Haunted house game: could you survive one night?

One night at 13 Pell Lane

The House That Hates Guests is a short choose-your-path game for adults. You have taken a one-night house-sitting job at 13 Pell Lane. The owner, Dame Odalys Pell, is away until nine in the morning. She has left you a cat, a candle, a sheet of instructions, and a hall cupboard with three packed bags in it. They belong to the last three sitters. Nobody saw any of them leave.

The house reacts to the people in it. Doors close and lock on their own. The stairs are not always where you left them. The lamps go down when it is unhappy and come back up when it is not. The house does not attack anyone. It decides, before dawn, whether you leave and how: paid, unpaid, locked in, or locked out.

Your job is to get to morning, keep the house on your side, and work out its rules from the notes Dame Odalys left around the place. You make eight decisions, from the front porch at dusk to the front hall at three in the morning. Every choice shows its cost before you commit, so you always know what you are spending.

How the night works

Two meters sit in the status bar. House mood shows how the house feels about you, in three bands: Hostile, Uneasy and Settled. Every guest starts at Hostile, and a guest who is still Hostile at three in the morning is in trouble. Candle shows how much of the night you have left, in inches. Waiting, napping and chores burn candle, and the best ending is only possible if your candle is still lit at the end.

You can pick up three things. A brass key opens the attic door, though what happens after that depends on the house. A page from Dame Odalys's diary sets out one of her rules. A chipped teacup lets you make tea without touching her good china. How you come through the front door and which room you claim for the night decide which of these you find.

The house's preferences are consistent once you see them. It likes to be asked, thanked and kept in order. It dislikes shortcuts, snooping and anyone touching the good china. The cat matters more than you would expect. Information found early pays off later: a card in the hall can change how the stairs treat you, and a page from the study can change what you do in the kitchen.

Fast, careful, generous and improvised choices are each right somewhere. Nothing ends your night early. Every run reaches the last decision, and your earlier choices decide which mornings are still possible.

Who you meet

You are the house-sitter: an adult with a duffel bag who wants the fee, the deposit and a few hours of sleep, in that order. Dame Odalys Pell is never home, but her handwriting is everywhere: on the instruction sheet, on a diary page in the study, on a card tucked behind her own portrait. The portrait is ordinary oil paint. Its expression is not always the one you remember.

Gravy is the cat. He is grey and heavy, he eats at eleven, and the house takes his side. The staircase has fourteen steps on a good night. The small attic door at the end of the upstairs hall is locked, there are scratches around the keyhole, and none of the notes say what is up there.

Five ways the morning can go

There are five endings. The House Adopts You is the best, mostly: you are paid well, and the house wants you back. Deposit Returned is the clean result: paid in full and out of the door. Dawn, With Sulking gets you out at first light, shaken and unpaid. Locked in the Attic leaves you there until nine, when the owner tells you how lucky you were. Into the Hedge is the worst: the house puts you out at three in the morning, in the cold, with your phone and keys behind a locked door.

The game does not tell you which choices lead where. Your result page names the decision that mattered most, and you can rewind to a turning point and try a different approach.

A note on tone

This is a dry ghost story with high stakes and no gore. Nothing bleeds and nothing jumps out at you, but the house is dangerous: three people have stayed here and not been seen since, and the bad endings are bad. The unsettling parts are small and domestic: a door that was open and is now locked, a draft with no window to explain it, a step that was not there a minute ago.

The humor comes from the situation: an adult doing a paid job in a house whose rules have to be taken literally. A run takes about four minutes, so you can play again to win the house over, annoy it on purpose, or find out what is in the attic.

Who you meet

• You. A house-sitter with a duffel bag, booked for one night. You want the fee, your deposit back, and to walk out in the morning.
• The House. 13 Pell Lane. Shuts and locks doors, moves its stairs and turns the lamps down on guests it dislikes. Three sitters this year never came out.
• Dame Odalys Pell. The owner, away until nine. Her portrait hangs over the mantel, and her notes are the only instructions you get. They do not mention the other sitters.
• Gravy. A heavy grey cat who wants his dinner. The house takes his side in everything.
• The Staircase. Fourteen steps when the house is calm. A different number when it is not.

Questions

How long does The House That Hates Guests take?

About four minutes for one run. There are eight decisions, and most people play it a few times to find more of the five endings.

Can I lose early?

No. Every run reaches the last decision at three in the morning. Earlier choices change which endings are still possible, but you always get to the end of the night.

Is it free, and can I save?

It is free to play. Runs are short, so there is no manual saving. You can rewind to a turning point from the result page and try a different path.

Is it scary?

It is tense rather than frightening. Three sitters have gone missing and the house can lock you in or out, but there is no gore, nothing graphic and no jump scares.