The start i tried to go back to my car and it would not start, and then i was autopiloted straight back into the house. i feel maybe that part can be fleshed out a little more, perhaps have him try to walk through the woods meet something supernatural out there and desperately try to get back into the house or sit in his car till the morning or try to find a way into the house from another direction, or obviously knock to be let in again. just having him wanting to leave and the car not start feels a little forced optionless. But i love it and i want to play again so must be good :)
A google user Wed Jul 4 15:24:51 2018
Cool. Love ff.
anonmyonf Thu Aug 2 00:25:09 2018
i got scared to death too much
paul Fri Mar 8 16:16:52 2019
NOT MY EYES! that was fun!
Leo Wed Mar 13 09:00:51 2019
There is legit not i can do in fights
TSD Thu Jun 20 10:52:41 2019
Nice work!
matt Mon Dec 16 09:56:42 2019
darn
Arron Tue Jan 7 23:10:53 2020
Well, i should have learned from the Original House of hell. Dont drink white wine lmfao
Laura Wed Jun 17 22:05:29 2020
Yey I did it! With lots of help from the comments
Bowser Wed Mar 17 13:31:58 2021
Too hard... Add a return to previous decision button plz.
Mage Mon Oct 18 08:13:48 2021
Great prequel.
Mariah Arcade Thu Oct 21 22:03:14 2021
It was terribly enjoyable, I am definitely going to read more of these!
*Spoiler*
I liked that ghost lady a lot lol.
-Mariah <3
j Wed Dec 29 04:18:34 2021
great first attempt, resulted in death! :)
Annabel Mon May 16 23:03:03 2022
I didn't last long but superb description and story, I'm hooked and playing again straight after. 5*
luis lozano Sat Dec 31 05:31:23 2022
quick n great love it!
luis lozano Mon Jan 30 02:55:20 2023
quick n great love it!
ZMFC Thu Jun 22 01:22:15 2023
So the chalice was poison. Oh well, it was fun!
YARD Thu Sep 21 14:29:35 2023
Excellent!
It's a little hard to talk at length about what makes this work so good, because on the first glance, it is after all, "just" a story about a guy trapped in a mansion worshipping an evil demon. Yet, it is remarkably well-balanced: great pacing (it doesn't even take that long to work out how to get to the "second-best" failure ending), good scene-setting writing (ref 11 is an exception, being rather too straightforward), and consistently interesting encounters. This includes both the obstacles, and the more talkative characters. In particular, I dreaded approaching the room with Aldo and Anna because (ghostly) kids are often a one-note chore in horror, yet it's a surprisingly great moment!
The best character was definitely Anselmo, though, and I doubt I was the only who thought that way! I really like that this story was unafraid to have a bit of humour like that football fan, and actually make it work within the context of the story. (Which still features plenty of unexpected pain like what your character can suffer at 405, or ref 79.) Likewise, I LOVE refs 23 and 144. That kind of a bait is bit of a low blow, I guess, but is still hilarious. Even more so when considering you literally need meta knowledge from failed runs to win - and the writing itself acknowledges that.
Yet, the difficulty felt just about right altogether - I won this without having to resort to checking the guestbook (let alone "right-clicking"/bookmarking), and I really don't think this should be marked as the same difficulty as Phil Sadler's two gamebooks. Perhaps it's just me getting better at these things, but then again, Golem Gauntlet (also marked "hard" here) was one of the first ones I have beaten, and I have also done that without hints. Both of them can be won just through the process of eliminating wrong options (although Golem Gauntlet does feature some brutal skill checks), and neither has ANYTHING like the requirement to USE a limited resource at very specific refs to win - a resource which can be wasted pointlessly, or even in a way which seems to benefit you only to fail later on (Metal Sentinel, anyone?) Not to mention that neither has anywhere near that many trap items, or the ability to exchange quest-crucial items for useless ones without knowing the difference. Perhaps a "very hard" category just for the Hellfire/Riders of the Storm pair is in order?
Anyway, for this work, if there's a particular flaw with the writing, I would say it's how our character is an insurance agent or something, yet his emotional response to fighting and killing others in combat is about the same as that of basically all the hardened adventurers of Titan (i.e. none.) A very common flaw to be sure, but I still feel the need to mention that. There are also a few moments where the writing feels a little constrained, but thankfully a lot less than in most comparable works. I.e.
SPOILER
We are not allowed to shatter the vase at 3?
We can immediately attack Pravemi’s daughter, but not the creator of zombies? Particularly not at 304? And we cannot try attacking the servant either?
I wish 260 was clearer about what "challenge" meant. You could interpret that as an argument, or as a challenge to a fight.
199 does not say anything about a closet? It does mention the curtains, perhaps suggesting you could attempt hiding behind them?
END SPOILER
A few mechanical issues.
SPOILER
At 338, it doesn’t seem to prompt for any item when clicking on "another item"? And it can also prompt you to offer a weapon even after you had one broken already.
236 somehow blocks you from going to 324, even if you killed the guy and weren't warned about that passage?
You do not get any FEAR points from 160? Failing to FEAR doesn't seem very likely here (another reason why I don't understand the decision to make Devil's Flight meter so strict) so the character would almost certainly absorb a point or two.
303 is such a delightful ending, that I think it even deserves a "not so bad" ending marker if one becomes available? 239 might as well.