"We at Northtree Real Estate (in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs) are proud to present our new, state-of-the-art, open house simulator! Come and take a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home in one of our premier developments!"
— The game's description
The Open House
is a 2020 exploration horror comedy game by Corpsepile.
The game takes place as a digital open house hosted by a robot with a camera and a very basic AI realtor. It quickly becomes apparent though that something is very wrong with this house.
Welcome to the open trope list!
- Bloody Horror: At one point the game glitches out and goes to black. When it resumes, the robot camera is inside an upstairs room facing the hallway, which has blood covering the floor and walls.
- Dark Reprise: When the player is exploring the corrupted camera and sees the house bloodied, the classical music from the start plays again very slowly and somberly.
- Deal with the Devil: The player is revealed to have bought the house in the end despite everything. However, the entire “house” in question doesn’t seem to be a house at all, with the “purchase” being the player’s life.
- Mad Libs Dialogue: The game's introduction makes heavy use of it, because whoever is hosting the digital open house never bothered to fill out your details.
[AGENT NAME]: My name is [AGENT NAME] and I'm one of your local Northtree Real Estate agents for the [CLIENT NEIGHBORHOOD] area.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Implied in the end after the player hangs themself, with the real estate agent’s message saying that the player’s “offer” has been accepted and that they’ll be expecting a call soon.
- Nightmare Face: [AGENT NAME] gets one of these◊ when he appears glitched out, and with a good chunk of his face missing. The fleshless demon also counts when he looks at the player.
- Number of the Beast: The address, 15615, can be split up as 1+5, 6 and 1+5, altogether summing as 666.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: In the laundry room, after your realtor explains your washing machine and dryer, the robot turns to the closet, which has what is very clearly either a hiding man or a dead body visible through the crack in the door.
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: The player viewing the house commits suicide by hanging to presumably offer their soul in a deal with the devil.
- Sound-Only Death: Rope swinging is briefly heard before the player's suicide is revealed.
- Sudden Soundtrack Stop: When the player/camera discovers the blood in the sink, the piano music stops very abruptly and is briefly replaced with distorted breathing or crying.
