The Witch's House

The Witch's House (魔女の家, Majo no ie) is a freeware puzzle-oriented horror game by the Japanese game creator Fummy (ふみー), created using the software, RPG Maker VX. The game was first released in October 2012, for Windows and Mac.[1]

The Witch's House
The game's title screen
Developer(s)Fummy
Publisher(s)Fummy
EngineRPG Maker VX, RPG Maker MV
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Release
  • Orig.: October 3, 2012
  • Rem.: October 8, 2018
Genre(s)Survival horror Role Playing Game
Mode(s)Single-player

Fummy later released a prequel comic book series titled "The Witch's House: The Diary Of Ellen", telling the story of the witch Ellen. The comic book series is four issues long and available for purchase on Amazon.[2] A manga adaption of The Diary of Ellen, illustrated by Yuna Kagesaki, began publishing in 2017.[3]

Gameplay

The game is a survival horror game in which the main goal is to solve all puzzles correctly and escape the witch's house. It contains a creepy atmosphere, complex riddles and jump scares. This game is played from bird's-eye view using ornate 16-bit graphics, and controlled via keyboard.[1][4]

A black, talking cat can be met at various places in the house, serving as a save point, as well as something of a companion. Throughout the vast majority of the game, the cat is the only source of conversation, usually talking in a casual, nonchalant manner.[1][4]

Plot

The main character of The Witch's House is Viola, a young girl who wakes up in the middle of a forest, soon discovering that her only way out of the forest is completely blocked off by roses. Her only option is to enter a mysterious house nearby in hopes of finding some means of escaping. Accompanied by a black cat, Viola must try to survive the magical and dangerous house.

During her stay in the house, Viola encounters many strange phenomena, a result of the house's shapeshifting nature. She also finds diary entries written by the house's resident, a witch named Ellen, detailing her past. To progress further into the house and hopefully eventually leave the forest, Viola must solve various puzzles, unlocking doors in the house. If Viola manages to leave the house, there are two possible endings depending on her actions.

The two endings, commonly referred to as the "Good Ending" and the "True Ending", are essentially identical, with the True Ending requiring the player to revisit a cabinet found early in the game to unlock extra dialogue, shedding light on Viola and Ellen's relationship. There is also a variation to the True Ending, requiring the player to not save during their entire playthrough, which results in the black cat conversing with the player at the entrance to the final room. A third ending was added in a later patch, which concludes the game if the player waits without moving in the starting area of the game for one real-time hour.

Both the good ending and the true ending reveal that the player character, Viola, is in reality Ellen the witch, who has tricked the protagonist into switching bodies with her in an attempt to rid herself of a serious illness. In both endings, Viola (in Ellen's body) is unknowingly shot to death by her own father in an attempt to protect who he thinks is his daughter. The third ending is a result of Ellen inflicting grave wounds on her own body before the switch; not entering the house for an hour allows the witch to simply leave the forest due to Viola succumbing to her injuries.

References
  1. Fummy. "Majo no Ie Gēmu Gaiyō" 魔女の家　ゲーム概要 [Witch's House Game Overview]. The Witch's House (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  2. "The Witch's House (11 book series)". Amazon. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  3. Fummy; Kagesaki, Yuna (2017). The Witch's House: The Diary of Ellen, Chapter 1. Yen Press. ASIN B074M6FCMX. ISBN 9780316415309.
  4. Dora (17 November 2012). "The Witch's House". JayIsGames. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
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