House of Hell (Standalone)

[b]House of Hell is unique experience even among FF gamebooks, but however unique it is, it doesn't cancel the wacky realisation. [/b] FF series is known for their random fighting system, where you have to re-roll to gain considerable stats and for creator's love for incalculable death sentences('Oh man, you died by boulder dropping out of nowhere on your head, so unlucky!'), however even so series has some gems(ironically, they are almost never to be written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone themselves). Which is, clearly, not related to this book, because authors decided to go full Lovecraft and added Fear mechanic. And this is the worst decision they could make. Usually in gamebooks one wrong choice can screw you and you will learn from it. It doesn't work with Fear because Fear is accumulative stat you cannot skip. Funny thing, your MC sh*ts their pants almost all the time so game mechanically punishes your desire to explore and find new ways to complete it, which makes this gamebook not just 'linear', but straight up unbearable. Permadeath parametre is not fun. It is the sign of bad design, preventing player from making different decisions. And I don't want to say this gamebook should have had Disco Elysium level of variety, but it wouldn't lose a lot if authors lessened amount of events when character gets Fear points. This change alone would make for the better experience, but sadly, Steve Jackson is the one behind this book, and among whole FF team he is the very person, known for their love to unfriendly gamebook design to the point it becomes too boring to even play. F to HoH, it could be unforgetable experience.

Excellent. Certes l'un des plus difficiles mais clairement l'un des meilleurs défis Fantastiques. Une excellente adaptation

80年代に日本でも人気だったゲームブック 「ファイティング・ファンタジー」。 本作は第10巻「地獄の館（邦題）」のPCゲーム版。 創立者の1人、Sジャクソンが書き上げた ホラーを題材とした異色のゲームブックであり、 ゲームシステムも難解なことで有名。 タイトルにスタンドアロン版とあるのは、 これとは別にポータル版の同製品もあるため。 スタンドアロン版の特徴としては、 ・本でも使われてた挿絵が着色されてカラーになっている。 ・Steam実績がポータル版に比べて大幅に増えている。 ・トレーディングカードもある。 と、ゲームプレイ自体には差は無い。 で、以前(2020年くらいまで）であれば、 社会思想社刊の日本語版は絶版となっていたため、 英語版でも遊ぶ価値はあったが… 2022年にグループSNEよりボックスセット 「ファイティング・ファンタジー・コレクション/レジェンドの復活」 として待望の復刊。 なので、そっちを遊ぶ方がはるかに楽ですｗ 今からお求めになる場合は、 よほどのFFマニアでない限り おすすめしませんｗ （私みたいに日本語版ゲームブック片手に 実績クリアを目指すとかそういう遊び方をしたい人は止めませんがｗ）

[h1] House of Hell is a Gamebook to remember [/h1] This is an adaptation of the classic Fighting Fantasy adventure made by Steve Jackson. It's very different from other entries, being sort of in the "current times" instead of medieval fantasy. It also has a FEAR system where you can die of fright depending on your choices/encounters in this house. As a gamebook, the gameplay is quite simple, you get to roll your stats and fight/decide where to go which redirects you to different paragraph. For example, "open this door, go to paragraph XXX, you would rather ignore this door, turn to paragraph YYY". The good news is that this book/adventure is very well designed, actually made by the devil itself as you can get lost in this impressive house and the solution is quite tricky. Although even on failed attempts you might learn some info for the next playthroughs. The art is all there, even the censored image (too shocking at that time for kids!!!), it's been colorized but you can still switch on the go to the old school black & white art. I've had no bug except a strange one where once my dice went off the screen, every time it would be rolled again, it would just fall. In conclusion, I would recommend this version (compared to the Fighting Fantasy Classic one) only because it has more achievements (getting them all could make you crazy), and also it includes a very small "story behind House of Hell by Steve Jackson". Other than that, you can get the cheaper Classic DLC version.

More spoopy than spooky, and never truly scary, this is a pretty good quick game to play with a kid or even alone for Halloween fun, but nothing that deep or compelling. Still, I find myself happy to come back to it from time to time because despite never having beaten it I enjoy the ways I keep dying.

Amazing, nostalgic game play. If you liked Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf, or other so-called Choose Your Own Adventures, give it try. If you really liked Netflix's Bandersnatch, give it try. *Note: You must not mind reading your game, for obvious reasons.

Ca rappelle beaucoup de bons vieux souvenirs...

Un romanzo interattivo con ambientazione horror. Il problema principale è l'inconsistenza e lo scarso spessore della storia. Sostanzialmente avete una sola via d'uscita tra decine di morti possibili e per trovarla avete bisogno di molta fortuna. Sconsiglio a tutti.

A little bit different than the usual stories, but not that much when it comes to the "gameplay". Great art as always, although this time coloring them took away some of the charm of gritty b&w art style. Lack of the map is annoying for completionist reruns, even some random scribbles on a crumpled page or piece of cloth would be fine

It was really fun to play.