Undiscovered House Review

*Contains Spoilers* Jumpscare Simulator With No Direction

Undiscovered House is an indie horror game where the player is a nameless person who experiences a seemingly paranormal event, swerves off the road and presumably crashes their car, and stumbles upon a random house in the woods while looking for help. The house seems to have someone inside, because you can see a light in one of the topmost windows as you approach, but the front door is wide open. This is probably not an invitation to enter, as the house is clearly not abandoned, but the game wants the player to go in anyway.

What I notice immediately is that the game looks nice and clean. The house is, for the most part, pristine, and it appears to be modern. However, as you explore, you find notes written in script on parchment paper which seems very out of place. You’re also met with several jumpscares throughout, and each one is just as cheap as the last. Figures appearing suddenly, then poofing out of existence or a coattail disappearing around a corner are the peak scares in the game.

It is hard to tell if the house is supposed to be haunted or occupied by the occult. It could possibly be both, but the game never really explains any of that to you. The story becomes even more puzzling as you progress. After finding your way out of the random house you found, you end up in a sewer. The sewer portion of the game is repetitive and lacks any sort of character whatsoever. It feels as if this section were added to the game purely to extend the length, and not to add any real value to the gameplay.

After you escape the sewer, you’ll emerge in a hospital of some kind. Once again, the game does not elaborate where you are or why. There are several rooms with nothing of use inside them, and upon entering a specific room with nothing in it, you’ll get a cutscene that makes absolutely no sense which concludes the game. It is also important to note that this is the only outcome. There are no alternate endings to pursue and players cannot do anything differently to get a better ending, or one that at least makes sense.

The area this game fails the most in is story. There’s no real reason for anything the player does throughout the entire game, aside from mindless progression. I don’t feel drawn to anything happening and I certainly never had anything to fear. The notes found throughout the game do very little to establish any purpose, so I was disconnected to everything I did the entire playthrough.

The game’s music consists of the same two piano keys played over and over again, and the “tense” music starts up at strange times, and ends almost as randomly. The few voice lines in the game were of good quality, but it did little to improve this experience.

Overall, I suggest players avoid this game. Undiscovered House feels more like a practice project than a finished product and I cannot, in good conscience, recommend spending $1.99 USD on a game with so little to offer.

[Lady played Undiscovered House with a mouse and keyboard]

Developer: Sysreb Games
Publisher: Sysreb Games