Ventriloquist Puppets, escape rooms, and puzzles. To my knowledge, I have yet to hear of such a thing in the real world but in Gaming Factory, Vecube & Spirit Game Studio’s Puppet House, you’ll get just that without leaving the comforts of home!
In Puppet House, players take on the role of Rick, a private detective who, in his spare time, is also a paranormal investigator. Rick learns of a strange case of the home of a late Ventriloquist was the focus of a local urban legend where someone went missing at the house trying to investigate it, Rick took this case on himself since it involves a missing person and the paranormal, but after entering the house, Rick must use this skills to survive.
Now, Onto the game itself! Puppet House‘s controls are minimal so players won’t feel too overwhelmed but you may have to boost your look sensitivity at the start as Rick’s head moves slow.
I love the graphics and art of this game. The lighting engine being used also helps add to the atmosphere of the game, so I strongly suggest not messing with the brightness setting. Speaking of atmosphere, the sound design is pretty good and adds a creepy ambiance to the experience. I would strongly suggest headphones as there are some good scares involving the living puppet scurrying around the house and elsewhere. The only complaint I have about the sound is Rick’s voice. Rick sounds way too gravelly and doesn’t fit in my opinion.
When it comes to Gameplay, there are puzzles to solve as you explore the house and beyond which requires paying attention as you’ll find documents that will give you hints about puzzles, or offer insight about what happened in the house before. Rick carries a camera with him and can take pictures of puzzle hints that you can look at while solving puzzles without missing a beat.
Overall, Puppet House is a fun puzzle game that feels rewarding when you’re playing. There are some good little scares, and an interesting story (though not original). I had fun playing this and I think you would too, especially if you like puzzles and escape rooms. On my scale of 1-10, I give it an 8 as Rick’s voice can be a bit harsh, the unoriginal story, some bad prop placements, and moments where there are no hints of what to do next leave you running in circles hurt the score.
