THE MUTE HOUSE

Can feel a bit like Resident Evil at home but it is still a very fun little clone for fans of the genre.
Mute House basically plays like any old RE game but has some unique features. For example, you can no longer just reload your weapons while pausing. Each shotgun shell has to be reloaded separately in real time and the pistol reload is more 'realistic' where you drop the whole magazine. In fact, you can't even pause the game while in the item menu, adding to the tension. Now the game isn't too hard first time around so these won't matter as much but you will definitely feel them in the unlockable and pretty fun harder mode, Fury House.
The Mansion is also pretty well designed. The developers managed to make an RE game without a map and it works. Some mental gymnastics are required when navigating which is nice and there isn't that much backtracking. Also, the fixed cameras are well done for the most part, you can never quite tell what's around the next corner. Adding to the scare factor. In fact, the game had one of the scariest sections I have experienced in a survival horror game in quite a while. I won't spoil it.
There are only a couple negatives. As I alluded to, the fixed cameras are mostly great but there are a few instances where they are more detrimental. There is a puzzle which is pretty good in concept but should have been better communicated to the player on how to approach the solution (graveyard) but other than that, the puzzles are pretty alright.
So yeah, Mute House isn't as unique as other indie survival horror games from recent memory but if you are a fan of the classic Resident Evils and Silent Hills and want more, then it's a very solid pick.

I love this game. Not sure where the complaints about difficulty are coming from, it is a much easier experience compared to RE1 Remake Normal mode. The game even offers unlimited saves to balance out any one hit deaths (which are only 1-2 areas and 1 boss). You also get an OP laser sight to aim for headshots. Once mastered EVERYTHING dies fast. Its almost broken and I had a ton of bullets by mid game.
What separates this game for me is the level of immersion. Finally your weapons are visible on your back, almost 0 survival horror games do this and I love it. Also your ammo is held in your inventory as individual magazines. You can reload a half clip but you’ll drop it to pick back up. You can manually check your magazine on your gun as well to check how many bullets. Nice realistic touches.
Love the story, characters, level design and voice acting. All very good and expands upon the RE1 design. There is a true horror section that was one of the best experiences I've had with the SH genre.

In terms of gameplay it's essentially a clone of Resident Evil 1 but with all the training wheels removed. No map, mandatory tank controls, limited inventory, inventory not pausing the game, and storage space that are not shared between safe rooms. I did not find it overly difficult, but I do not recommended it as a first survival horror experience. It's small enough that I never had problem getting around without a map. However it happened twice that I missed a hallway because they were not obvious from the fixed camera angle. The limited inventory was also not a problem as there are only 2 weapons in the game, and you don't pick up that many key items at once.

I absolutely love the look of the mansion: dark wood panels, warm lighting and comfy leather chairs. It has a cozy feel that contrasts with the horrible things going on deeper inside. The safe rooms are very welcoming, with a cat that you can pet (possibly a nod to the Evil Within games). The place is a pleasure to explore. The fixed camera angles were well executed, except a few near the end that seemed designed to just make things inconvenient rather than spooky. The puzzles are fun and require some thinking and observation, without being especially difficult.

Where I found this game definitely more enjoyable than Resident Evil is in the backstory of the evil family (especially concerning the wife). It's a tragic tale of a doctor driven to madness as he tried to save his sick wife. Instead of a soul-less evil corporation with state of the art facilities, we have a small Mom and Pop evil lab. The visuals of the instruments and evil experiments are more vintage. The whole thing has strong inspirations from Lovecraft's old sci-fi horror stories, especially Herbert West-Reanimator and Cool Air.

The combat has some features to make it more realistic, which I thought were nice a touch. Reloading the handgun when not empty will drop the previous clip on the floor (it can be picked up and will stack with ammo inventory, but it's something to be mindful of). The shotgun has to be reloaded one shell at a time (by holding the reload button). However, it is very powerful and can even kill two regular zombies in one shot if they are grouped.

Enemy variety is limited and there is nothing creative, but fine considering the scope of the game. You have your standard starter zombies, your more dangerous standard zombies, your large elite zombies and the deadly blind zombies that can insta-kill you. My main big disappointment are the boss fights. They are just not fun or engaging to fight. There is no strategy and it's just a matter of managing the reloading of your guns while running in circles with tank controls.

Other small negative point are the loading times between each rooms. Just a few seconds , but enough to be slightly irritating.

In conclusion, a very enjoyable little game. Great value for the price and impressive considering it wad made mostly by a single person. I hope there is a sequel (the ending leaves on a mystery that could make an interesting continuation of the story).

This game is a love letter to old school survival horror games - most notable Resident Evil. This game features some excellent use of the fixed camera angles to create tension or give interesting perspectives of the scene. It even modernises in parts by having a camera pan or zoom rather than a hard cut. This of course comes with its own drawbacks which I understand a lot of modern audience does not enjoy, but if you are interested in the old style survival horror games then you can't go too wrong here.
The game certainly is flawed in many ways. I think at times it could do a better job at directing the player. I found myself frustrated early on with a number of puzzles that are available but it wasn't clear to me which ones were doable with perseverance vs which ones I am missing a key item to progress. Generally the puzzles were good though and I felt like the solutions were satisfying. Another issue is inventory management - I had a number of occasions where my inventory was full but also storage was full which means you cannot switch anything in or out without discarding something from your inventory or finding a different storage. Very clunky in that department but it wasn't enough to ruin the experience.
This game actually managed to scare me at points which is something that is quite rare in these games for me now. There is one sequence in particular that I think was particularly well done.
All in all, a good game. Not perfect but a solid entry and very good for the low price.

Beautiful, fun to play, some genuine scares and absolutely no personality.
One of the most gorgeous Resi-Remake clones I've had the pleasure to play. A lot of this seems to have been built from off-the-shelf assets, but those assets have been carefully chosen and assembled with a huge amount of love and the skilled application of UE4. The lighting and light effects in particular sing the praises of Epic's engine! There's no way this topples Tormented Souls as the best looking of the modern Resi Remake Clones, but it definitely approaches striking distance...!
Reflections particularly stick out in my memory - some fantastic uses of mirrors and polished surfaces throughout the dilapidated mansion. The materials are really excellent - rich wooden cladding, dripping concrete walls, wispy spiderwebs... The developer has a great eye for environment decoration - though the room layout is often rather dull.
The same can often be said of the fixed multicam angles - some notable exceptions aside (one corridor in particular, and the attic sections!), the chosen angles are somewhat tame and unadventurous (a lot of high angles). That said, I can't really complain - what they lack in spice they deliver in competance and clarity. You will not get lost due to the cameras and you will not find your character wandering off screen without a brisk change to an appropriate angle. With one or two intepolated angle changes there's very little camera movement - lots of nice locked-off, intentional choices, so that's good too. =)
There's no map in The Mute House, which could have been fatal if the room decor and furnishings weren't so carefully individualised and polished. It's still possible to find yourself a little at a loss as to what to do next, but overall it's a minor thing. A slightly larger quibble is the lack of multiple save slots - for a survival horror game with limited supplies, this really ratchets up the tension but also means that players are less likely to experiment and just mess about, which is a shame.
Combat is restricted to ranged weapons, but sounds and effects are appropriately snappy / gloopy and satisfying. There's a manual aim mechanic used to maximise the effectiveness of your ammunition, but the implementation is a little finicky - still, a good idea!
Speaking of ammo, reloading your handgun causes the player character to drop the old magazine - including any unfired rounds in the clip. In practice, this is only a minor inconvenience, but it's nice to have some minor efforts to mix up the shooting mechanics. To check your currently equipped ammo levels, the player must press a button combination in order to have the character check how many bullets remain - again, a nice touch.
Bosses are mostly an exercise in engaging with the fire / reload mechanics, specifically how quickly you can empty a magazine and reload. However, the final boss seems impossible to beat without use of headshots and it took me... no small amount of time to finish them off.
There's a decent helping of puzzles which help to break up the exploration/combat loop, but there's really no standout surprises. Very entertaining at times, but none of the showstoppers that stud the Resi 1 Remake.
Downsides? Sadly, yes. There's basically no supporting cast - no major plot events that happen during the gameplay outside of the main action (ie. you kill the bad zombies). There is a weak backstory delivered through journals etc., and one of the main villians will occasionally leave you notes and presents (which, honestly, is a GREAT idea, lots of fun). However, there's nothing like running in to Barry, or Wesker, or Rebecca.
Occasionally your radio will spit out some scattered words and static, but for the most part, it's just you. For some players, that'll be fine - for me, I really felt the absense of other survivors, doing their best (worst?) to make it out of this shared nightmare alive.
On the whole, The Mute House gets a strong recommendation from me - though you might find it's a game best enjoyed with a side order of the podcast of your choice, as this house is all action, no talk.

Great budget survival horror. As for one man project it's more than appropriate. Most important part - You can pet the cat.

TL;DR: The Mute House is a good game and definitely worth buying for the price. It has some standout elements, but a few design choices keep it from being truly great.

The Good:

The game looks beautiful. The lighting and cinematic camera angles really enhance the atmosphere—especially one angle while crossing the bridge to the cemetery. That moment stuck with me.

The music is fantastic and nails the classic survival horror vibe.

No bugs or glitches during my playthrough.

My Steam playtime was 8 hours, which felt just right for a game like this.

Classic tank controls are used, which I’m very comfortable with, and had no issues.

Manual aiming felt satisfying (played with a PS5 controller), especially during hallway encounters with zombies.

The Mixed:

Puzzles were mostly okay, but two stood out as frustrating:

The piano puzzle felt like a stretch; the clues in the house didn’t clearly lead to the correct solution.

The sky view walking puzzle with symbols was annoying—not because it was difficult, but because I had to use my phone to take pictures. There’s no in-game file system to reference clues, which really should have been included.

No map. While the house isn’t large, this will frustrate some players. Personally, I was fine with it—it encouraged me to pay closer attention.

Item storage isn’t linked between chests. I ended up only using the first one I found since I didn’t know if I’d return to other areas. That uncertainty discouraged exploration.

The reloading system is similar to Daymare: 1998—you drop your current mag (even if it’s partially full) and load a fresh one. It adds tension, which I liked. Shotgun reloads one shell at a time, which is realistic and effective. Just be warned: if you drop a mag, leave the area, and return later—it’ll be gone.

PS5 controller support was confusing. Steam says the game has native support, but it only worked if I enabled Steam Input. Turning it off caused the game to not recognize any inputs.

The Frustrating:

Insta-kill mechanics were rough. Combined with tank controls and fixed camera angles, I sometimes got stuck and killed instantly by a boss—which was frustrating when my adrenaline was already high.

The inventory cursor is clunky. If it was on the far left of the screen during a fight and I needed to switch weapons, I had to scroll all the way over—even with fast scrolling on. This actually caused me to die in some encounters. I kept forgetting to reposition it between fights.

Final Thoughts: All in all, The Mute House is a great-looking survival horror game with an excellent atmosphere and music. While it has a few design issues that pop up often enough to be irritating, it’s absolutely worth the price. If you’re a fan of classic survival horror, it’s definitely one to check out.