Dollhouse

Sum up
+ Abilities come in a wide variety and are useful.
+ Choose how to experience the story in four singular modes.
+ The monster tracks the player, pursuing them instead of randomly showing up.
+ Voyeur mode for those that want to play the game for the puzzles and atmosphere.
+ Levels are designed as an elaborated trap with close corridors, puzzles, and monsters.
+ Dynamic generated maps for both singleplayer and multiplayer keep the maps unique and fresh.

+/- Tutorials are too short and lack information. At the same time, the game doesn’t hold your hand.
- Black bars can be an eyesore for some.
- Controls are stiff, they could be smoother.
- The game can get really tiring over time due to its visual effects always changing.
-The constant flash, white and black exchange can get sickening and strain the player’s eyes.
- While defining itself as a horror game, it features more puzzle features. Creating identity problems.
Introduction
Dollhouse is a horror game that heavily features elements from puzzles games. It redirects its focus towards atmospheric tension instead of pure fear with an elaborated game of cat and mouse . Players will choose how the story will develop as they play in procedurally generated maps, shaping the experience to be more individual for each player.
Gameplay
Players must accomplish a set of tasks on each map, these usually present themselves as collectibles and puzzles. However, the player doesn’t know where these are located, nor will they get any hints towards where they are. As such, they must use the mechanic known as “focus” which allows them to peek through the monster’s eyes as the monster can see all sort of things, including the objectives and their location if they are within their field of vision.
That being said, “focus” is a double-edged sword as this will allow the monster to get a better grasp on the players current location. The more the player uses their focus, the easier it will be for the monster to catch them. This creates an environment of rapid movement, as the chase goes on the player will need to use the monster vision to see their objectives, collect them, and avoid the monster in quick succession. Sometimes they will have to also resolve puzzles which add layers of depth to these chases.
The most common type of collectible known as “memories”. These represent the recollections of events of the protagonist or other characters that are scattered across the level. Once the player collects one, they can use a set of different machines in the level to transform these memories into films. Each machine can edit those films in different ways, and they can also be used to get rid of them as well.
Once the player has enough of these, they can enter a special room which will ask them to solve a specific puzzle. The puzzle that that are presented within these rooms tend to be the main ones, and they can be tricky to resolve as the monster continues to chase the player while they must figure out the puzzle or accomplish a set of goals. There are also keys to open locked rooms, optional puzzles, and more.
There are a great variety of abilities, resulting in something as simple as generating chalks or stock (chalk is used to keep track of certain locations while stocks are expended to use abilities) to being able to see all doors outlines for a while or pacifying the monster for a couple of seconds. They further enhance the gameplay and give options to the player. Customize your own loadout and make it a part of your own playstyle in order to survive.
The player also has access to a camera with a flash and a flashlight. The camera can be used to stun the monster, giving enough time for a quick escape and the flashlight can be used to illuminate your surroundings as well as a deterrent to lesser monsters who attack you when you expose your back or is too dark. There are multiple enemies in each level that will hinder the player in different ways while the main monster chases them.
There is also the option to analyze enemies which can net you rewards and give you information about how they behave. This can be useful as it reveals how they react to certain actions as well as they strengths and weaknesses. Knowing your enemy is the first step to overcome them.
Those points are the general rule of the thumb. Each level comes up with their own rules and mix-ups. All the pursuers distinguish themselves from one another, for example one will never make any noise while another gets notified of the player location when they collect an item. Levels can shift during the gameplay as they can get flooded by water or re-arrange its hallways in order to obstruct the player.
Story
The story follows the protagonist Marie, who finds herself in a realm filled with memories and monsters with no idea to how she arrived there. Marie must piece together her past in order to find out what happened to her niece as well as who she is and what’s her story. There are options between remembering or forgetting the past and choosing the genre of your picture will influence how the story plays out. Depending on your actions, the story can also change exponentially.
Some Notes
The game runs at a smooth 60 FPS and while there is no cap, it doesn’t exactly soar up to 120 or 90 FPS. The only problems that I found were when running the game on the highest setting with a GTX 1060, was it would sometimes drop to 20-30 FPS but would maintain solid 60 FPS on the second highest visual setting. The main strength of the game is its atmosphere and unique ideas/concepts. There were no glitches or crashes during my experience.
What Makes It Special
What makes Dollhouse so special is its unique take on horror games. Usually, horror games present a story that is left for the player to imagine, creepy monsters that radiate bloodthirst and to a lesser extent puzzles. Is more akin to following a segment from point A to point B. Dollhouse, in contrast, focuses itself on chases while handling multiple tasks. It introduces mechanics that can be the downfall of the player or a cornerstone to rely on as the experience gets tailored by the player as they play.
The game story is exceptional as it can be experienced in multiple ways base d on the decisions the player took at the beginning. It can be a story of mystery, a biography, a documentary or even a story about a family. This in addition to in-game choices, creates a huge storyline that invites the player to replay the game or select what kind of story would they want to see.
Conclusion
Dollhouse adds a new concept to horror games , an idea that takes a risk in exploring uncharted territory but one that I find refreshing. It abandons the classic horror tropes and adopts a game of cat and mouse filled with tension, dread, and adrenaline. The key word for Dollhouse is “chase”. It employs all its elements toward the chases in order to create something that is interesting and new to the genre. I recommend this game to everyone who enjoys horror games and to those that want to enjoy something out of the ordinary.
This product was reviewed using a key provided by the developer or publisher.
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Dollhouse was typical of indie games where the game was far from perfect on launch. Bugs, unbalanced gameplay mechanics, and map generation issues were a problem at first. I had trouble with pickups spawning half in the floor/walls and weird enemy hitboxes. Luckily the team seems dedicated to updating and (surprisingly) listening to community feedback despite the awkward launch. The story is solid and the gameplay has been reworked. Visually the aesthetic fits the noir vibe they’re going for and I like the music/general atmosphere but I wish there was a little more color. Its seen positive changes since last month and the updates have made the game more enjoyable. Originally I would’ve given this game a C- rating, but with the patches and general changes I’ll bump it up.
Final Score: B-

Preface
I don’t usually play horror games or review games but I am a fan of film noir which is why this has gotten my attention and I hope it gets more attention as I think it will have a cult following in a few years.
Intro
You play as Marie, a standard private eye that is basically Carmen Sandiego, instead of travelling the world stealing things, you are travelling in her mind stealing memories instead. You will be hunted down by some sort of entity in a cat & mouse experience. During your stay, you will fight different enemy types, solve a lot of puzzles, and analyze things for clues. In the end, you find out that it culminates to something very interesting and definitely worth your time as its something only unique to you, not anyone else.
Good
- A very interesting story that welcomes multiple playthroughs with a genius ending
- Interesting “Focus” mechanic that lets you see through the monster’s eyes and look for objectives
- A nice variety of abilities that players can unlock and use.
- A good variety of environments
- A nice variety of enemy types
- Amazing music & voice acting
- Inclusion of an aptly named “Voyeur” mode where players can play without dying
- Decent campaign length with a lot of replay value
Bad
- Confusing/ not enough information for mechanics/ elements
- Repetitive gameplay
- Still has bugs (I know the devs are hard at work fixing them, I can’t imagine how it was at launch)
- Can’t find a match for Multiplayer (I guess there aren’t enough players)
Summary
Dollhouse isn't your average horror game. It tries a lot of new things while some worked, some didn’t. If you are a fan of horror or film noir I urge you to check this game out. You won’t regret it!

Introduction
When i first bought this game, i was really excited seeing the videos & screenshots
on the shop page.
I decided that should be enough for me to get it, since i didn't wanna spoiler myself too hard.
So about 10 Minutes into the game i was really confused and the controls/gameplay
didn't feel all too good or inviting at all, after 50 Minutes i've already gave up without even close to beating the first level; (noting that and with in my mind that while playing this game had a review rate of 50% positive 50% negative, most players with short gametime leaving a negative review and vice versa for people that played it longer. ) So i left the game for the day and returned the next one. Everything still felt kinda weird there was no real "handholding" or guideline which i'm not used to.
Nonethless i wasn't gonna give up on this game and as i really liked the idea & the setting behind it. Everytime i logged on to play it i've learned something new, and the story kinda bound onto me, i slowly got the grip of it and it started to actually be fun, the story took me into it's binding so that i just had to know what else will come.


Voice acting
The Voice acting overall is really good, except the pursuer ( "enemy" ) can sometimes repeat itself pretty often which can get annoying over time if you deal with it a little longer.
Soundtrack
There's not much to say about the Soundtrack except that it fits really well with the atmosphere and has overall a really good taste with it.
Setting
Interesting ambiente, in 50s-60s film noir style with some maze like rooms.
Graphics
I mean the graphics are not great, but they are okayish-good, they are fitting to the game,
there's not really much more that can be said.
Gameplay
You have to actually keep going and figure things out yourself, what was annoying in the start got really nice while playing for a while, it's not for every player tho. The levels will change and the enemy KI will swap it's pattern a bit and get a little more difficult every level.
There are some puzzles which are often too easy, except one that took some time and was really nice to figure out myself.

Good
+ Amazing Storytelling
+ Good character&story development
+ Not much guideline
+ Ambiente / Setting
Bad
- Repetitive Voicelines
- Not much of a challenge in puzzles
- Repetitive Gameplay
Price, Endword & Recommendation
I bought it on sale for less than 2 Bucks ( 90% off ca. ) which is totally worth it.
When i look at the normal price which is currently at around 20 Bucks, i say wait till it goes on sale, even if it's a small % sale, just go for it. This game has alot in it and i would buy it again.

Big time recommend for a one-time playthrough.

At first I was honestly hating this game but I ended up actually liking it.
The gameplay is extremely basic and repetitive: you have to walk through eight different labyrinths, pick up items and push some buttons while shooting evil mannequins and running from a creature called "It".
I deleted my savings by mistake when midlength and decided to restart in the "Voyeur" mode to recover my progresses quickly; that was the best decision because it allowed me to focus on the story for real.
In fact, the plot is the only reason to get "Dollhouse" IMO: it is very intriguing, full of twists and the ending is everything but granted. Collecting ALL of the memories and fragments is essential though and I managed to do this only when I played without physical enemies hunting down the main character.
Con is that this way you are gonna finish very soon: I think I completed it in about ten hours. But even in the standard mode it is said to last a very few.
Another thing I had to change from the way it was meant to be played originally is the illumination: with the suggested one you get to actually see something only with very low ambient light or in full darkness and that isn't good at all for your eyes; I ignored the options indication and increased it.
For the same reason I also suggest to always choose the "Colour" mode, which helps your sight without ruining anything.
Conclusion: I'd recommend this game, yes, but only at a very reduced price.

Cool style, interesting story :) and scary dolls..... O.O

The standout of this game is how hardworking the developer is. Rose’s Diagnosis updates have improved how the game plays. When I emailed the team about glitches I found they got back to me quickly and two updates later the problems I reported have been fixed. That kind of response is top notch.
Like other players have mentioned the story is what works well. The gameplay mechanics take a while to grasp but the tutorial emphasized practice and I learned the ropes by chapter 2. Sticking to it and finishing the tutorial was key because it gets easier. Chalk was the best, I used it to mark doors and stations because I am terrible with mazes. I abused the beacon feature to get a start on puzzles and the hints were good. My main issue was I like to run but the exhaustion would screw me because I would run into enemies when I was tired. If I could carry more charges to kill mannequins that would be helpful.
Gameplay was interesting with a big learning curve and the story was mysterious. I’d like to see a sequel where they can take what they’ve learned and make an even scarier world.