The Enigma of Salazar House is a Retraux point-and-click horror game developed by Maldo19
and published by Puppet Combo (under the Torture Star Video psuedonym). In 1986, famed author Jaime Salazar and his family abruptly went missing from their home in Chiloé, Chile, and were never found. Several years later, a journalist named Elisa Muñoz is sent to the abandoned mansion to dig up any explanation for their disappearance, and discovers much more than she ever expected.
The game is available for purchase on itch.io here.
A Steam Updated Re-release titled The Horror of Salazar House came later. It adds a prequel scenario, Elisa's Dream, and expands the original game.
Here's the Launch, Found Footage and Steam Release trailers.
The creator (Maldo19) would later on create The Horror of The Vigil, also set in Chile and created for the for the MrKravin Jam. This game jam entry may or may not be canon or related to this one.
The Enigma of Salazar House contains examples of:
- All Just a Dream: Invoked and then Defied in Ending 5 - Elisa questions whether or not she just dreamt the events of the game, but states that the baby she took in from the house is living proof that it was all completely real.
- Art Shift: During dramatic scenes or the frequent Non-Standard Game Over Jump Scare, the game tends to switch to a fullscreen rotoscoped graphic instead of its usual Point-and-Click UI.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Salazar family, and it all stems from Isabel's attempt to resurrect her son.
- Bilingual Bonus: The family's dog is named Cazán, which means something akin to "they hunt" or "they catch."
- Bittersweet Ending: The game's Golden Endings are this - even though Elisa is able to make it to safety and saves the baby from a Fate Worse than Death with the "devil," the entire Salazar family is still dead for good and Isabel never got to reunite with her child. At least they are all laid to rest.
- Body Horror: Particularly notable with the corpse in the library and the appearance of the grandmother Gloria, the son Gabriel, and the father Jaime.
- Broken Tears: The mannequin that turns out to be the family dog, Cazán, cries these after Elisa returns its ball.
- The corpse of Jaime Salazar also cries these after seeing itself in the mirror and realizing what it has turned into.
- Color Motif: The game's default color seems to be a soothing bluish-purple, and this color tends to represent "safe" areas. Rooms with blood and/or corpses are generally red, and rooms with important items or other plot-related information are a yellowish-green.
- Dangerous Key Fumble: If Elisa tries to leave after going into the well, her keys go missing and she spends a good amount of time searching her bag for them. Unsurprisingly, this ends up killing her.
- Death by Pragmatism: After finding the gardener's body, the protagonist can make the very sensible decision to get the hell out of dodge. When she attempts to do so, however, her keys have mysteriously vanished, and she spends quite a bit of time rummaging through her purse in search of them which gives the off-screen monster just enough time to kill her.
- Driven to Suicide: Jaime Salazar seems to have been this, thanks to Isabel's doings. His body is found hanging from a noose and remains there for the majority of the game.
- The Gardener willingly climbed into the empty well with the key to the mansion in an attempt to keep everyone out.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: While the only one actively pursuing Elisa is the mother, Isabel, all of the others can and will kill her on the spot should she do the wrong thing.
- Forced Transformation: An interesting variation - Cazán, the family dog, is turned into a humanoid "mannequin" due to the effects of the ritual. The only clue which gives this away is his neckerchief, the same one the dog was pictured wearing in the photograph.
- Found Footage Films: One of the trailers for the game is done in this style.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Isabel's attempted resurrection of her son.
- Gory Discretion Shot: After Elisa discovers the corpse of the gardener, she can decide to turn around and leave the mansion instead of pressing on. If she does so, she spends a minute looking for her missing keys, giving an unseen creature enough time to attack and splatter her blood all over her car.
- Grand Theft Me: Happens to Elisa in Ending 4 - the variation of the ritual which she carried out allows Isabel to take over her body.
- The Hero Dies: See Grand Theft Me above.
- Hidden Depths: The enraged, incoherent monster locked up in a cage is Isabel's "surviving" son, Gabriel. Upon extinguishing his candle, Elisa is transported to a sort of Pocket Dimension that seems to be his last remaining humanity, where he states that he tried to kill his mother to protect his grandmother and dog, but wasn't able to do so before it was too late.
- Hollywood Satanism: The game makes liberal use of it, even at one point referring to the evil spirit who aided Isabel with the ritual as "the Devil."
- Interface Screw: If you turn off the candle in the room with the hanging "mannequin", it suddenly disappears. When you leave the room, there's suddenly a strange object in the corner of your view point that comes more and more into view with every new screen, slowly but surely... until... BOO! Followed by a Non-Standard Game Over, of course.
- Madness Mantra: Isabel repeats "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" over and over again in Ending 4 after she sees what has become of her family, but especially her son Gabriel.
- Multiple Endings:
- Obsession: Elisa finds a room with a strange hole in it, and enters to retrieve a key. Upon entering, however, she finds that the hole seems to be "calling" to her and continues crawling through it, until it begins to shrink and seals her inside. This ending is appropriately labeled "Ending 0."
- A Journalist's Disappearance: Elisa finds the body of the gardener and decides that it just isn't worth it. She attempts to return to her car and leave the mansion, but can't find her keys. She rummages through her purse looking for them, giving an unseen monster just enough time to sneak up and kill her on the spot.
- He Is Gone Forever: Elisa manages to lay everyone to rest except for Isabel, the mother. Upon arriving at her room, Isabel immediately stabs Elisa to death, and we see a brief cutscene of Isabel's first suggestion of carrying out the ritual to resurrect her deceased son.
- Escape: After laying all family members to rest except for Isabel, Elisa finds a trap door leading outside and takes it without hesitation.
- You Got What You Wanted: Elisa adds an additional step to the ritual, unwittingly giving her body over to Isabel. Isabel discovers the undead forms of her relatives and sees what her actions have wrought, promising all of them that all will be made right once she has her son Javier back. Upon arriving at the ritual site, she finds the "Devil" with whom she made the deal, who says that he is going to take his "cut" for his services. Isabel begs him to stop, but he takes the child and disappears, leaving her completely alone.
- A New Life: Elisa successfully lays all of the family members to rest, including Isabel. As she is leaving, she hears cries from the ritual site and finds a baby with a note attached that reads, "Take care of him." Elisa leaves the house in safety, and adopts the baby as her own.
- Horror adds three more endings:
- Overdosed: Elisa takes too much pills (the main healing item of the game) and dies of an overdose.
- Possessed: Elisa finds the ritual Isabel used to sell her soul to the "devil" and does it herself. Now a servant of the "devil", she is tasked with guarding the baby for ominous plans.
- Don't Forget, Your Family Loves You: A variation of "A New Life", where Elisa finds a letter. In this letter, Isabel explains why she did the ritual, admits she also did it as a form of hateful act against God for taking her son away, and wishes Javier a happy life.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Isabel reacts this way after stealing Elisa's body in Ending 4 and seeing what has become of her family.
- Nightmare Face: Quite a few, especially during the Non-Standard Game Over sequences.
- Nonstandard Game Over: Taking steps to complete the ritual too soon or incorrectly often lead to them, and so does getting caught by Isabel when she is pursuing you.
- Seeks Another's Resurrection: The reason Isabel carried out the ritual was to resurrect her deceased infant son, Javier.
- Shout-Out: Quite a few, and turned up to eleven in the library. To name a few:
- The title itself is a reference to The Enigma of Amigara Fault, and Ending "O" is an extended reference to it, as it consists of Elisa crawling into a hole to retrieve something, only to become "enamored" with it and to continue crawling through the hole until it closes with her inside.
- One of the books references the game World of Horror.
- Another is called "The Book of Faith."
- One is called "The Fifth Shift," a reference to the game The Third Shift.
- There is a book which references the Puppet Combo game Power Drill Massacre, which is itself a reference to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Even more books reference more mainstream games, such as Metal Gear Solid, No More Heroes, Steins;Gate, Yakuza, Kingdom Hearts, The Binding of Isaac, and Hotline Miami.
- A trash can in one room contains a paper with the statement, "MBH's Soul," a reference to the Youtuber Manly Badass Hero.
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Spiritual Successor: With a similar story line and very evocative rotoscoped graphics, the game is a deadringer for FAITH: The Unholy Trinity. - Tomato in the Mirror: A more literal example - to lay Jaime Salazar to rest, the player must first take him to the portrait of him and his family, and then to a nearby room with a mirror, where he gazes upon himself and realizes what he's become.
- Visual Pun: A subtle example; the ending where Elisa is trapped in a hole which crushes her to death is called Ending 0, or Ending "O."
- Womb Horror: Ending 0 or O symbolizes a womb according to the creator on Twitter
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Word of God: According to the creator on Twitter, the body in the library is the Devil himself, watching how everything will unfold.
