Watch This Before You Play Puppet House | Review
Check out our review of Puppet House, a survival horror puzzle game with a nasty little puppet.
We'll take a look at the gameplay, the story, the visuals, the puzzles and everything else to help you decide whether or not you should pick it up.
#PuppetHouse #Review #HorrorGames
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Transcript
I’ve been reviewing new horror games all month and we’ve got time for at least one more, so let’s talk about Puppet House.
If you’re someone who gets a kick out of the retro horror aesthetic and has a bit of a masochistic love for puzzles, it might be your thing. It’s got everything: a killer puppet, a haunted mansion, and enough puzzles to make you question every life choice that led you here. Developed by Vecube Studio and Spirit Games Studio, Puppet House is an unapologetic love letter to 80s and 90s horror, wrapped up in a puzzle-heavy escape room adventure. So grab your flashlight and an extra dose of patience—you're going to need it.
Let’s set the scene: You’re Detective Rick, an average guy with an above-average number of missing persons cases piling up in Field Town. All leads point to one place—an old mansion once owned by the late ventriloquist Peter Hill. Sounds like a bad idea, right? Well, that’s the whole point. This mansion isn’t just your typical haunted house. It’s crawling with unsettling vibes, and oh yeah, it’s home to a murderous puppet, arguably my least favourite type of puppet. Rick’s investigation quickly turns into a fight for survival, with a side of puzzle-solving that’ll either have you feeling like Sherlock Holmes or a confused contestant on The Crystal Maze.
From the get-go, Puppet House doesn’t shy away from its campy influences. It knows exactly what it is and leans into it hard. The killer puppet is absurd, the storyline is predictable, and the dialogue is so cheesy you could melt it on nachos. But that’s the charm. This isn’t trying to be the next Silent Hill—it’s here to entertain you with B-movie ridiculousness, a vibe that I don’t think there’s enough of in video games.
Here’s the thing with Puppet House: You’re going to be solving a lot of puzzles. Like, a lot. Most of which I was nowhere near smart enough to handle. This game might as well be called “Puppet House: The Escape Room Edition.” The haunted mansion is packed with intricate, mind-bending puzzles that will test every ounce of your problem-solving skills. The puzzles aren’t just throwaway time-fillers either—they’re woven into the mansion’s spooky atmosphere, making every locked door and hidden passage feel like part of the haunted world. They range from classic “find the missing piece” quests to more complex challenges that involve manipulating the environment in clever ways.
Now, for the most part, these puzzles are a lot of fun, particularly if you’re better at solving them than me. I appreciate this is a very low bar, but still. But it’s oh so satisfying when you crack a particularly tough riddle, and the rush of discovering a new passage or unlocking a creepy room is chef’s kiss. However, after the first few hours, the novelty starts to wear off. You might find yourself rolling your eyes at yet another puzzle that involves matching symbols or deciphering cryptic notes. It’s not that they’re bad; it’s just that they can get repetitive, especially when they break the flow of the game’s spooky pacing.
What saves the gameplay from falling into a monotonous grind is the constant pressure from the game’s antagonist - the soul-stealing puppet. While you’re busy trying to figure out how to open that secret passage, this little nightmare is stalking you. And let me tell you, this puppet has a talent for jump scares. The game plays with your nerves, making you feel like the puppet is always one step behind you, even when it’s not. It’s tense, it’s stressful, and it’s a perfect contrast to the more relaxed pace of the puzzle-solving...
