History YMMV / HomeSafetyHotline

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Despite the amount of care put into the game and some genuine thinkers for puzzles, the 15$ price tag on what amounts to a 3-4 hour game is a common complaint in negative Steam reviews.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** The Prank Caller's {{prank call}}s tend to sound really nonsensical and his portrait is always a mishmash of various facial parts. Even after [[spoiler:being turned into a mouse for one too many prank calls]], he's ''still'' able to call the hotline the next day.
** The house fire entry helpfully informs you that fire can burn people, so if your house is on fire then you should probably go outside. On a similar note, quite a few of MagicalRealism entries can be oddly hilarious in how matter of fact they are. Bats may seem harmless, but remember that they can bite, spread diseases and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick summon forth the Ones Above The Soil]].
** On Saturday [[spoiler:most of the callers are having trouble with mystical entities. The seventh caller of that day Paul, on the other hand, is only having a problem with ''bed bugs'' in the middle of all the disturbing horror and chaos ensuing in people's homes]].
** In the ending [[spoiler:you are taken by the FairFolk to the woods to be crowned in an occult ritual, at the culmination of which you ascend to become...[[MundaneMadeAwesome junior supervisor]]. This is followed up by a jaunty, whimsical dance number where all the local woodland fae serenade you. The whole thing wouldn't be out of place in ''Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre''.]]
* ItsShortSoItSucks: Despite the amount of care put into the game and some genuine thinkers for puzzles, the 15$ price tag on what amounts to a 3-4 hour game is a common complaint in negative Steam reviews.
* NightmareFuel:
** A lot of the later hazards. A false artifact swallows up children and leaves them to slowly starve while blocking all their screams, fae flu causes your face to collapse into a mass of holes, and boggarts can [[SpeakOfTheDevil track down and kill anyone who refers to them by any name]]... [[ParanoiaFuel possibly including "boggarts"]].
** The Dorcha in particular is a terrifying case of NothingIsScarier. What does it do? It delivers you. What does that mean? No idea, except for the fact that once it "delivers" you you're gone forever, and once it's picked you as a target there's nothing you can do. Loved ones are "advised to grieve".
** Whistling Fungi seem rather amusing and comical (they're mushrooms that "sing") and their audio cue is rather pleasant and whimsical. However, it's mentioned that if they start "singing" in harmony, the owner must evacuate the home immediately and never return for any reason. It's [[NothingIsScarier never explained why this must be done]]. Should you fail to aid Carla of her Whistling Fungus infestation, all she can say during her callback the next day is ''[[SoundOnlyDeath indiscernible and strained groaning]]'' while an ominous whistle plays in the background.
** The calls themselves range from unnerving to horrifying. The [[FaceStealer mirror-nymph]] victim sobbing incoherently down the phone that "it stole me" stands out in particular.
** Follow up calls are even worse, with things like a man with Fae Flu babbling about how his face has collapsed into holes or the woman begging you to make the doctors "give my children back" after her kids ingested Wood Secretions and [[{{Transflormation}} turned into wood]]. And these ones are ''[[YouBastard your]]'' fault.
** In a FridgeHorror sense, a lot of entries can't actually be dealt with. Fae flu can't be cured, False Beets can't be removed, Spriggans can't be driven off, False Artifacts aren't noticeable until they've already killed. For every person you help, there's someone who called your hotline and received a death sentence.
* {{Tearjerker}}:
** One call you get is from a man sobbing down the phone that he can longer remember his dead wife's face. Worse, the entry for the creature behind this, the memory wisps, gives no indication the process can be reversed.
** Another comes from a grieving mother desperately begging you to help her find her missing son. You can't -- the son has already been eaten by a [[MimicSpecies False Artifact]]. All you can do is tell her that her son died a slow, miserable death of starvation, and recommend using Memory Wisps to forget he ever existed. Even worse, if you give her the wrong info, she'll call back screaming and crying, which would imply that she found the False Artifact that ate her son.
** As stated, one phone call you get for failing to provide the right info is from a grieving mother crying over how her children turned into wood due to eating Wood Secretions, as well as how the doctors have taken away from her. Thankfully, this can be avoided if you give her the right info.

* AccidentalAesop: The safest kind of house is a clean house, and don't shirk on the smaller bits. Many different hazards manifest only as a result of poor household management, some as small as forgetting to dust or to check the quality of your floor and walls.

** In a FridgeHorror sense, a lot of entries can't actually be dealt with. Fae flu can't be cured, false beets can't be removed, spriggans can't be driven off, false artifacts aren't noticeable until they've already killed. For every person you help, there's someone who called your hotline and received a death sentence.

** Another comes from a grieving mother desperately begging you to help her find her missing son. You can't -- the son has already been eaten by a [[ChestMonster False Artifact]]. All you can do is tell her that her son died a slow, miserable death of starvation, and recommend using Memory Wisps to forget he ever existed Even worse, if you give her the wrong info, she'll call back screaming and crying, which would imply that she found the False Artifact that ate her son.