History VideoGame / TheWitchsHouse

* HauntedHouse: The eponymous witch's house. [[spoiler:[[GeniusLoci It's actually a living being]], as the spirit of [[PredecessorVillain the witch who lived there before Ellen, and [[MissionControl the one providing the hints]] she finds throughout the game.]]

* NotHisSled: The main source of difficulty in the Extra mode: attempting to solve puzzles with the solutions they had in the original game will either be fruitless or end in your death.

''The Witch's House'' (''Majo no Ie'') is a freeware puzzle-oriented horror game by Fummy, made with RPG Maker VX. A young girl named Viola has gone to visit her friend, Ellen, who lives in the woods. However, those same woods are said to be haunted by a witch who kidnaps children. When Viola finds her way blocked by magical roses, it seems that her only option is to enter the eponymous witch's house and find a way to break the spell.

The game also followed by ''The Witch's House: The Diary of Ellen'', a spoiler-heavy prequel novel which explains the origins of the eponymous witch. On August 2017, the novel received a manga adaptation as well.

A remake made in RPG Maker MV titled ''The Witch's House MV'' was released on October 31, 2018. In addition to updated graphics, it includes a brand new [[HarderThanHard "Extra Mode"]] with modified puzzles and a brand new ending.

* AbusiveParents: Detailed in the novel; the Demon and the House isolated Ellen in order to [[{{Tykebomb}} raise her to become their next witch]], slowly turning her into a heartless murderer. The Demon likely did the same thing with the House, who was his [[PredecessorVillain original witch.]] Also, Ellen’s own parents aren’t prize-winners as well....
* AchievementsInIgnorance: as detailed under Loophole Abuse, if you don't read the note warning you to not get distracted during a certain part of the game, you can get as distracted as you like with none of the ill effects you'd suffer if you had read the note.
* ADayInTheLimelight: [[http://vgperson.tumblr.com/post/65803385327/the-witchs-house-the-diary-of-ellen-chapter-1-back "The Diary of Ellen"]] is a novel written from the point of view of Viola's friend, Ellen.
** [[spoiler: Technically subverted since Ellen is actually the protagonist in Viola's body. A straighter example would be the ''real'' Viola- Chapter 4 and the Epilogue are written from her point of view]].

* AllWitchesHaveCats: A talking black cat, who seems to live in the house, serves as something of a guide and a helper (and a save point) to the protagonist. [[spoiler: The cat is in fact possessed by the demon who gave the witch her powers, [[InvertedTrope so the "cat" is actually the master in the relationship.]]]]
* AlreadyDoneForYou: In Extra Mode, the skull puzzle is already solved. The only purpose of the room is to pull the lever to get the water flowing [[spoiler:and serve as a death trap in case you attempt to escape back into the room like in the original puzzle.]]

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: While the core gameplay and storyline remained the same, the 'Extra' difficulty in ''MV'' version features different puzzles to solve, new events, harder chase segments, and slightly better detail on the story aspect. Oh, and there's more ways to die as well...

* BigBad: The titular witch who traps Viola in her HauntedHouse and has killed tons of children before her. [[spoiler:It's actually Ellen, Viola's FalseFriend, possessing Viola's body all along, making her [[TomatoSurprise the real protagonist]], and she is [[BigBadDuumvirate aided by]] the [[GeniusLoci House itself]], who is the spirit of the witch before her, and the Black Cat Demon, who granted her his powers and guides her through the house. Viola, in Ellen's body, is the HeroAntagonist trying to stop Ellen from killing her]].

* CatsAreSnarkers: At the half-way point in the game, the Black Cat says: "By the way, [[CaptainObvious this is a witch's house]]. You know that, right? Right?!" [[spoiler:The line is even more snarky given that the girl we are playing as ''is'' the witch, in Viola's body]].

** Several times if you want to progress. You have to [[spoiler:cut off the limbs of a living teddy bear, feed a frog to a monster when it has done nothing but help you, kill a friendly flower... Justified since [[TomatoSurprise you are actually playing as the Witch, Ellen. Of course she wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to commit evil actions to save herself]].

* DealWithTheDevil: [[BigBad The witch]] is said to be in one with a demon. It can't use its powers to kill in our world, so she sacrifices souls to it in exchange for magic. [[spoiler:Ellen entered the contract because the demon said he could cure her illness.]]

** After you read "A Funny Story", you hear a pretty demented laugh and see one of the chairs in the library rock in rhythm with it. Maybe it's just one of the manifestations of the house.
** [[spoiler: Ellen, in Viola's body, gives a wicked little (soundless) snicker after Viola's father shoots Viola (in Ellen's body)]].
* EvilMentor: [[spoiler:The Cat Demon and The House are this to [[VillainProtagonist Ellen]]]].

** When the invisible chef accepts your offer of lending them a hand, [[spoiler:he/she takes it literally and chops them off]].

* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Viola, feeling sorry for how Ellen was so ill that she couldn't even get out of her bed, allowed her to [[spoiler:switch bodies with her [[BlatantLies "for a day". In return, "Viola" left "Ellen" in a body that she herself mutilated (cutting off her own legs and gouging out her own eyes), and forced burning "medicine" down her throat to render her mute.]]]] And that's ''before'' the start of the game.

** "A Funny Story." Both it and the game ends with a hunter killing someone near and dear to him because of a misunderstanding.
** The fact that most of the actions you take in the game fall under CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption foreshadows that [[spoiler:your player character is cruel]].
** The giant spider is a metaphor for [[spoiler:the demon keeping Ellen in the house with an ill and broken body. The web is the house. Of course, Ellen can't safely leave on her own, which is why the spider will eat you if you take the butterfly without replacing it with the butterfly model. If Ellen does leave, the magic of the house will wear off and she will be subject to the painful symptoms of her illness. It is presumed that, after Ellen gives up and despairs, she will die and the demon will then eat her. The butterfly swap represents Ellen switching places with Viola to free herself.]]
** After choosing the right path in the mouth hallway, there are some spikes right next to the door, out of your way. Deliberately stepping on them causes Viola to die. If you reload the game and go back to the same area, you'll notice that the spikes are now bloody, implying that Viola really died there and is being repeatedly brought back to life.
* FreakyFridayFlip: See GrandTheftMe and FreakyFridaySabotage.
* FreakyFridaySabotage: The eponymous witch [[spoiler: is revealed to have cut off her own legs and gouged out her eyes before convincing Viola to trade bodies with her, leaving her blind and crippled.]]
* FreudianExcuse: The witch's diaries reveal that she was an IllGirl who had no friends and was [[ParentalNeglect neglected by her parents]], [[spoiler:which is why she killed them and turned to magic]].
** In addition, her [[ParentalSubstitute Parental Substitutes]] [[AbusiveParents were the ones who raised her]] [[{{Tykebomb}} to be a killer.]] Her backstory is further detailed in ''The Diary of Ellen.''
* GeniusLoci: The eponymous witch's house, which has a mind of its own and actively helps the player with notes containing hints about the game's puzzles. [[spoiler:The prequel novel reveals that the house's consciousness is actually the spirit of the demon's original witch, who "retired" for reasons unknown. She is completely loyal to Ellen and recognizes her as her mistress, even though she is now in Viola's body and has lost her magic, hence all the helpful notes.]]
* GiantSpider: There's one lurking on the second floor of the house, who is Color Blind, which will [[OffWithHisHead bite off Viola's head]] if you try to leave the room while the web is empty.
* GlamourFailure: Bringing up the inventory screen while stumbling through the dark maze after breaking the glowing bottle will show Viola's face discolored and twisted into an absolutely demonic looking SlasherSmile. [[spoiler:It's a big clue that she's not the real Viola - she's the witch, who has already taken possession of Viola's body.]]

* GrandTheftMe: The true ending reveals that, before the start of the game, [[spoiler:Ellen and Viola had swapped bodies]]. The third pseudo-ending implies that [[spoiler:Ellen had planned on stealing someone's body from the beginning, as that was the spell she received from the demon's contract]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:The Cat Demon. He made Ellen who she is in the game]].
** The House as well; the novel reveals it to be the spirit of the witch who lived there before Ellen.

** At one point, the player must solve a math/logic puzzle, finding the numbers that correspond with the top-left corner, the top-right corner, the bottom-left corner, and the bottom-right corner of the room in that respective order to obtain a 4-digit code that will open the door to the next area. As of version 1.07, translator ''vgperson'' has removed this puzzle from the game.
** Extra Mode in the remake has some very obtuse puzzle solutions. For example, the modified doll puzzle has dolls on the tables that don't correspond to the table cloths. [[spoiler:Have you tried ''flipping the table cloth over?'']]
** Getting the "True Ending" requires an [[ViolationOfCommonSense extremely irrational detour]]. [[spoiler:During the final confrontation, where Ellen('s homicidal body) chases you through the house until you make it outside, you have to run ''past'' the front door, go open a previously-locked cabinet to get a knife, strafe around the corpse chasing you to get back out of the room, and ''then'' run outside. The only hint about this secret is that if you examined that cupboard early in the game, it says it "opens when the house has returned to normal." You can't go back in after escaping the house, either.]]
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Double Subverted. Viola was a sweet little girl... [[spoiler: before she got swapped with her purple haired "friend".]]

** When Viola finally comes face-to-face with the witch, all that's left of her is her mangled upper body. [[spoiler: In the third pseudo-ending, it's revealed that Ellen cut her legs off and gouged her eyes out so that Viola would despair and die (see DeathByDespair). To add insult to injury, Ellen gave Viola a throat-burning "medicine" so that she would no longer be able to scream or even speak, as the sound of her old body screaming upset Ellen. This was to ensure Viola died, because a witch's immortality and glamour fails if she suffers great despair, according to the novel.]]
** In Extra Mode, attempting to take the original solution to the wall eyes puzzle will result in the wall mouth promptly biting down on Viola straight through her midsection.

* HauntedHouse: The eponymous witch's house. [[GeniusLoci It's actually a living being; the spirit of]] [[PredecessorVillain the witch who lived there before Ellen;]] and [[MissionControl the one providing the hints you find throughout the game.]]
* HeroAntagonist: [[spoiler: The purple-haired witch turns out to be the real Viola trapped in the witch's body.]]
* IJustWantToBeLoved: A book in the library titled "Ellen" said that she "only hoped to be loved."
* InvisibleToNormals: The house ''appears'' to be devoid of any human residents... it actually isn't, but Viola can't see them, because she does not have magical powers.
* ItAmusedMe: At the beginning, the cat says that he's following you around for laughs.

* InvincibleVillain: [[spoiler: So long as Ellen has the cat on her side, there's no way for her to lose]].
* JustifiedSavePoint: Not stated outright, but since the cat is actually [[spoiler: a powerful demon]], it makes sense he could return the Witch from the grave.

** Ellen gets away with sacrificing an untold number of lost children to a demon [[spoiler: and stealing Viola's body. Unless, of course, you count getting painfully killed every time you screw up.]]
** Subverted at one point. Remember the frog you fed to a snake earlier? Turns out he had tadpoles. They're not happy with you.
* KarmicDeath: An easily missable EasterEgg: When you return to the garden, you'll see everything has wilted. The yellow flowers that ordered an assassination on the white flower are dead with one of them being eaten by a clock.
* KickTheDog: Hey, look, a frog! Awww. It's very happy, seems to like you, and is completely willing to help you on your quest. [[spoiler: Let's feed it to a snake!]]

* TheKillerInMe: In the end, [[spoiler: it's revealed that "Viola" is actually the witch in Viola's body, and the ''real'' Viola is in the witch's]].

* LoopholeAbuse: There is a room where a note on the wall tells you not to let anything distract you on the following hallway. Normally, doing anything but walking in a straight line to the exit would result [[spoiler: in death by giant rock]], but if you proceed into the hallway without reading the note, you CAN let things distract you, and nothing will happen. Ignorance of the rule excuses you!
** However, if you read the note on previous playthroughs, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the game will remember.]]
* TheMagicGoesAway: With the death of the witch [[spoiler: (or her body at least)]], the house and the inhabitants disappear. [[spoiler: This is why the demon leaves the cat's body, since he would vanish along with everything else]].
* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: The Black Cat Demon is the one who took Ellen in and made her who she is, and came up with the body-switching plan. ''The Diary of Ellen'' goes into more detail on this.]]

* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Viola's death at the hands of her father in the end could be considered this]].

** In the dresser mirror in the music box room, except your face is replaced with a red splotch.
* MissionControl: You regularly run into notes pinned to the walls that hint you on how to avoid obstacles and solve puzzles. [[spoiler: In the True Ending, it is revealed this is [[GeniusLoci the house itself helping its]] [[VillainProtagonist real mistress]]]].
* MissionControlIsOffItsMeds: While usually helpful, the messages are always extremely vague and cryptic, and occasionally completely insane.
* MoodWhiplash: The true ending, [[spoiler: where the player is rooting for "Viola" one minute and... not rooting the next]].
* MultipleEndings: Three. A normal ending, a true ending, and a "pseudo third ending" As of 1.07, there is a new ending called '___'.
** Normal Ending: If you manage to just escape from the final chase, [[spoiler: Viola finally reunite with her father, only for The Witch suddenly appear and barely follows Viola outside the house. Although luckily, Her father kill it just in time and they hurry to leave. We last see Viola giving the house a long look before leaving]].

** Pseudo Third Ending: This is an additional event before the either two ending above and acquired by not interacting to the cat at all throughout the game until you reach the witch's room, which means you have to beat it without saving your progress and dying once. [[spoiler:(Except when you talk to the cat in a certain hallways, see LoopholeAbuse)]]. Instead of lying on the floor, The black cat is still alive, and will congratulate you and wish you well, [[spoiler: and reveal its true identity as a demon. There's also some change in the witch's room such as The items descriptions change slightly, the diary entry changes to describe what happened during the body swap, the Legless Girl (Viola) struggling to say "Give it back" before chasing Viola (Ellen), the room's name in the save file change from "The Witch's Room" to "My Room", and if you look closely to Viola's portrait on the menu, she has a small smirk on her face]].
** '____' Ending: [[spoiler:Ellen waits outside the house for 60 minutes until the roses blocking the path disappears]].

** [[spoiler: Averted when the tadpoles outright tell you that their father is dead, and you killed him]].
** Averted in the Extra True Ending. In the True Ending, [[spoiler:Ellen's last words to Viola are interrupted by the sudden appearance of Viola's Father]]. However, in Extra Mode, [[spoiler:Ellen finishes her sentence right before Viola's Father appears, and the word in question is accompanied by [[NothingIsScarier the screen darkening and the music suddenly cutting out for one text box.]]]]

** If you open the menu [[spoiler: and look at Viola's portrait]] in total darkness (or after picking up the wristwatch), [[spoiler: you'll see her face terrifyingly distorted and sporting a huge SlasherSmile]].

** There is one room which is completely dark and can only traverse if you have a certain item. Even with said certain item, however, you only have a small bit of light as you walk through very narrow halls. And as you make your way back to the door, you drop it, causing the last few seconds of that stage to be completed in complete darkness, with the sounds of statues moving all around. [[spoiler: It's even worse if you decide to open the menu, because you'll see the normally innocent-looking Viola look absolutely demonic]].

* OminousSavePrompt: When you finally get to the witch, the game saving screen appears one last time.

* OneHitPointWonder: The menu shows she has 10 hit points, but they have absolutely no incidence on gameplay. All of the house's traps and enemies will kill the player instantly.
* OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass: One of the new puzzles in Extra Mode quizzes you on Ellen's backstory in order to receive a puzzle item, which is only mentioned in [[AllThereInTheManual the prequel novel/manga]] and the diaries in this difficulty.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: [[spoiler: The demon seems to be the possessing kind, prefers the body of a cat, eats the souls of children, and mentions that even though it doesn't have a physical form, that doesn't make it immortal]].
* ParasolOfPrettiness: One room has a picture of a lady with a parasol. After solving the puzzle there, [[spoiler: it changes with the lady now looking at you and grinning]].
* ParentalNeglect: In the prequel novel, [[spoiler: it reveals Ellen's mother tried to abandon her after getting fed up with dealing with her illness and her father actively ignored her existence entirely. It's outright shown that the father had a drug addiction and neglected her until the very end]].
* ParentalSubstitute: According to the novel, [[spoiler: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent The Demon]] and [[GeniusLoci The House]]]] acted as this for Ellen, and [[AbusiveParents made her into the ruthless villain she is in-game.]]
* PlayingThePlayer: [[spoiler: You were playing as the villain all along. All the deaths you had? You probably had it coming]].

* PredecessorVillain: [[spoiler: [[GeniusLoci The House]] was the Demon's original witch]].
* RealityEnsues: In the '___', ending, [[spoiler: Ellen, instead of going into the house, waits outside the house (and outside its reach) until the already heavily wounded Viola trapped in Ellen's body dies.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: In ''The Diary of Ellen'' it is revealed that Ellen herself has been around for what she guesses to be decades or even centuries, though she has retained the physical appearance of a seven year old.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The witch has these.

** In the dark area, you can find a wristwatch, but not only is it not a plot-necessary object, [[spoiler: picking it up and trying to walk away gets you hung. If you look at the description, it reads "DIE"]].
** In Extra Mode, the Toy Soldier has an unsettling habit of following you around (with OffscreenTeleportation) and at one point surprises you by appearing in front of you with its gun pointed. [[spoiler:However, unlike the original puzzle, not only is the Toy Soldier relatively benign (unless you do something stupid), its gun is actually required to solve part of the new puzzle.]]
* RewardingInactivity: As of the 1.07 update. [[spoiler: By waiting for 60 minutes doing absolutely nothing but letting the game run, the roses that blocked the path wilt and vanish, allowing Viola to leave and bypass the house altogether]].
* SavePoint: The cat.
* ScareChord: The chase theme.
* ScaryJackInTheBox: You encounter one of these on the third floor.

* SchmuckBait[=/=]PressXToDie:

** One of the best examples is the spikes to the side of one of the doors. You don't need to dodge them, as they're out of the way, so basically pretty much the only way to die from the spikes is to voluntarily walk into them.

** Viola can be [[VideoGame/{{SuperMario64}} eaten by a grand piano.]]
** You find a pair of red shoes (which are bad if you put them on, like in [[Creator/HansChristianAndersen the original story)]], which can be turned into glass shoes which are good, like in [[Literature/{{Cinderella}} the original story. Okay, the versions that used glass shoes)]].
** Ellen's appearance may be a reference to [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Hanyuu's]].

* SolitarySorceress: How the witch lives. Her house is isolated from civilization, in the middle of the woods. This makes it easier to manipulate the forest to cause victims to lose their way and reach her house. The house will kill any who wander in, if the witch wishes it. This would not be possible if the house is in, say, the middle of a village.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: In the Extra mode of the MV remake, [[spoiler:the tadpoles survive you washing the shoes in their pond, and will kill you on the spot if you talk to them just once afterward.]]

* SpookyPainting: One of the pursuers is a Mona Lisa-esque portrait which will [[AndIMustScream turn Viola into a painting if it catches her]]. The only way to defeat it is by tearing its canvas up. Possible ShoutOut to a [[{{VideoGame/Ib}} certain other survival horror game made with RPG Maker]]?
* SurvivalHorror: Most definitely.

* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler:"Viola" is the witch]].

* TrueColors: In the room where you need to find your way around using a small light, after getting the jade pipe, you start to hear noises of the statues "chasing" after you. At one point when you drop the Light bottle (or after picking up the wristwatch earlier), [[spoiler:going into the main menu will show Viola with black hair, red skin, and a SlasherSmile, as {{Foreshadowing}} to who Viola really is]].
* TheWallsAreClosingIn: The first trap you encounter is this. It also happens later should you enter the cell of the person you give powder and a pipe to, only slower.
* WaitingPuzzle: In 1.07, this is added in as an EasterEgg. [[spoiler:Viola has to wait at the first screen for ''a full hour'' to obtain the third ending, '___']].
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Viola clearly cared a lot about Ellen, [[spoiler:as one book states that the body-swapping spell required a bond of sincere trust to succeed. When Ellen betrayed her, Viola was forced to try trapping and killing her to get her body back]].

** The last of the witch's diaries, where she describes [[spoiler: stealing her friend's body - "Isn't that right, '''Viola'''?"]]
** From the cat: [[spoiler: "Good luck with the rest, Ellen...my faithful witch." Technically before that, too, when the text box labels him '''Demon''']].
** And of course, the True Ending:
--->'''Viola''': [[spoiler:Hm? "Give it back?" No way. This body hurts much less. You gave it to me in the first place. Why should I have to give it back? Right...Viola?]]

* YouKilledMyFather: You can be killed by the frog's tadpoles in revenge for feeding their father to a monster earlier. You can speak with them twice (enough to realize the [[ShmuckBait foolishness of your idea. The third time, the floor collapses underneath you]] [[SuperDrowningSkills and you drown.]]
--> '''Tadpole''': My dad is dead. My dad was eaten by a snake. '''[[WhatTheHellHero You killed him!]]'''

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: 'Viola' is seen laughing after Viola's father shoots the 'witch']].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: The white flower. It will politely ask how you're doing, but if you don't kill it just right when the time comes, it will ''end you''.

* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler: Ellen to Viola]].
* BigDamnHeroes: In the normal ending, Viola's father arrives and blasts the witch to bits with his shotgun when it follows Viola out of the house. [[spoiler: Subverted by the true ending; he unknowingly murdered his daughter and took the witch home in her place]].

** [[spoiler: "Just for a day...Hee hee, I guess I did say that."]]
** A text box description reads " A toy soldier with a fake gun". [[spoiler: It's not.]]

* BodySurf: [[spoiler: The demon possesses cats in order to interact with the world. Apparently it wears through them quite quickly - at one point the player comes across a stairwell full of ''bags and bags of dead cats''.]]

* BreatherEpisode: The rose garden containing the elder tree on the top floor of the witch's house acts as this. In this area, you are safe in the way that nothing will jump out and kill you. [[TheManyDeathsOfYou You can still die, of course,]] but it won't be something that caught you completely off guard, as it usually is in this game.

* BrownNote: The Book of Death. [[spoiler: Reading it leads to Viola scratching out her own eyes]].

* CatsAreMean: Zigzagged. A black cat follows the protagonist throughout the witch's house, providing friendly chatter and acting as a save point. While he comes off as aloof at times, he seems genuinely concerned about her. [[spoiler: However, he isn't a really a cat at all, he is a demon who merely uses cat bodies as hosts to interact with the physical world. Not only that, but he is also the very demon who gave the witch her powers, so she could feed him human souls.]]
* CatsAreSnarkers: At the half-way point in the game: "By the way, this is a witch's house. You know that, right? Right?!" [[spoiler: The line is even more snarky given that the girl we are playing as ''is'' the witch, in Viola's body]].
* CreepyDoll: At one point in the game, you have to solve a puzzle involving a bunch of dolls. After solving the puzzle, all of the dolls turn their heads to look at you as you're leaving through the door.

** Several times if you want to progress. You have to feed your pet frog to a monster when it has done nothing but help you and there's also the part where you cut off the limbs of a teddy bear, and when you have to kill a flower... [[spoiler: Justified since [[CruelTwistEnding you are actually playing as the Witch]]. Of course she wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to commit evil actions to save herself]].
** Special note goes to the Extra Mode version of the frog puzzle, which is even more cruel than the original. [[spoiler:Upon attempting to feed the frog to the snake, it runs away into a hole you can't get into, requiring you to get a stuffed frog and feed it to the snake so it will open the hole. You then take the frog (who is stated to no longer look you in the eyes), then feed it to the snake. The poor frog attempts to resist, but to complete the puzzle you are forced to shove it into the hole against its will.]]
* CuttingTheKnot: 1.07's new ending, '___', involves this. Instead of entering the house at all, [[spoiler: 'Viola' just sits outside for an hour until it goes away]].
* DaddysGirl: Viola.
* DaylightHorror: Although it appears to be night inside the house for the majority of the game, all scenes that take place outside are sunlit [[spoiler:including the "True Ending"]]. Near the end, [[spoiler:after the house has returned to normal, immediately before and during Ellen's chase]], windows in the house also show that it's really been day outside all along.
* DeadlyBook: The Book of Death, which causes Viola to [[spoiler: scratch out her own eyes if she tries to read it, killing her]].
* DealWithTheDevil: The witch is said to be in one with a demon. It can't use its powers to kill in our world, so she sacrifices souls to it in exchange for magic. [[spoiler: Ellen entered the contract because the demon said it could cure her illness]].
* DeathByDespair: Despair is the only thing that can kill a witch.

* DespairEventHorizon: A witch only loses her immortality and dies if she falls into despair, which puts the ending in a new perspective: [[spoiler: as she is in the body of a witch, Viola is now technically a witch herself, with all the powers and vulnerabilities that come along with it. After her father fails to recognize her, calls her a monster, shoots her twice, and then leaves with a giggling Ellen, Viola loses all hope and therefore loses her witchy immortality, finally succumbing to her injuries]].

** The Witch is also extremely determined. She chases you despite having no legs, no eyes, no voice, and should be dead by now. [[spoiler: She's really Viola, and not only is she royally angered at Ellen for what the witch did to her, she also wants to hurry back to her father's side.]] Despite how much pain she's in, she doesn't give up. The only thing that stops her is [[spoiler: hitting the DespairEventHorizon when she sees that [[TheBadGuyWins Ellen has won]].]]

** In the room with the clock puzzle, you need to select an item that corresponds to the clues the note gives you. Select all of the items ''but'' the correct one, and if you read the note again, it will now ask you if you meant to answer wrong on purpose. [[spoiler: Nod, and the statues placed on either side of you will crush you between them]].

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: The "pseudo-third" ending reveals that [[spoiler: the savepoint cat is the demon which gave Ellen her powers]].

* DownerEnding: Of sorts. The player character always makes it out perfectly fine. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, your protagonist is not Viola, but Ellen in Viola's body.]]

** When you first enter the library, there's an invisible person who says that they are sorting books and need something to tie them together. After you give him a rope to solve a puzzle, the person thanks you. If you backtrack to the room after that, you'll find that [[spoiler: he tied the rope into a noose and killed himself]].
*** The prequel reveals that [[spoiler: he's the trapped soul of a boy that befriended and eventually "betrayed" Ellen]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Played with. The only "happy" ending, given the True End Reveal, [[spoiler: is to work through most of the game without dying, then letting the "witch" catch you in her chase scene, presumably allowing Viola to return to her original body.]] Hopefully. Maybe. [[spoiler: Although one book states that the body-swapping spell required a bond of genuine trust to succeed, and since Ellen is too sociopathic for such a bond to work, and since Viola's trust in Ellen was broken irreparably by the latter's horrible betrayal, that won't be happening anytime soon]].

** According to the novel, this is because the house [[DemonicPossession is possessed by the spirit of the first witch.]]
* EscapeSequence: Essentially any chase sequence. Notably, your final trial is to escape from the witch herself [[spoiler: or rather from Viola trapped in her body]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The cat mentions that it was mean of you to cut up the white flower on the roof. [[spoiler: Yes, the demon who eats the souls of children thought the callousness of that act was worth pointing out. Unless of course he was just [[CatsAreSnarkers being a smartass.]]]]

No relation to ''VideoGame/WitchsHeart''.

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Ellen in Viola's body]].

** Getting the "True Ending" requires an [[ViolationOfCommonSense extremely irrational detour]]. [[spoiler:During the final confrontation, where Ellen('s homicidal body) chases you through the house until you make it outside, you have to run ''past'' the front door, go open a previously-locked cabinet to get a knife, strafe around the corpse chasing you to get back out of the room, and ''then'' run outside. The only hint about this secret is that if you examined that cupboard early in the game, it says it "opens when the house has returned to normal." Which it clearly hasn't. You can't go back in after escaping the house, either.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: The true ending. [[spoiler: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Everything the player does is HELPING the witch, and she escapes with Viola's body; the real Viola is murdered by her own father.]]]]

''The Witch's House'' (''Majo no Ie'') is a freeware puzzle-oriented horror game by Fummy, made with RPG Maker VX. A young girl named Viola has gone to visit her friend, Ellen, who lives in the woods. However, those same woods are said to be haunted by a witch who kidnaps children. When Viola finds her way blocked by magical roses, it seems that her only option is to enter the titular witch's house and find a way to break the spell.

The game also followed by ''The Witch's House: The Diary of Ellen'', a spoiler-heavy prequel novel which explains the origins of the titular witch. On August 2017, the novel received a manga adaptation as well.

* DevelopersForesight: There are some very creative deaths in there for doing [[ShmuckBait particularly stupid things]]. There are also a couple of deaths that are extremely easy to miss because they're so out of the way. For example, if you come back into the room where you picked up the frog after killing him (there's absolutely no reason you ever would), a giant black hand comes out of the pool to crush you. You can also be sandwiched between two giant skulls in the tunnel that leads to the Skull puzzle if you return there (again, there's no reason to ever do so).

* FreakyFridaySabotage: The titular witch [[spoiler: is revealed to have cut off her own legs and gouged out her eyes before convincing Viola to trade bodies with her, leaving her blind and crippled.]]

** In addition, her [[ParentalSubstitute Parental Substitutes]] [[AbusiveParents were the ones who raised her]] [[{{Tykebomb}} to be a killer.]] Her backstory is further detailed in ''The Diary of Ellen.'' However, [[MoralEventHorizon it really doesn't excuse her for being such a ruthless]] ''[[WItchWithACapitalB witch.]]''

** When Viola finally comes face-to-face with the witch, all that's left of her is her mangled upper body. [[spoiler: In the third pseudo-ending, it's revealed that Ellen cut her legs off and gouged her eyes out so that Viola would despair as she died. To add insult to injury, Ellen gave Viola a throat-burning "medicine" so that she would no longer be able to scream or even speak, as the sound of her old body screaming upset Ellen. This was to ensure Viola died, because a witch's immortality and glamour fails if she suffers great despair, according to the novel.]]

* ParasolOfPrettiness: One room has a picture of a lady with a parasol. After solving the puzzle there, [[spoiler: it changes with the lady now looking at you]].

* FreakyFridayFlip: See GrandTheftMe.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Played with. The only "happy" ending, given the True End Reveal, [[spoiler: is to work through most of the game without dying, then letting the "witch" catch you in her chase scene, presumably allowing Viola to return to her original body.]] Hopefully. Maybe. [[spoiler: Although One book states that the body-swapping spell required a bond of genuine trust to succeed, and since Ellen is too sociopathic for such a bond to work, and since Viola's trust in Ellen was broken irreparably by the latter's horrible betrayal, that won't be happening anytime soon]].

* AchievementsInIgnorance: as detailed under Loophole Abuse, if you don't read the note warning you to not get distracted during a certain part of the game, you can get as distracted as you like with none of the ill effects you'd suffer if you had read the note.

** '____' Ending: [[spoiler: Ellen waits outside the house for 60 minutes until the roses that blocking the path disappears]].

** Extra True Ending: Obtained by fulfilling the True Ending conditions on Extra Mode in the remake. It is a slightly extended version of the True Ending. [[spoiler:Returning the front of the house before leaving will cause Viola's spirit to appear before Ellen before the house disintegrates. The final scene is appended by an added monologue by Ellen, who realizes that Viola finally gave up after her father failed to recognize her.]]

** True Ending: It basically the same ending as normal ending, but with a major change. [[spoiler: If you able to pick up Ellen's knife in the cabinet before escaping the house, Viola will use it to stab the witch's eye & taunts her when she can no longer continue to chase her, followed by the reveal that she is, in fact, Ellen, having traded bodies with the ''real'' Viola. Ellen also explains how she managed to do it before Viola's father appears, who's mistaking Viola to be Ellen in her crippled body and proceed to kills her with his shotgun. Viola's father and Ellen give a brief look before leaving, with her pausing for a second to giggles. After that, the black cat appears for a moment before it disappears along with the body]].

* AchievementsInIgnorance: See LoopholeAbuse.

* AbusiveParents: Detailed in the novel; the Demon and the House isolated Ellen in order to [[{{Tykebomb}} raise her to become their next witch]], slowly turning her into a heartless murderer. The Demon likely did the same thing with the House, who was his [[PredecessorVillain original witch.]] Also, Ellen’s own aren’t prize-winners as well....

* ParentsKnowTheirChildren: [[spoiler: Sadly averted by Viola's father, who shoots Viola dead because he doesn't recognize her and takes Ellen home in her place. In the remake's True Ending, it's made clearer that this is what finally pushed Viola into fatal despair]].

* AbusiveParents: Detailed in the novel; the Demon and the House isolated Ellen in order to [[{{Tykebomb}} raise her to become their next witch]], slowly turning her into a heartless murderer. The Demon likely did the same thing with the House, who was his [[PredecessorVillain original witch.]]

* ParentsKnowTheirChildren: [[spoiler: Sadly averted by Viola's father, who shoots Viola dead because he doesn't recognize her and takes Ellen home in her place]].

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Subverted twice. Viola was a sweet little girl... [[spoiler: before she got swapped with her purple haired "friend".]]
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: When Viola finally comes face-to-face with the witch, all that's left of her is her mangled upper body. [[spoiler: In the third pseudo-ending, it's revealed that Ellen cut her legs off and gouged her eyes out so that Viola would despair as she died. To add insult to injury, Ellen gave Viola a throat-burning "medicine" so that she would no longer be able to scream or even speak, as the sound of her old body screaming upset Ellen. This was to ensure Viola died, because a witch's immortality and glamour fails if she suffers great despair, according to the novel.]]

* NoDamageRun: If you manage to get through the game without dying and not interacting with the black cat even once, you get a bit of extra dialogue at the end. [[Right before you get to the Witch's room, where you would normally only find the cat's corpse, you will instead find him alive and can speak to him. He praises Ellen for not needing his help, before abandoning the cat's body and fleeing the house, revealing his true demonic form as a cloud of purple mist.]]

** Special note goes to the Extra Mode version of the frog puzzle, which is somehow even crueller than the original. [[spoiler:Upon attempting to feed the frog to the snake, it runs away into a hole you can't get into, requiring you to get a stuffed frog and feed it to the snake so it will open the hole. You then take the frog (who is stated to no longer look you in the eyes), then feed it to the snake. The poor frog attempts to resist, but to complete the puzzle you are forced to shove it into the hole against its will.]]

* DownerEnding: Of sorts. Viola makes it out perfectly fine. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, your protagonist is not Viola, but Ellen in Viola's body.]]

** The prequel reveals that all the monsters in the house, are people killed by Ellen in the past. [[spoiler: Since Ellen in Viola's body is powerless now, it's no surprise that the monsters want their revenge]].