If you have “Depends” in your home, strap a pair on.  If not, I hope the clothes you’re wearing aren’t that important to you.

As I make blogging on Casual Gaming one of the integral aspects to this website, it is important for me not to just cover what’s new, but also to cover those games that attracted me to Casual Gaming in the first place, and “The House” most definitely falls into that category.

First, you should know that I love creepy stuff.  Creepy movies, creepy video games, creepy books, it doesn’t matter.  Dark, grainy images, eerie sounds, ethereal apparitions, the more the merrier (or scarier, I suppose, but as I always say, a bad pun is nobody’s friend).

And this game has it ALL!  I’m not kidding.  Turn down the lights, turn up the volume and get ready for a truly chilling ride.

Created by Thailand’s Sinthai Boonmaitree, The House has been around for a while, but like the best of all casual games, it has withstood the test of time and still delivers the kind of bone chilling experience that few other developers have been able to create.

An even more impressive feat when you realize that the whole process takes about ten minutes.

You enter a dark and abandoned house, one that hasn’t had a living soul cross its threshold since the ’70s when the then occupants all committed suicide at once.  Now, with their specters most assuredly gone by now, you open the door and begin an investigation to see what really happened.

The visuals look like a Rod Serling nightmare, setting the mood perfectly, while more often than not it will be the sounds that put you on edge.  From an old transister radio whining its way in tune, to the phantasmic giggling of children you can’t see, every single noice is expertly choreographed to deliver.

As far as games go, this isn’t much of a game, but that’s probably for the best.  Having real puzzles, I think, would only distract from the true intent of the presentation, which, of course, is to scare the ever living crap out of you.  As a result, gameplay is nothing more than clicking on items of interest, clicking on other items of interest, and then clicking back on items you’ve clicked before.

This, I know, doesn’t sound particularly challenging or exciting, but trust me, for the squeamish and easily scared, making it through this little gem without your heart stopping may be the only real challenge you need.

If you like creepy, play The House.