House on the Hill
When I first heard that The House on the Hill was coming soon, I immediately started planning my next trip to Athens. The first trailers and announcements, then the video, only fueled my curiosity. I knew it would be a good room, like everything Lockhill does, but I didn’t expect it to captivate me so easily.
This story continues the events of Chapel & Catacombs, but for most of the game, we experience the story, essentially going back to the beginning of all the macabre events that took place in the village of Lockhill. This story shed a completely different light on the events of Chapel, revealing a different perspective that finally answered many lingering questions.
The game unfolds slowly. The fear grows with each new location we explore, leading to a climax that serves as the centerpiece of our gameplay. The puzzles aren’t difficult, but they are an integral part of the overall story, telling it and fleshing it out. They contain hidden messages, and sometimes even move the events forward.
In the house we’re in, we can see wonderfully crafted rooms with attention to the smallest details. This room even smelled of its own, and the furniture and decorations seemed to have their own history hidden inside. It was as if something was screaming in this house, constantly begging us to help it come to light. Over time, we learned what secrets Hill House held, and they were terrifying.
During our journey, we witnessed beautiful acting, full of emotions and feelings that are difficult to describe, yet somehow familiar to everyone. The actors are in their own world, living it, expressing themselves, showing us this moving story.
The lighting is adjusted to the appropriate moments of the game, changing. I felt as if the entire house was alive and guiding us. As if it wanted us to see it, to feel it. The music had a soothing effect on me, but at times it gave me goosebumps and paralyzed my body. There were moments of terror, fear, sadness, and joy. The entire game was a mix of many possible emotions, often experienced separately and with gaps between them. Here, in a short space of time, I was able to feel them all, even simultaneously.
In terms of gameplay, there comes a point where each player has a role to play. Each player must face fear in their own way, overcome it, but only together as a team will we achieve success. This is also true in life, and that is what The House on the Hill tries to show. We carry various burdens within us, in the form of unresolved traumas or inappropriately expressed feelings. And at a certain point, this burden simply becomes too heavy to carry on. Then, it prevents us from even functioning daily, until it finally overcomes us. I won’t reveal exactly what happened here and how this story ended, but I can say that these feelings, present in it, will affect each of us sooner or later. The universality of these events and how each individual can identify with them is the essence of the success of this room.
