, with a literal backrooms, a never ending maze that leads nowhere, a mirrored version of underhalls, and random rooms in the brutalitarian maze which do seemingly nothing, all continuing to feed into the idea that this is far larger than what we can see.
This is not even getting into the story, the themes of trauma, grief, and nostalgia, the music, the usage of the medium of a DOOM WAD OF ALL THINGS, and so much more. For a '10 minute map where you go through a dudes friends house', this wad does so much that i havent even scratched the surface
TL:DR, If you love horror, doom wads, fighting shrek, and a game that surprises you at every chance, play this.
9.5/10