I decided to start my Metal Gear journey with this game, and for what it was, I had fun with it, at least as someone who has never gotten into the series. It's definitely archaic in many respects but nonetheless, I was able to appreciate what the developers were aiming for on the MSX2. The stealth mechanics, while rudimentary, seem pretty impressive for the time even if it's really easy to manipulate and work around. Moreover, I was able to appreciate how even back then, Kojima was toying around with how to tell narratives in video games that went beyond obscure story details in the manual. Big Boss giving you bad advice and intel towards the end of the game is something you didn't see other developers do at the time and It's cool how he utilizes it's systems to tell interesting stories.

My biggest complaints about the game are how cryptic the game can be at times and that there are some trial and error aspects to the game design that can be a nuisance. A lot of this comes down to the fact that the developers hid a lot of crucial information in the manual of the game as a sort of early form of copyright protection and unfortunately, Konami has not provided a translated version of the manual in the master collection. The manual they do provide is useful, but it's still missing important info like what Schneider's frequencies are or that you need to have all rankings to get all the weapons in order to beat the game. Looking up a guide helped me avoid some of these issues, but I can imagine a new player not privy to these things might struggle.

The game can also feel a bit too repetitive with all the backtracking you have to do. It's not the as bad as some metroidvanias out there, but you can definitely start feeling a bit fatigued by how much you need to backtrack at certain parts of the game, especially when the game introduces other buildings in the mix. This gets really annoying when the game introduces traps that can transport you to other buildings. Add on a checkpoint system that can feel unforgiving at times (though you can take advantage of it to help you out.), and parts of this game can feel frustrating.

Overall, I think this game was really fun despite its game and faults, though I will admit that I'm more willing to deal with old game design and jank than most modern gamers. If you're willing to look past it's faults, I think you'll find fun, short stealth experience the laid the foundation for a lot of the series tropes.

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