History VideoGame / StayOutOfTheHouse

It also has a 20-minute prequel game called ''VideoGame/NightShift'', which details how one of his victims ended up in his house.

* TapOnTheHead: The Abductor never actually tries to kill the player, simply knocking them out with [[DropTheHammer a hammer]] so they can be re-captured. [[spoiler:Although this changes if you get caught at least three times]].

Initially released in 2018 on Puppet Combo's website, ''Stay Out of the House'' were released in October 13th, 2022 on Steam, with ''Night Shift'' incorporated into it as the first chapter of the game. Has a character page [[Characters/PuppetCombo here]].

* TheButcher: The Night Shift Abductor, he carries a cleaver, wears a blood-soaked smock, and chops up human bodies like livestock. [[spoiler:Although as an interesting twist to the Slasher Butcher formula is that he surprisingly ''isn't'' a cannibal. He's just preparing the human meat to feed

It also has a 20-minute prologue called ''VideoGame/NightShift'', which explains how the Serial Killer kidnapped the player.

* TheButcher: The killer.

* ImAHumanitarian: The killer kidnaps his victims so he can eat them. [[spoiler: It turns out he's feeding some sort of demonic entity in a bunker in his basement.]]

* TapOnTheHead: The Abductor never actually tries to kill the player, simply giving knocking them out with [[DropTheHammer a hammer]] so they can be re-captured.

[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: In General]]

* MalevolentMaskedMen

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stay Out of the House]]
* ChainsawGood: The Butcher attacks you with a chainsaw in the finales of when you escape through the front door or start a meltdown in the bunker.
* ContinuingIsPainful: If the Butcher catches you, you'll lose all the bullets and paperclips you found (and can't get them back) and will have to re-acquire your inventory items. Slightly less painful in the bunker, where you retain your bullets[=/=]paperclips and your items can be found right next to where you wake up.
* DownerEnding: All 4 endings to ''Stay Out of the House'' end badly for the protagonist. [[spoiler: She either gets sacrificed by the Butcher, discovers a demonic entity in the bunker in the basement and gets fed to it, manages to escape out the front door and run to a nearby trailer park only to discover that the creepy customer from ''Night Shift'' is one of the Butcher's neighbors, just as some sort of parasite implanted in her when she was captured bursts out of her, or escapes through the Bunker and wakes up in a hospital, only for said parasite baby to burst out of her while she's recuperating, causing her to black out and wake up in an infested version of the hospital.]]
* DumbMuscle: A note you find from a dead survivor notes that the killer is insanely strong but not very intelligent, noting that he seems to forget things after a few hours, which accounts for why he stops searching for you after a while if you manage to evade him.
* DungeonBypass: The Butcher carries a master key on his hip that can be used to skip straight to the endgame if you can manage to pickpocket it off him.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: None of the endings are "good", but the one ending in which there's at least a possibility the protagonist survived is the most difficult to get, as [[spoiler: instead of escaping out the front door, you need to escape through the bunker which is a whole additional chapter. You also need to go through a complex process to meltdown the bunker's nuclear reactor, instead of just going down the Butcher's feeding corridor to meet his master.]]
* EvilOldFolks: The killer's ancient, almost corpse-like mother roams the house in a motorized wheelchair and will summon her son with a shriek if she spots you. Once you find the revolver, you can put a bullet in her head to finally get rid of her, though this may make the Butcher more aggressive in roaming the house.
* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler: The House turns out to be built on top of an abandoned top secret government bunker where some sort of human experimentation was taking place, with the implication the Butcher is a byproduct of said experimentation. At the core of the bunker is some sort of demonic insect-like entity that the researchers apparently created. An AlmostDeadGuy you meet in the bunker urges you to overload the nuclear reactor to kill the "demon" and destroy the remnants of the unethical research.]]
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: You can only carry 5 items at a time, which isn't nearly enough to carry all the tools you need to navigate the house (screwdriver to open vents and disarm bear traps, hammer to open boarded up doors, wirecutters to cut trap wires, etc.) as well as defensive items needed to deal with the Butcher (i.e. the revolver, the radar, etc.) You can find a backpack in a locked cupboard which increases your inventory to 8, once you get the hex key to pick locks.
* MadeOfIron: Like most Puppet Combo slashers, bullets are only an inconvenience to the Butcher. A couple shots from a revolver will scare him off, but nothing will kill him.
* NonStandardGameOver:
** Being caught 3 times by the Butcher results in the "Sacrifice" ending, [[spoiler: in which player is sacrificed by the Butcher in some sort of ritual]].
** The "Rebirth" ending is essentially this; if, while in the bunker, [[spoiler: you go to find out where the Butcher is carting all his meat, you'll end up being knocked out by him and fed to the creature he's been feeding.]]
* ResourcesManagementGameplay: You have a very limited number of bullets, paperclips, and bandages, which are all hidden around the house usually in drawers; you need bullets to drive off the Butcher if he spots you, paperclips to open simple locks, and bandages to heal from damage. The [=VHS=] tapes that you need to save the game are also very limited.

[[/folder]]

* TheBrute / EvilIsBigger: The killer is ''huge''. The newspaper article about the "Night Shift Abductor" says the police estimate him as being 6'4" and 250 pounds.

Initially released in 2018 on Puppet Combo's website, ''Stay Out of the House'' were released in October 13th, 2022 on Steam, with ''Night Shift'' incorporated into it as the first chapter of the game.

* ResourcesManagementGameplay: You have a very limited number of bullets, paperclips, and bandages, which are all hidden around the house usually in drawers; you need bullets to drive off the Butcher if he spots you, paperclips to open simple locks, and bandages to heal from damage.

It also has a 20-minute prologue called ''Night Shift'', which explains how the Serial Killer kidnapped the player.

[[folder:Night Shift]]
* BlandNameProduct: The player works at gas station called Ecoq, an obvious knock-off of the real-life gas station chain called Esso. For good measure, the station's logo is near identical to the real-life one.
** There's also a Coke dispenser machine called Broke. 'Nuff said.
* ButThouMust: The back door to the store is locked, so you're unable to carry out your boss' request to clean the washrooms. That is, until the killer unlocks it...
* TheCameo: Loyal Puppet Combo supporter and horror game let's player [=PhuCatGeek=] is the player's fellow gas station attendant in ''Night Shift''.
* CanonWelding: In this game's world, ''VideoGame/PowerDrillMassacre'' is an arcade game.
* CasanovaWannabe: The impression that your co-worker Katz gives off.
* CreepyGasStationAttendant: Played with; some dialogue options allow you to creep on the female stoner customer, though you don't have to go this route. Outside of this, you're a perfectly normal attendant performing completely mundane tasks.
* DeadpanSnarker: Dialogue options suggest that the player is this. Katz is this big time if you're less than pleasant with him when you clock in.
* FeaturelessProtagonist: We have no way of knowing what the player looks like. Given Katz' warning that he can't unlock the bathroom door for you, and the fact that the mens' bathroom door can be opened (before punching in), it is at least confirmed that they are female.
** Later confirmed by Puppet Combo: The ''Night Shift'' protagonist is Debra Kopiske, explicitly named by a newspaper found in the butcher's house during the third chapter of the game (which takes place 9 days after ''Night Shift''). In the Steam version of the game she's voice acted along with all the other characters.
* ForegoneConclusion: Because ''Night Shift'' is a prologue to ''Stay Out of the House'', the killer will get you no matter what.
* GasStationOfDoom: The protagonist of ''Night Shift'' works the graveyard shift at an isolated gas station in the middle of nowhere, making her ripe pickings for a SerialKiller.
* GenreBlind/ GenreSavvy: The player doesn't appear to be the least bit bothered at the idea of working the overnight shift at an isolated gas station, nor at the idea of going out the back door to investigate a loud noise. However, she seems knowledgeable enough to lie about being all alone when a creepy customer asks her.
* NothingIsScarier: As per usual, Puppet Combo is an expert at building tension through silence and emptiness. Averted in the main game, ''Stay Out of the House'', which is a tense cat-and-mouse challenge between you and the roaming killer inside the killer's decrepit and heavily boobytrapped house.
* RedHerring: The last customer in ''Night Shift'' is exceedingly sketchy and lingers in the store for quite a while. [[spoiler:He's not dangerous, but the killer attacks ''immediately'' after he leaves.]]
* ShoutOut: The newspapers on the stand beside the front entrance references the space shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster back in January of 1986.
* TheStoner: One of the customers the player has to tend to in ''Night Shift''.
* VanInBlack: The killer stalks the player with a white van.
[[/folder]]

* NonStandardGameOver: Being caught 3 times by the Butcher results in the "Sacrifice" ending, [[spoiler: in which player is sacrificed by the Butcher in some sort of ritual]].

* ContinuingIsPainful: If the Butcher catches you, you'll lose all the bullets and paperclips you found (and can't get them back) and will have to re-acquire your inventory items.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: You can only carry 5 items at a time, which isn't nearly enough to carry all the tools you need to navigate the house (screwdriver to open vents and disarm bear traps, hammer to open boarded up doors, wirecutters to cut trap wires, etc.) as well as defensive items needed to deal with the Butcher (i.e. the revolver, the radar, etc.)

* SharedUniverse: The presence of the [=CFV=] ("Church of Father's Vision") ties the game to ''The Nun Massacre'' and ''Feed Me Billy''. In particular, [[spoiler: the creature in the bunker the Butcher is feeding with his victims is conceptually very similar to the creature that serial killer Billy is feeding.]] The preacher on the TVs is also apparently the same preacher that speaks to Billy on the phone.

* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler: The House turns out to be built on top of an abandoned top secret government bunker where some sort of human experimentation was taking place, with the implication the Butcher is a byproduct of said experimentation. At the core of the bunker is some sort of demonic insect-like entity. An AlmostDeadGuy you meet in the bunker urges you to overload the nuclear reactor to kill the "demon" and destroy the remnants of the unethical research.]]