MyHouse.wad

[unraveler]

  On 3/31/2023 at 7:39 AM, The Civ said:

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I've already recommended it to others under the guise that you shouldn't read the thread beforehand as well

 

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I was wandering that: What are the best ways to recommend this to others, especially those who don't play Doom very often, by misleading them to believe that this is a sad and wholesome experience worth playing, while…

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hiding the whole spatial horror and distortion aspects?

I want to recommend this to others, but find it hard to convince them why they should give this a go without spoiling.

Edited March 31, 2023 by unraveler

[HumanHardDrive1]

psycho take: get them into doom in general over a few months and show them all the classic wads and some shitty ones... among those the wads that recreate someone's house. hell if they played any of the Half-Life or CS games they've been to someoneshouse already

Edited March 31, 2023 by HumanHardDrive1

[Not Jabba]

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I didn't at any point while playing this think of it as "a horror map." It made me feel most of the range of human emotion, and the ones I remember being the strongest were sadness, loneliness, wonder, and contentment. It definitely has an eeriness, and a few locations are deeply disturbing, but that's just one element that plays into the whole experience. The map does liminal spaces extremely well -- regardless of how close it is to any source material, it makes you feel like you're inside those spaces better than probably most if not all other video game maps that attempt it, and definitely more strongly than looking at a bunch of images on reddit. But I think the reason it works so well is that it's not just played as a cheap attempt to pull the rug out from under you and scare you.

 

Trying to trick people into thinking this is just a map of someone's house probably isn't a good way to get them to play it. In the first page of this thread, a few people dropped interesting hints about surreal twists and other locations that they ended up in. That was what made me want to play it. Knowing that something was going to happen didn't diminish the map's impact at all. There are a zillion Doom maps (and other games) that use surrealism or transport you suddenly between different dimensions. Expecting those kinds of twists does nothing to prepare you for what MyHouse actually feels like. But it does make you think, "I wonder what these people are talking about," and then you play it.

 

Basically, don't reduce this map to a few scares that you don't want to spoil; that does it a huge disservice. It sells its own ideas very well, and in a way that a description can't capture. You just want to get people to *play* it. It's not a map where you go in expecting someone's house and suddenly "Gotcha! It's a horror map!" It's a map where you go in expecting someone's house and then live inside your own head and contemplate the tragedy and strangeness and comfort and risks and rewards of human existence for five hours while you try to find everything hidden in it.

 

[CrocMagnum]

@unraveler: you could also just be descriptive about the wad (the basics) and give your gut feeling too. At least this is what I did a few days ago when I mentioned MyHouse on some French board: 

 

- this is a tribute to a friend who passed away (stated goal of the wad), 

- this House is not what it seems, 

- it is a masterpiece in my view, 

- this thing deserves a Cacoward (or a few more ^^)

Edited March 31, 2023 by CrocMagnum

[Catpho]

  On 3/31/2023 at 3:42 PM, Not Jabba said:

stuff

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Yeah, this.

 

This inspires me to share something. I wanted to write this in a more long-form post, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen so I might as well write it here. When I first think of myhouse, my first impression is not of backrooms or shrek or "the most mysterious song on the internet" (god this level sounds so much like a Internet-overdosed meme wad if I cherry pick), but it's the two dogs in the brutalist apartment. In my first playthrough, I stumbled into the big dog's area first, and I was rightfully unsettled by its grotesque design and ferocity in combat. I managed to get away with my life, back into the small apartment, then I shot something out of reflex in my heightened state. It was a dog, but the normal looking Wolf3d one that you'd find in those rare friendly MBF maps. Saying I felt "regret" would probably be over the top, but certainly I didn't feel good when I realized what I had just done. This was before I even knew that the beach ending even existed, let alone the dog difference. Just that moment, I felt bad for my impulsive decision.

Maybe this wasn't something specifically planned, but the connection is strong and the result was suggestive. A lifetime of adult melancholy and regret, a quiet lamentation for loss of innocence, crystalized into two sets of sprites and a couple of triggers. That's when I realized the kind of fine-grain manipulation of the medium (of video games in general, not just Doom) that Veddge was going for, the kind of ambition that would take the wad to great timeless heights, even for all the details that would date it to a specific time and place, like its fascination with early 21st century Internet ennui and scare culture. It's the kind of artistic power that inspires someone to try to study and perhaps work in the medium itself, to understand how something seemingly so simple could lead to such fascinating places.

 

[Not Jabba]

  On 3/31/2023 at 4:38 PM, Catpho said:

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it's the two dogs in the brutalist apartment. In my first playthrough, I stumbled into the big dog's area first, and I was rightfully unsettled by its grotesque design and ferocity in combat. I managed to get away with my life, back into the small apartment, then I shot something out of reflex in my heightened state. It was a dog, but the normal looking Wolf3d one that you'd find in those rare friendly MBF maps.

Maybe this wasn't something specifically planned, but the connection is strong and the result was suggestive. A lifetime of adult melancholy and regret, a quiet lamentation for loss of innocence, crystalized into two sets of sprites and a couple of triggers. 

 

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I hadn't thought about that because I found the good dog first, but that's interesting. I think it's cool how the emotional triggers work well (but differently) in either order. If you find the good dog first, you still have to resist the impulse to fight it because everything else in the map (and in Doom generally, and many types of video games) is an enemy. But it's easier to avoid making the wrong choice. For me, I think I looked down and suddenly realized the dog was already following me and sitting at my heels. It leads you to feel like you're safe, and you start exploring the rest of the empty area with this warm, happy feeling...and then you stumble into the other house and this huge monster attacks you, and it's way more alarming and disturbing than it would be if you hadn't met the good dog first.

 

I think a lot of the map is about choices (and/or accidents) and different lives a person could lead. In the regular house, you get a milkshake "for the kid." Then in the mirror house, you pick up the baby bottle you bought for a baby that didn't survive. The two dogs in the brutalist house feel like they're part of that same theme.

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Not Jabba

[ENEMY!!!]

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My first playthrough was rather different: when I played through Myhouse for the first time I instinctively shot the good dog before the dog had a chance to attack me, and immediately regretted it when I heard the dog's death sound.  Then I went into the large area of the Brutalist house and got a shock when I saw a dead monster dog that looked likely to be dangerous.

 

Next time around I left the good dog alive and indeed got that warm sense of being shielded and looked after by the dog, which was quickly shattered when the bad dog started charging after me.  I quickly recognised that killing one dog led to killing the other.  Also, when I eventually found the "good" ending and saw the dog lying on the beach I got the same warm feeling of being safe and protected as I did when the good dog was following me around the Brutalist house. 

 

I don't know if this was intentional but this aspect of the WAD strongly resonates with me because of my love-hate relationships with dogs in real life.  When I encounter large dogs that I don't know well, I can get a similar sense of fear to what I got in Myhouse.wad when attacked by the bad dog, but once I know that a dog is harmless I can develop the same kind of loving bond with dogs that I felt with the good dog.  I think it's impressive that both of the dogs in Myhouse.wad essentially triggered the same kind of emotional responses in me as real life dogs do.

 

[coolhouse]

  On 3/31/2023 at 5:39 PM, Not Jabba said:

 

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I hadn't thought about that because I found the good dog first, but that's interesting. I think it's cool how the emotional triggers work well (but differently) in either order. If you find the good dog first, you still have to resist the impulse to fight it because everything else in the map (and in Doom generally, and many types of video games) is an enemy. But it's easier to avoid making the wrong choice. For me, I think I looked down and suddenly realized the dog was already following me and sitting at my heels. It leads you to feel like you're safe, and you start exploring the rest of the empty area with this warm, happy feeling...and then you stumble into the other house and this huge monster attacks you, and it's way more alarming and disturbing than it would be if you hadn't met the good dog first.

 

I think a lot of the map is about choices (and/or accidents) and different lives a person could lead. In the regular house, you get a milkshake "for the kid." Then in the mirror house, you pick up the baby bottle you bought for a baby that didn't survive. The two dogs in the brutalist house feel like they're part of that same theme.

 

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Same here! My first playthrough IIRC I was coming from the burnt down house, so tension was already high and I immediately blasted the dog.

 

I agree about the themes of choices and their downstream effects. I was reminded of the 3rd season of Twin Peaks that gave me the same feelings of dealing with choices with irreversible consequences, leading to a realm of confusion and disorientation.

 

It's like that Radiohead song Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors:

There are barn doors
And there are revolving doors
Doors in the rudders of big ships and there are revolving doors

There are doors that open by themselves
There are sliding doors and there are secret doors

There are doors that lock and doors that don't
There are doors that let you in and out but never open
And there are trapdoors that you can't come back from

 

[Fairen]

Interesting from a technical/design angle, though the whole creepypasta/spoopy aesthetic had me rolling my eyes a lot, coupled with a lot of moments of confusing progression and seemingly-pointless side-areas.

 

Then it seemingly ends, abruptly and anticlimactically. I think, "Okay, I'll just look up where to go next. There must be something I missed."

 

Turns out that it ends early if you didn't collect every single one of a bunch of objects. Throughout areas that you're unable to return to. After probably half an hour of gameplay. With zero indication of this requirement or how many Things you need to collect. And with decoy Things to boot!

 

Which just made the experience feel like a complete waste of time. Like if you played through Doom and it just ends at the start of the Tower of Babel, because you haven't found every secret in every previous map (and if it didn't even tell you how many secrets were in each map). And again, while it's neat on a technical level, the cheesy creepypasta "horror" flavour and the complete lack of interest in a mystery scavenger hunt definitely doesn't make me interested in trying to get the—well, a ending.

[Horus]

  On 3/31/2023 at 7:21 PM, Fairen said:

Interesting from a technical/design angle, though the whole creepypasta/spoopy aesthetic had me rolling my eyes a lot, coupled with a lot of moments of confusing progression and seemingly-pointless side-areas.

 

Then it seemingly ends, abruptly and anticlimactically. I think, "Okay, I'll just look up where to go next. There must be something I missed."

 

Turns out that it ends early if you didn't collect every single one of a bunch of objects. Throughout areas that you're unable to return to. After probably half an hour of gameplay. With zero indication of this requirement or how many Things you need to collect. And with decoy Things to boot!

 

Which just made the experience feel like a complete waste of time. Like if you played through Doom and it just ends at the start of the Tower of Babel, because you haven't found every secret in every previous map (and if it didn't even tell you how many secrets were in each map). And again, while it's neat on a technical level, the cheesy creepypasta "horror" flavour and the complete lack of interest in a mystery scavenger hunt definitely doesn't make me interested in trying to get the—well, a ending.

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Is there anything that you do like?

[Fairen]

  On 3/31/2023 at 7:50 PM, Horus said:

Is there anything that you do like?

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Weirdos who can't stand people having any sort of opinions they can't tolerate and obsess over them and every little thing that they post. That's one thing I love.

 

And neat mapping tricks, but I already said that here.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Fairen

[Mr Masker]

  On 3/31/2023 at 7:59 PM, Fairen said:

Weirdos who can't stand people having any sort of opinions they can't tolerate and obsess over them and every little thing that they post. That's one thing I love.

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Horus just asked what you liked about the mod, jesus calm down...

Edited March 31, 2023 by Mr Masker

[Bulletproof Pal]

Not a Doom player at all, but I was linked to this from another forum, and this thing rules. While I totally expect the creator will keep their identity a secret, I really hope they reveal themselves eventually and talk more about the inspiration and behind-the-scenes stuff. 

 

Discussion on this page made something occur to me though which is why I made an account: 

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The brutalist apartment has the large dog in the large half and the regular dog in the regular-scaled half, but what if the large half of the apartment isn't supposed to be larger, you're meant to be smaller? To a toddler, a german shepherd that is bigger than they are can be terrifying, aggressive or not. It could be a situation of the "same" place but at a different time (younger and older), or a child's perspective vs reality.

 

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Also, the map on the wiki shows two men's bathrooms mixed in with the 16 women's bathrooms in the airport, in addition to the bathrooms that are actually connected to the airport. I don't know how Doom works, but the only thing that changes in the men's room is the sign outside right? Why would it need more than two?

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Bulletproof Pal

[Gregor]

  On 3/31/2023 at 9:06 PM, Bulletproof Pal said:

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Also, the map on the wiki shows two men's bathrooms mixed in with the 16 women's bathrooms in the airport, in addition to the bathrooms that are actually connected to the airport. I don't know how Doom works, but the only thing that changes in the men's room is the sign outside right? Why would it need more than two?

 

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If you open the map in Doom builder you can see that they are all variations of the women's restroom, but two are mirrored, one clean and one bloody. They cannot be accessed though. Just like the mirrored "SOLD" plot of land with the door suspended in mid-air right next to the one that is used in-game. You can see those above the square backroom maze.

 

[Bulletproof Pal]

  On 3/31/2023 at 9:58 PM, Gregor said:

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If you open the map in Doom builder you can see that they are all variations of the women's restroom, but two are mirrored, one clean and one bloody. They cannot be accessed though. Just like the mirrored "SOLD" plot of land with the door suspended in mid-air right next to the one that is used in-game. You can see those above the square backroom maze.

 

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Oh I see, so they are what is visible in the mirror's reflection? That makes sense. Not sure I follow why the sold plot has a mirror but whatever

 

[Gregor]

  On 3/31/2023 at 10:04 PM, Bulletproof Pal said:

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Oh I see, so they are what is visible in the mirror's reflection? That makes sense. Not sure I follow why the sold plot has a mirror but whatever

 

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Correct. As for the mirrored sold plot i don't know either. Looks like leftovers. Perhaps you were meant to also be able to reach Ending 1 through the mirror world but that ended up being cut and Veddge forgot to delete the area.

 

Btw, I like your interpretation of the two brutalist houses. Hadn't occurred to me yet that the big one could be meant to be seen from a child's perspective. That's interesting.

 

[MoiraHeart]

  On 3/31/2023 at 7:21 PM, Fairen said:

Interesting from a technical/design angle, though the whole creepypasta/spoopy aesthetic had me rolling my eyes a lot, coupled with a lot of moments of confusing progression and seemingly-pointless side-areas.

 

 

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It's certainly a post-modernist experience in the sense that it doesn't really care if you experience it in full or not and that's fine. It being so unconventional is the whole point, and if you read the Journal, it is supposed to be a map made by a person who's slowly going insane after all. It may seem unfriendly and pretentious, but it undeniably gives the map flavor.

Pointless side areas work in favor of the horror aspect of the map to make it seem truly infinite, I actually wish there was more of them. Wandering around cluelessly was the most fun I had playing this wad, and was actually kinda scary cause you never know what awaits you around the corner.

All in all, while I do think the map is a bit overrated and relies too much on reciting Backrooms, you can't deny that it's impressive to see a map so hostile towards the player getting such an appraisal.

 

 

[gergg]

How do you download the wad? All I see is a google document file.

 

EDIT: nvm I figured it out! amazing wad!

Edited April 1, 2023 by gergg

[ＤΞＬＴΛ]

I heard that this is a pretty good one, I'll let you know what I think of it when I check it out.

[Tycholarfero]

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I just checked the QR code on the tombstone at 3 AM (Not a joke) now that the monthly limit expired and I knew I was right in feeling that story wise there was this pervasive evil surrounding this house, I got actual shivers bro, the actual realizations that link has brought in has messed me up

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Tycholarfero

[Arwel]

The most surreal Doom experience I've ever had! This is work of art!

[unraveler]

Don't know if it was experiment here before, but…

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I've tried to load both MyHouse.pk3 and MyHouse.wad at the same time (first the pk3 one, then the wad) and…

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Not really something special, it's basically the wad one(with only 27 enemies), but the enemies' height is the same as the pk3 height, and finishing Underhalls brings you back to the first map.

 

 

 

Thought was worth mentioning that.

[PsychEyeball]

  On 3/31/2023 at 9:06 PM, Bulletproof Pal said:

Not a Doom player at all, but I was linked to this from another forum, and this thing rules. While I totally expect the creator will keep their identity a secret, I really hope they reveal themselves eventually and talk more about the inspiration and behind-the-scenes stuff. 

 

Discussion on this page made something occur to me though which is why I made an account: 

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The brutalist apartment has the large dog in the large half and the regular dog in the regular-scaled half, but what if the large half of the apartment isn't supposed to be larger, you're meant to be smaller? To a toddler, a german shepherd that is bigger than they are can be terrifying, aggressive or not. It could be a situation of the "same" place but at a different time (younger and older), or a child's perspective vs reality.

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The two dogs are indeed connected to each other, therefore being one and the same. On my very first playthrough, I went through the trouble of fighting Cerberus, and upon achieving victory and slaining the beast... the harmless friendly dog was also dead. Needless to say I reloaded my save game ASAP.

Anyway, just chiming to congratulate everyone involved on this map. Never has a house level been so involving and mysterious to play. Highly recommend the experience but I highly recommend you don't look anything up at all until you completed at least one playthrough. The WAD just won't feel the same otherwise.

 

And hey, for the curious, I did also a playthrough of the map, with live commentary. WARNING: Don't watch this video if you intend to play the WAD on your own, because about anything past the 10 minute mark is spoilers territory.

 

 

[Stupid Bunny]

This was an incredible experience.  Truly moving, and harrowing, in the context that it was created in.  I'm really, really happy I played it without spoiling anything ahead of time--although I had just enough of an idea to know that just fucking off at the blue exit was not going to be the end of it.  Glad I stuck through it and didn't give into the temptation to crack open the pk3 or anything like that.

 

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Describing it as cringy creepypasta seems to be missing the point entirely since there's clearly a very personal set of stories being told through this, stories that we never fully get to know but that hit just as hard through the disorientation and gradual degeneration of the house around us.  Examining this from the usual gameplay angles of telegraphing and balancing and utility also misses the point, I think; it only works if it's as alienating and disorienting as it is, and having the player wander the house, often in total isolation, poking around as though through memories is much more compelling than a straight-up Doom level would have been.  I don't understand the complaint about the artefacts being kind of secret and resulting in different endings...are we entitled to know everything on the first playthrough?  Is there no fun in having more mystery left to find?

 

There's so many good touches here.  I know I still haven't found half of what there is to find in here yet.  Making me murder the nice doggie in order to kill the terrifying one was a properly cruel touch, and when I found the hidden kitty food I was just thinking "oh please don't make me kill any kitties too, I don't think I could handle that."  The bit in the ladies' room at the airport was the only comical bit I could find, still managed to startle me.

 

The end, suddenly on an empty lot, alone, in total silence, was a truly powerful moment and I just had to stop and mull over the experience for a while afterwards.  I'm not sure I've ever played another Doom map that inspired the same feeling in me.

 

[DSC]

  On 3/31/2023 at 7:59 PM, Fairen said:

Weirdos who can't stand people having any sort of opinions they can't tolerate and obsess over them and every little thing that they post. That's one thing I love.

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The complete lack of self-awareness is astounding.

[PepperAlien]

this is easily the best wad of the year, bravo!

[PepperAlien]

  On 4/1/2023 at 7:16 AM, Tycholarfero said:

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I just checked the QR code on the tombstone at 3 AM (Not a joke) now that the monthly limit expired and I knew I was right in feeling that story wise there was this pervasive evil surrounding this house, I got actual shivers bro, the actual realizations that link has brought in has messed me up

 

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apparently it lead to an obituary where the mapper was listed?

 

[PepperAlien]

spoilers so don't read unless you finished but here's what i gotta say xp

 

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1. the "insane" gimmick is kinda lame but the way it's implemented is neat. each area having it's own story in a way is neat (like the pool area could easily be a high school swim team memory, the burnt house could be how the friend (and/or the mapper) died, the brutalist house could be memories of an apartment and a childhood dog. the "secret ending" (with the real beach) could be the mapper accepting that his friend's passed on, or that they both died and are at peace now. the clackboard ending (the fake beach) is also a neat idea, the idea of punctuating an ending with the clack is

2. I'm not big on liminal spaces (i think they're done wrong a lot) but the way they're done here is downright beautiful, you don't belong anywhere but the 1st and 2nd house.

 

3. the first two houses are cozy as fuck, the doomcute is especially nice. the new monsters are nice too.

 

4. the .pk3 by itself is amazing but the google drive just brings it to another level.

 

5. i love the open-endessness of the map's meaning is golden as well. is it a collection of dreams inspired by internet horror and phenomena caused by the mappers slow decent into insanity? is it a hodgepodge of memories tinged with regret? is it both?

overall? i loved this! if this doesn't win a cacaward then i'm gonna be disappointed, this deserves one

[PepperAlien]

  On 3/28/2023 at 6:56 PM, msx2plus said:

agreed, though it didn't detract from the experience much for me.

 

plenty of folks in this thread are citing House Of Leaves (older demographic would almost definitely be more familiar with it than the Backrooms), and in fairness, plenty of concepts present in anything Backrooms-related are kinda cornball House Of Leaves-isms. it's a never ending cycle and all that. this just happens to wear the Backrooms on its sleeves far more than the Backrooms wears House of Leaves.

 

as you mention, it would be excellent to see it pull away from the concept and do its own thing. when it is doing its own thing, it's incredibly strong.

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the house of leaves influence is strong but it also felt like i was playing a more solemn version of unloved, though the extent of that mainly revolved around the house being the hub

[mankubus]

  On 3/23/2023 at 8:38 PM, Gregor said:

Just a couple things i noticed that i think warrant closer inspection:

 

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The car that appears several times throughout the game seems important. It's seen parked in front of the daycare center as well as outside of the airport. The same car then appears again in the woods before the gas station, this time crashed against a tree with the headlines illuminating the patch of grass in front of it. The front window is broken on the driver's side, the door is open and there's blood on the ground in front of the car, implying that the driver smashed through the window and landed on the ground when the car crashed into the tree. However, further on there is more blood in the direction of the gas station and inside the station as well. This is in line with the description of the nightmare in the journal that references this scene. Here the narrator wakes up in the driver's seat of his car after smashing into a tree with his leg injured and bleeding, dragging himself into nearby deserted gas station. This is also the same nightmare that references the hospital the player enters when dying the first time in the wad. The narrator also mentions that when he woke up he wasn't sure whether he felt relieved or disappointed that it was all just a dream. 

 

Another thing is the QR code secret that can be found on the gravestone. I put this in a separate spoiler because it seems to be the final plot twist of the story that is obviously supposed to be revealed last.

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Scanning the QR code leads to a google drive pic that shows the obituary to the right of Tom's obituary in the newspaper article. It is revealed to be Steve's own obituary. He died on the same day as Tom in the same town of Oswego, Illinois, on August 3, 2022. Now, the google drive download of the mod also came with several related documents, among them a photo folder that contains a picture of a framed photo that seemingly shows Tom and Steve standing next to each other in a bar or something similar. Yet if you look at the photo more closely, you can see that it uses the exact same pictures from the obituaries of both of them, just mirrored on the y-axis. They both also have some kind of filter applied to their pictures that results in a fake look that might indicate that both were edited in photoshop. The clothes both are wearing have been altered compared to the article. The suit Steve is wearing looks particularly fake; maybe because the picture in the newspaper only showed his neck and shoulders aside from his head and therefore had be altered more substantially to add the rest of his torso in order to create the fake photo showing both supposedly in the same location. The filter look might be the result of the creator of the mod trying to smooth over the grainy resolution from the newspaper scans. That the photo is real is also discounted by @Veddge himself stating in a status update on his profile from December 4th of last year, that he hadn't seen his friend for 10 years, so them having met recently seems impossible.

 

According to the obituary, Tom died in his home, which would indicating that he died in a house fire like implied by the burned house section of the mod and the related nightmare in the journal. Note that this is also the only section of the journal that is struck through, perhaps indicating denial but certainly setting the passage apart from the rest as of particular importance.

 

One thing that stands out about Steven's obituary is that it states that his funeral service will be a joint celebration. This must be with Thomas Allord's, as their services are both held at the same time and place. However, Allord's obituary suspiciously makes no mention of his funeral service being shared with someone else. This, i think, makes it quite likely that the newspaper article has been either heavily doctored by the mod author or is entirely fabricated.

Another thing that is probably relevant is the location of the various artifacts. It's interesting that none of them can actually be found in the "normal" house. The pop artifact is locating in the sitting room that only pops into existence after picking up the blue skull key from the attic. The attic itself also doesn't exist at the beginning. It seems that both the attic as well as the sitting room and avant-garde room were not part of the real house of his friend but instead added by the narrator - maybe they are sections from his own childhood house that he morphed into Tom's house as part of the process of blurring the line between himself and his friend as is hinted at several times in the journal. Keep in mind that the OG house also doesn't have ground floor windows in the pool table room; these are only added in the second version of the house, which is where Steve's memories start to invade the structure and reality of the house.

The wine bottle, Christmas ornament and milk bottle are only available in the mirror reality of the house. The rubber duck sits in the bathtub inside the master bedroom but can't be picked up until all the sinks in the house have been filled with water, leading to the flooding of the house. Again, there is no rubber duck at the beginning in the bathtub, it only appears once we enter the changed reality of the second house.

 

On final thing i noticed is that the inside of the locker where the backpack is found inside the bathhouse is quite suggestive of a grave. The rusted bathtub the player has to jump into in the Brutalist house also feels that way.  Finally, the sound the bookcase in the basement that leads to the burned house makes when it slides open is very reminiscent of a stone lid of a tomb sliding open.

 

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Looks like you've spent quite a bit on this wad. I was wondering

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what do you think about the S+A heart sign? I mean, assuming Steve and Tom were a couple, wouldn't it be S+T? why would one use a surname for such a thing? you would typically use both names and not surnames. So this seems kinda odd to me. Maybe the A is for a girl, I mean the baby stuff, had to be a girl, unless they were adopting one or something. Btw the people in the pictures gives an AI generated vibe. Maybe none of these people even exist.

 

As for the level itself, pretty cool design, well executed. I was triping for a while until I figured out what was going on in the thread (I played the regular wad first). I wonder if there will be future updates with newer diary entries. Someone mentioned the file was updated (last update march 26th as of today).

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by mankubus