Created by Scopophobia Studios, the same team that brought you John Doe, House Hunted (stylized as HOUSE HUNTED) is a surreal horror visual novel that serves as a prequel in the same universe. You play as You, a normal person moving to the town called Uncanny Valley and just trying to get to your new apartment. However, a strange real estate agent named Maison Talos keeps running into you and insisting you receive a tour of his house.
The game can be downloaded here.
House Hunted contains examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: The player character is named You, and the real estate agent is named Maison Talos.
- Affably Evil: Maison is perfectly polite to you, and, even if he's incredibly pushy and persistent, he never physically forces you to tour his house and instead excuses himself when you outright reject him. However, once you get inside, you're essentially doomed to die.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Maison doesn't seem necessarily evil, or at least not malicious, instead being motivated by hunger. He seems genuinely pleased with your company when you go along with his plan, and appears sad that he's so hungry that he has to eat you, and, as a result, tries to digest you slower to savor your company.
- Demoted to Extra: John Doe was the main character of the last game, but appears briefly near the end of the "Doe Eyed" ending looking longingly at the main character, which seems to imply that this is the true ending.
- Eaten Alive: What happens if you go into the house. Maison turns out to actually be the house, and once you walk in, he essentially has you trapped in his stomach, which results in you being digested.
- Eldritch Location: The town of Uncanny Valley seems to be this. The backgrounds are AI-generated and give the setting a bizarre, dreamy look, and its inhabitants consist at least partially of strange men with creepy smiles and sentient houses.
- Maison turns out to actually be this, as he's actually a sentient house that functions as a living organism that "hunts" by inviting people inside.
- Humanoid Abomination: Maison appears as a human man, but has a constant upbeat demeanor and insistence on taking you to his house. Turns out his "human" part is merely a bait, and his actual body is the house itself.
- Meaningful Name: Maison's first name means "House" in French, and Talos means "House" in Finnish. Not only does he present himself to you as a realtor, he literally is a house.
