The House on Usher

The House on Usher
by Red Aphid Games - July, 2014

Available at:
Big Fish



The quirky Angie Dee, a rookie real estate agent, has been sent to sell her first home. The property is a split level home on Usher Street. Unfortunately, the property was abandoned by its owners in the 1970s and the agent must find out why before a contract can be signed. Help Angie explore the house, solve puzzles, and clean up bugs and cobwebs to discover the mysterious secret about the property. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, The House on Usher is a light-hearted hidden object adventure that will keep you giggling all the way to the climatic ending.

• Learn about the characters and culture of 1970s suburbia
  
• Change difficulty modes to suit your play style
  
• Find out what’s haunting this suburban ranch house
  

Click images to enlarge
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TOO HARD!***

BASED ON DEMO

At first, the game gives a good impression. It’s basic, but the graphics are dark but good. The sound effects and music are appropriate. The dialogue is amusing and easily understood (also skippable). But this iHOG, and it really is about the Hidden Object scenes, I never even found a puzzle before I had to give up playing, is just a bit too weird. Pity, it has some nifty ideas.

I really like the story for instance. As a new real estate agent, you are given the most tedious assignment! Spruce up this suburban deserted house and find out what drove the previous inhabitants to leave so abruptly that most of their stuff is still here, lying in HOP junk piles *giggle*. And I love the 60s feel of the place (or is it 70s?). I don’t like that we have to drag the inventory item to where it must be used, and that the inventory bar is not lockable.

However, I also like finding cobwebs and bugs in every location. We are here, after all, to clean up a deserted house for property inspections! So, in each location, close up shot and window, there is an indication of how many of these creepies there are and how many you’ve found. Although you know how many there are in a location, there is no hint for this element of the game. But even after completing a HOP, you can return to it to find remaining bugs. This is a fun idea. But having to exit using the back arrow, which is in the top left, from everything, HOP scene, locations, everything. That is not a fun idea. It’s just irritating.

About the HOPs. They are not only TOO HARD!!!, but weird as well. The graphics are quite dark, and seeing items is difficult. But worse, they are often very small, and very well integrated into the scene. The scenes are ‘busy’, and a small pink gun-like silhouette gets pretty much rendered invisible in a splotch of pink paint. As well, when you find an item, the word on the list is heightened with yellow, until the next item you find, when it will become shaded. Why this is so totally escapes me. I can see no point to it whatsoever.

I never did get to a puzzle. Or very far into the game, in the 30 minutes I gave it a shot. It is too hard for me, I admit it. For HOPA (as opposed to iHOG) fans, this game does not have much to offer. It is almost exclusively very hard HOP scenes, and not much of anything else.

There is a (useless so far) map, no journal, 2 levels of difficulty (I played on easy), and a genuine hinting hint.

But it is quirky, and cheeky, and if you are really, really good at HOPs, you might find this an interesting challenge.

I kinda sorta recommend this game!

PS. Went back into the game briefly and found a puzzle. It was a riddle and it was funny!  

You had me with the words "Too Hard"!  Where can we get it?  I like the "too hard" games if they are well done.  My big Esme-like rant are games that are too easy; sadly I've learned that my definition of "too easy" is "just right for most people".  

It's the Tomorrow's Game Today for Big Fish.

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/27309/the-house-on-usher/index.html

It's only hard in the HOPs. I never really got to figure out if the rest - adventure I mean, was hard or not lol.

Oh.  I did a search in the BFG site search ... the TGT doesn't show up.  Even when you're logged in.  I feel pretty dumb right now.  Thanks Justie!!!   

I tried this game.  It has a great premise; it vaguely reminds me of Gardenscapes.  But the controls are so clunky and awkward, I stopped playing after 20 minutes.  Such a disappointment!

Yes, it had potential, didn't it? I think I would really have enjoyed a giggle with this game if it had just made it a bit more playable!

Oh well.. I am alright, today's soft release (Sharpe Investigations) is a lovely little EASY iHOG, so I have one I can get into.

You, I'm afraid, pippi, miss out again!    

Thanks for pointing out the BF soft release, JTF, I would have missed it today if not for you.  And, btw, love your kitty icon and your dragons. 

Guess I'll pass on the House on Usher, I'm not really into full HOP games, much prefer games that are heavy on the puzzle aspect.

You're welcome, Sable.

The soft release today won't appeal either I'm afraid. It's an iHOG. I enjoyed it, but if you are into puzzles, this one doesn't have all that many and they were easy...

Oh, well! At least one BFG game player is happy!    (ME! lol   ) And, actually, I am not much of a iHOG fan myself lol.

PS. Thanks re my pix. I love my kittie - I know she'll protect me!  

And my dragons - they're three of my alltime favourites (alltime = 2 months since I started playing Dragon Cave lol