House of the Vigil

About House of the Vigil

House of the Vigil is a first-person adventure game from Zapster that drops you into a large, eerie house after a babysitting job goes sideways. Released October 15 2025 for PC it tasks you with navigating a labyrinth of unsettling rooms to find missing child Ben and escape before time runs out. The game leans heavy on environmental storytelling and claustrophobic tension as you piece together fragmented clues about the home's dark history. It’s a survival puzzle game where every creak and shadow feels deliberate. Think Silent Hill meets Five Nights at Freddy’s but with slower pacing and more cerebral challenges.

Gameplay

You spend most sessions exploring dimly lit hallways scanning objects for interactable clues and avoiding unseen threats. The core loop revolves around solving environmental puzzles to unlock doors and uncover secrets while managing a sanity meter that dips when you encounter grotesque visions. Combat isn’t an option, your only tools are stealth and quick thinking. For example you might need to hide in a closet for 45 seconds while a distorted figure passes or use a flickering flashlight to distract a lurking entity. Controls are simple but responsive with context-sensitive interactions. Sessions often feel like a tense scavenger hunt where missing one detail can lock you out of progress for hours.

What Players Think

PlayPile data shows 78% of players finish the game with an average playtime of 5.2 hours. Community moods skew heavily toward tension (91%) and fear (83%) but frustration pops up in 28% of reviews over obtuse puzzles. The game has a 82% positive rating with fans praising its "eerie atmosphere" and "creepy childlike motifs." Critics on Metacritic gave it a 79/100 calling it "a masterclass in psychological horror." There are 32 achievements including a rare "Found Ben Unharmed" trophy for discovering the child before the final act. One player wrote "The way the house shifts around you is genuinely unnerving, even the floorboards feel alive."

PlayPile's Take

House of the Vigil is a must-play for fans of slow-burn horror and narrative-driven adventures. Priced at $29.99 it offers decent value for its 5, 7 hour runtime especially with the 32 achievements adding replay incentive. Skip it if you prefer action over puzzles or need clear direction, this game thrives on ambiguity. The true standout is its ability to turn mundane spaces like a basement or nursery into sources of dread. For $30 it’s a solid pick if you’re ready to spend a few nights staring at your screen with the lights on.

Storyline

A babysitting job gone wrong has left Anna Turner trapped in an unfamiliar and uncanny home. Worst of all, she has lost track of Ben, the child she was meant to take care of. What was meant to be a night of easy cash has turned into a nightmare. Now she must navigate the home and the horrors within it. Can she find where Ben has gone and escape?