Unknown Host

Unknown Host is the third horror title from redsroll, and while it’s still a step above their first game, it ultimately feels stagnant compared to the progress made in the second. This entry introduces a new concept and slightly larger scope, but it doesn’t meaningfully evolve the formula—and its short runtime makes that especially noticeable. The premise is solid on paper. You move to the city for university and rent an apartment after the landlord mysteriously disappears. It doesn’t take long to uncover the truth: the “host” is an escaped mental patient posing as a landlady, luring tenants into the building and killing them. It’s a darker, more grounded idea than the previous games, and it has potential. Gameplay remains firmly in walking-simulator territory, with limited exploration but slightly more space to move around compared to earlier entries. There are a few quality-of-life improvements, such as a much more robust settings menu and the introduction of sprinting—but sprinting is restricted to a single chase sequence, making it feel more like a scripted moment than a meaningful mechanic. Visually, the game does show improvement. The graphics are cleaner, environments are more detailed, and the presentation feels more modern. Sound design is fine—functional but not memorable—and does its job without elevating the tension much. Unfortunately, the experience is extremely short. At roughly 40 minutes, it’s the shortest game in the developer’s lineup so far, and at a $3 price point, it feels hard to justify. While the concept is different from the previous two games, Unknown Host still feels rushed. Structurally and mechanically, it plays almost identically to the second title, offering little innovation beyond surface-level changes. It also feels heavily inspired by games like Welcome to Kowloon, lacking enough originality to stand out on its own. Overall, Unknown Host isn’t a bad game—it’s just underwhelming. It’s a decent horror experience with a stronger concept and better visuals, but no real evolution in gameplay or design. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from trying it, especially fans of short indie horror, but it doesn’t feel worth full price. Hopefully, future projects take more time to build on these ideas and push further forward. — The Ember Archives https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45601239/

It says I only played for 35 minutes but was so slow it felt like hours. The mechanics are so clunky. You can't control your speed, so you're walking around slow. It's not always obvious what the game wants you to do and I find I have to walk the same path over and over to trigger something. The interactive objects have such a tiny field to tap with the mouse. I died during a weirdly placed chase scene and after a few tries I just didn't wanna continue

I am glad some of you had a decent experience with this game but I had to uninstall it. Terrible bugs right from get go.

For the price it's one of the best indie horror games I have played. Its a super short game. Took me about 30-35 minutes to complete with all achievements. It visually didnt look bad and I appreciated the fine detail added in. I have noticed in all of this dev's games the clocks always read 10:10 haha. The audio was, for me, the best part of the game. All the sounds and music are what make it creepy. Gameplay wasn't bad. It had a puzzle and a chase sequence that together basically made up 3/4 of the game. The story wasn't bad but after playing a few of this dev's games I wasn't too surprised about any of it. The controls where basic and didnt feel clunky to me. It was decently scary/creepy. All in all this was one of the earlier and shorter games this dev made but it was the last game of theirs's that I played so I feel like their most recent games where a lot better and overshadowed this game for me. If I had played this game first I would have been more impressed. The game is $3 USD and on sale $1.50 USD so for that price it is about a 4/5 star game. If I had not experienced any of the dev's other games I would have been inclined to say it was a 4.5/5 star game. For the price it's one of the best indie horror games I have played.

Some creepy moments here - the dev does have some skill. But they throw them at you pretty much nonstop in a fairly short amount of time, it doesn't allow any tension to grow. In some ways this felt more like a tech demo than a game. I'd suggest letting the scary moments breathe. I found the story interesting enough, but even with being forced to walk like a snail, I still felt rushed. A few times I had no idea what to do, and I think the game operates on you just walking back and forth in a small space much of the time until you see something scary. Also had to zoom in on some objects to pick them up, which I found annoying. While I wouldn't really recommend this, I could see this dev improving over time. A 1-2 hour experience with some genuine tension by this dev could potentially be very good.

Honestly, I didn't like it. The scares were cheap, the graphics were generic, and the plot was weak.

Great game! Had a lot of fun playing it!! Great jumpscares - cant wait to play more from this dev! my playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jfAERUbggE&t=23s

Страшные игры с Кристинкой. Интересная игра, нас ждут все те же: Проклятые квартиры. скримеры, призраки и прочая страшная мистика. На вечерок сойдет.

30 minutes long okish horror game.

There is good ambiance. The good part ends there. Some people mentioned Kowloon as a comparison, but that actually has a story. I wanted to like this. Cheap renders, cheap price, good game - but I was disappointed. You can interact with nothing except what is expected. You story will not progress unless you do exactly what is expected. You will not scare or just-scare. Most of the stuff that is supposed to scare you is just bland and stationary (except for that one chase sequence that is just tedious). Very early in the game it is dark. There is lamp, but you cannot pick it up (later you cannot progress before you pick up a flashlight). You are confronted with mannequins that appear out of nowhere and hold knives. You cannot pick up the knife and chop them to pieces. Later in the game, you are told that you want coffee. You turn on the kettle and look for coffee. you find coffee on the schelve. However, someone knocked and you cannot make coffeee. This game does not know not to get between me and my coffee - especially not unwanted strangers! Once that you see that the stanger is not really there (chock) you return to ypur kettle and do not get the enjoyment of adding the coffee or drinking it. After this it is silly puzzles which require you to go wierd palces and a chase scene and then the game ends. I will not refund, as ppl put work into this and I had an experice, but I planned on buying the devs total library, and not I will not (seeing that this one of the higher rated games).