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Puppet Combo’s games have been a hot topic of discussion lately in the horror gaming community. Some people view them as paper-thin mechanically with not much beyond the PS1 aesthetics. Others view the games as the future of horror gaming, providing players with authentically terrifying scares. Regardless of how you feel, there’s really no harm done in a labor of love horror game that’s available to fans for only a few bucks. Puppet Combo is also pretty much keeping the slasher genre alive in the gaming medium, producing games that are obviously inspired by our favorite knife-wielding maniacs.
Suffice to say, I’m a pretty big fan of Puppet Combo as a whole. And it’s with great excitement that I can confidently say Stay Out of the House is the best game from them to date.
Stay Out of the House puts players in a fight for their life from an escape room of death. After two prologues that set the scene for the narrative, players find themselves trapped in the house of a sadistic cannibal killer. The game heavily borrows inspiration from Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and oddly enough, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. The story is a simple set up but soon unravels into something that I became infatuated with, a first time for me playing a Puppet Combo game. I was surprised with the themes of religious fanaticism; the juxtaposition of religious belief with acts of unspeakable horror provide for a more thought provoking experience than usual. The story is light but it’s one open to a great amount of interpretation.
Gameplay in Stay Out of the House is probably where I was most impressed. The game is formatted as an “escape room” type game with light immersion elements. Players will explore the cannibal’s bloody home in search of a way out, finding items along the way. Using a lighter I was able to navigate dark hallways and bedrooms, while using a screwdriver I was able to enter the vents of the house and move discreetly. The ultimate goal is to get out of the house alive… by any means.
This is where a surprise element comes in. There isn’t a game over when you’re caught by the cannibal but you’re instead recaptured and the house becomes harder to navigate with new obstacles and traps. The game encourages perfect runs to avoid harder elements. I found myself critically thinking about how to approach situations and get out with as little confrontation as possible. It is by far Puppet Combo’s most mechanically deep game and I’m stoked to finally see them deliver a game that feels like a complete experience right out of the gate.
As always, Puppet Combo delivers on the PS1 and VHS era retro aesthetic but there’s a great amount of options to tailor your experience including a bevy of filters and an FOV slider. While you’ll be pressed to keep the VHS filter on, I like having the option of being able to turn it off. Having more options is never a bad thing. Performance on console is great as well, as I never ran into any issues or crashes in my time with the game. For the record, I played on PS5 for the entirety of my review.
Do I recommend Stay Out of the House? You bet. I usually recommend giving every Puppet Combo game a try, but there’s something special about Stay Out of the House. Puppet Combo delivers a game with a fascinating story, and deeper gameplay mechanics that all blend together very well. If you’re a fan, you’re in for a treat. If you’ve never played a Puppet Combo game before, this is a great one to jump into. For $15, this game is an absolute value. In fact, Stay Out of the House is easily one of my favorite games this year.
Stay Out of the House is now available on Xbox One, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
