Editors’ Choice Games

October 2018

The Conjuring House

Review by Angie Kibiloski

As we make our way through this spooky October, I’d like to recommend a recently launched game title that’ll really get you in the Halloween mood.  The Conjuring House ($24.99 on Steam), from RYM Games, is a psychological horror survival game, which takes you into the world of The Conjuring franchise.  Your companions have gone missing inside the super creepy Atkinson house, and you’ve become somehow trapped inside.  As you investigate every dark, dank, sinister corner, in search of your friends and a way out, you’ll be terrorized by the murderous, demonic woman who prowls the halls, along with a few other horrifying entities.  Shadows will loom beside you, wails and growls will echo through the halls, and you’ll never know when your fears will become reality and start chasing you through the house.  Your only defense is to run away, and since these otherworldly creatures could be around any corner, at any time, you must always be on your toes.  Your palms will sweat on your keyboard, your breath will come in anxiety-filled pants, and you may find yourself checking over your shoulder every few minutes, to make sure the in-game monsters haven’t somehow materialized behind you.  If you like being scared out of your mind, this is the perfect game for you.  Just don’t play it in the dark.

The atmosphere in this game is perfect for inducing sustained fear, with visual and audio elements weaving together to really hold you in the terrifying moment.  Furniture and cracked walls create shadows that look like figures, creaks, moans, knocks, and whispers come from nowhere and everywhere, lights flicker from inside and outside the house, and you might see motion in your peripheral vision that isn’t there when you turn.  You never know which of those shadows will suddenly prove to be a solid being, or which creak and moan will result in the appearance of a monster, so you will be constantly on edge and vigilant.  For a good deal of the game, though your stress level will be ratcheted up to 11, you’ll just be exploring the house, room by room, trying to find keys to unlock doors, or codes to unlock boxes that hopefully contain those keys.  You’ll also come across letters from the other members of your team, who were in the house investigating the strange goings-on.  These will clue you into the fact that, in addition to your key hunt, you’ll also need to locate, and burn, several magical items to break the demonic hold over the house.  Without destroying them all, you’ll never escape with your life, whether you’ve found all the keys or not.  Be on constant look out for flashlight batteries too, because you do not want to be caught without a working flashlight at the wrong moment, trust me.

All of this wandering around looking for keys and demonic items may sound easy, and even a little boring, but don’t be fooled.  As I mentioned before, the demonic woman in black can appear at any time, around any corner, and she will chase you down relentlessly if she spots you, and kill you if she catches you.  Your only recourse is to run like hell, and lock yourself in the refuge of the safe rooms scattered around the house.  These chambers are spelled with protective magic, and are impenetrable by evil forces.  They are also the only places where you can save your game progress, so you may want to stop by even when the monsters are not at your heels, especially if you’ve just found an elusive key, and don’t want to have to track it down again.  There is no in-game map system, and the house is like a maze, so you may find it helpful to sketch yourself a basic map for easy navigation, especially for those running-for-your-life monster encounters, when every second counts, and a wrong turn could spell death.

The Conjuring House is a great accompaniment to the ghoulish Halloween season, and if you want something that’ll scare your pants off, this title will do the trick.  The visually stunning, and eye-tricking graphics, along with the eerie, tension-inspiring ambient sound effects, will put you firmly in the midst of the demonic realm of The Conjuring universe.  If you’ve ever been watching a supernatural horror movie, scoffed at the seeming stupidity of the characters, and thought, “I could easily escape that dumb haunted house, no problem,” well now’s your chance to prove it.  Do you have what it takes to survive, or will you become the demon lady’s midnight snack?  There’s only one way to find out: download The Conjuring House right now, on Steam.  If you’re a bit of a baby when it comes to horror, like me, pour yourself a stiff drink, turn on ALL the lights, lock the doors and windows, and remind yourself often that demons aren’t real.  Right?  Demons aren’t real.  Demons AREN’T real…RIGHT???

Minimum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows 7, 64-Bit
• Processor: Intel Core i3-530, 64-Bit
• RAM: 6 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2 Go or AMD Radeon™ R7 260x, 2GB Dedicated RAM
• Hard Drive Space: 10 GB