Your House Review: A Real Fixer-Upper

It’s hard not to love a good mystery. From time-old Agatha Christie whodunits and Nancy Drew stories to modern mindbenders like Glass Onion and Apple TV’s Severance, the mystery genre is like your favorite amusement park rollercoaster—full of twists, turns, and loops that leave your gut reeling and your head spinning.

Your House, developed by Barcelona-based studio Patrones & Escondites, is a love letter to classic detective video games. With its distinctive visual style and unique use of in-game text, Your House sets itself apart from the average visual novel. Sadly, the game is held back by an undercooked story and often frustrating puzzles.

Still, if you’re looking for a quick caper that’ll test your mettle—for better or worse—Your House offers enough thrills to warrant a play.

Rebel With a Cause

Your House stars Debbie, a young girl on a mission. After suffering a series of setbacks—a car accident, a deadbeat boyfriend, a terrible friend—she decides to run away from boarding school when she receives a letter inviting her to a mysterious mansion.

The game plays out in the form of a book. Across five chapters, you’ll read from Debbie’s perspective as she navigates various trials and tribulations. In the opening segment, you’ll help her escape a school prefect, steal a motorcycle, and make her way to the address on the letter. For the rest of the story, you’ll explore this mysterious home, uncovering bits and pieces about its previous owner—all to answer the question of why Debbie was brought here to begin with.

It’s a tried-and-true Christie setup. Massive mansion—check. Cryptic invitation—check. Stubborn, plucky investigator seeking answers—check. Though hardly new, Your House drew me in with its premise, and I was excited to explore the web of intrigue Debbie was certainly walking into. 

Unfortunately, the story fizzles fairly quickly. Plot points are delivered between chapters, usually via a quick, grainy audio recording from Debbie. Characters are introduced in passing with little time for backstory or development. The bulk of the game—the actual text you’ll read during chapters—is dedicated to solving puzzles around the house. What’s worse, the action culminates with a predictable ending that left me neither reeling nor spinning.

An Unconventional Page-Turner

Your House may not have a gripping narrative, but that’s not to say the writing is poor. If anything, the game is buoyed by its central “reading” mechanic—most notably, the clever way Your House treats in-game text.

At first, the game presents itself as a relatively standard visual novel. However, as you read through these pages, you’ll see bolded words that double as in-game prompts. Click “run,” and Debbie will evade a pursuer. Select a room name—the library, the living room, the kitchen—and she’ll walk through the house to the appropriate place. Click “map,” and she’ll consult the player’s inventory.

It’s here that Your House shows some welcome personality. Not since Cing’s cult classic Hotel Dusk have I seen such a novel take on the… well, novel-reading process in a game. Sadly, the mechanics here are simple, rarely branching out beyond a means of navigation. During some of the game’s more intricate puzzles, I was often forced to revisit previous pages, scanning for the same few words to advance Debbie from one puzzle to the next. It got old fast.

Nevertheless, I appreciated the charm of Your House’s aesthetic. Add in striking comic-inspired visuals and a welcome dose of noir, and the visual presentation is a clear high point.

Can I Phone a Friend?

Outside of reading and listening, we have the puzzles themselves. Your House has a decent array of brainteasers to keep you busy during its roughly five-hour run. You’ll crack safes, mess with clocks and pianos, use a UV light to uncover hidden messages, and more. However, these challenges are often either too easy or far too difficult. 

The game’s opening chapters err on the side of simplicity. I completed its tasks with ease and, at one point, figured I’d be in for a breezy time. Then, Chapter 3 hit, and I found myself drowning in rooms to visit, clues to examine, and solutions to find.

Don’t get me wrong: The ramp-up in difficulty was a welcome one, and this halfway mark is where Your House hits its stride a bit. I quickly found myself engaged, trying to solve its many mysteries without the use of an aide. Unfortunately, some puzzles—without giving much away—were harder than others, leading to bouts of frustration where I had little clue of where to go or what to do.

The game has a handy hint system, largely alleviating these difficulty spikes. That said, I encountered a few moments where the hints offered little help, leading me to consult a PDF guide specifically created for members of the gaming press. Reading through some of the trickier solutions, I found the logic behind some solutions particularly far-fetched.

Final Thoughts

Your House is a competent mystery game that suffers from its own ambition. Its central reading mechanic adds flavor to the experience, and it offers a decent variety of puzzles to keep players engaged. However, the narrative lacks bite, and the difficulty will be a turn-off for some.

If you don’t mind a “just okay” story and are open to some wonky solutions, Your House offers some unique puzzle thrills. It helps that, at a retail price under $10, you get a lot of bang for the buck. But just don’t expect a revelatory experience.

Score: 6.5/10

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Your House, developed by Patrones & Escondites, is available now on PC (Steam), iOS, and Android. MSRP: $9.99 on PC; $6.99 on mobile.

Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the developer.