The Housemate
A downloadable game for Windows
"Wait. When did you get out of the house?"
Alan gets back home. Louie, his housemate, is there. For better or for worse.
The Housemate is a linear, horror visual novel made in 22 days for 2021's Spooktober GameJam.
Viewer discretion advised. Please play with care.
- Body Horror
- Death
- Implied drug abuse
- Implied ableism
- Verbal abuse
MORE WARNINGS (SPOILERS):
- Body horror - disfiguration
- Gaslighting
- Hallucinations
- Implications of suicide
- Traumatic events, such as death of a loved one
- Note on previous "Implied ableism" warning: while it is not disclosed in the story which mental disorder the main character has (if any), there is several scenes where this is challenged in an aggressive manner. There are no slurs in this game.
Credits:
Lead Developer
Blayze "CliffordTBRD" Riegel | Twitter | itch.io
Writer, Concept Artist
Milo "miladdy" Cardoso | Twitter | itch.io | Behance
Voice Talent
Austin "Battery" Bevenour
Producer
Lydia "Lyishi" Shealy | Twitter
ATTRIBUTIONS:
Thanks to all these users from freesound.org that share their audio effect creations as public domain:16G_Panska_Komarkova_Marika | aldelri | amholma | bajko | BeeProductive | breviceps | Deathscyp | dkiller2204 | doty21 | elmoustachio | finn-appleton | fission9 | giddster | icyjim | lwdickens | neolein | oldaccount | rvgerxini | samwd | shortrecord | mikslu | wjtaylor | yummy9987
"Emptiness" by lashman (https://lashman.bandcamp.com/track/emptiness) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
"SCP-x2x (Unseen Presence)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Light Thought var 1" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"Thinking of You" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Post Jam Update 1#Oct 02, 2021
Comments
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Howdy,I understand why that's your favorite project
Omg you did such a good job with this game!!
There are some problems though: there are some grammatical errors, and the dialogue doesn't always match the voice acting, though I'm not sure if that last one is intentional.
I played the game, I was both confused and terrified to my very soul. The voice acting helped with the horror aspect and god was I so confused, I was aware I was being gaslit but I was second guessing myself and feeling so lost. Also the sound effects? I absolutely hate whoever put them in because they are perfectly timed and making me want to quake in fear. And that ending??? Did it just move on from Louie?? I don't wan to spoil anything but god do I have so many questions but I kinda have an ide abut fuckkkkk.... Great visual novel but dang am I shaken and rattled as all hell.
I watched the playthrough of this because I had a feeling it would be too creepy for me to play myself (having a video makes it a bit more comfortably distanced). I was right, it's some really darn good horror! Really plays off the fear of the unknown, questioning your own sanity, gaslighting and not knowing if you can trust your own senses. The visuals support that increasing feeling of dread perfectly. Really excellent!
I'm glad to hear the video playthrough served you well, we made if for this reason (and if someone that didn't have time or didn't have a pc could also experience the story!). Thank you so much for your comment! -M
I like me some good, old-fashioned gaslighting in my horror :)
This VN deals with psychological and physical horror, leaving the reader to piece together the events while the main character struggles to keep up.
It's a polished experience with voice acting and atmospheric art. Well done!
Thank you so much for your kind comment! :D -M
I am sorry but you ruined this whole novel. You built it up just to end it so badly literally waiting just to find out nothing. If it was meant to be left to us it did not seem that way at all...very upsetting...
Definitely some spooky shit! The audio work really holds this game together and makes the experience all together more terrifying. I screamed 2 times and towards the end I had to cover my vision a bit because I couldn't handle the scare. Awesome job!
Thank you for playing and for your lovely comment! We're glad you found it spooky :) -M
This was awesome! Please make another one!
Hey, thank you so much for playing, we really appreciate it! :D - M
I loved this! But seriously, I need some explanation about the end. Please? It left me with too many questions...
About the ending: it's purposefully vague to let the player have their own interpretation of the emotional dread that the main character is experiencing in that situation, as he tries to process and understand the traumatic experience he had. We didn't write it with anything super specific in mind, just so the player could theorize and make their own connections! We really appreciate your interest in our game, thank you so much! -M
What do I do at the blue doors?
Sorry there was a bug in that version that was happening on slower computers, if you download the new version it should be fixed
Thanks