Home Sweet Home

Its crude line drawings look rudimentary by today’s standards, but Mystery House was one of the first adventure games to use graphics. (Up to that point, most adventure games were entirely text-based.) Mystery House is also one of the earliest examples of a horror game, period, so its place on this list has a lot to do with legacy and historical impact. During the game’s opening act, players are locked in an abandoned Victorian mansion with seven other people from various walks of life. The initial objective is to find a hidden cache of jewels, but things take a turn for the worse once the bodies start piling up. It’s apparent that there is a murderer on the loose, and you’ll have to figure out who it is if you don’t want to be the next victim. The plot feels like it was lifted from the pages of an Agatha Christie novel, and the game represented a huge step forward for the industry as a storytelling medium. Mystery House lacks color, animation, and sound, but it still manages to tell an engaging story.

The 7th Guest takes place in a foreboding mansion that’s owned by an eccentric toymaker named Henry Stauf. Stauf was a mysterious figure who usually kept to himself, so it was surprising when he decided to invite six socialites from his community to partake in an elaborate puzzle-solving dinner party on the grounds of his estate. Stauf promised to grant the winner any wish they desired, but his true motives were more sinister in nature. Stauf’s puzzles ranged from simple wordplay to geometric riddles, but the real objective was to locate a seventh guest who was hidden somewhere within the trap-filled mansion. The evening eventually took a turn for the worse, and a series of grisly murders were committed as the guests were trapped by Stauf’s machinations. The mansion was built with the explicit goal of scaring people, and it’s safe to say it was effective in this regard. The 7th Guest is relatively simple as far as adventure games go, and players have limited ability to interact with the environment. At the same time, the mansion felt like it had tremendous depth thanks to the advancements of the fledgling CD-ROM format. The game used intricate 3D renderings superimposed with full-motion video, and this ultimately made the mansion feel alive.

As one of the first games to use polygonal characters over pre-rendered backgrounds, Alone in the Dark was a breakthrough title that helped define the survival horror genre. The game is set inside Derceto Manor, and players are tasked with escaping from the haunted mansion. As it turns out, the 19th-century Louisiana mansion was built by a pirate with close ties to the occult. Decades after his apparent death, the pirate’s soul took control of the manor and trapped people inside with the hopes of finding a new body. At the onset of Alone in the Dark, players find themselves in an attic surrounded by antiques and demons. The protagonist ascended to the top of the mansion without incident, but finding a way out is considerably more difficult. The manor is crawling with supernatural enemies, and players either have to defeat them or find ways to outsmart them. You have various weapons at your disposal, and you’ll be able to eliminate some of your enemies with your bare hands. Many of your enemies cannot be killed, however, so you’ll have to solve environmental puzzles in order to defeat them. The mansion has dozens of rooms to explore and a vast network of tunnels beneath its foundation, but you’ll probably be too preoccupied with zombie chickens to appreciate the architecture.

There’s an element of mystery to most of the mansions on this list, but Mad Monster Mansion from Banjo-Kazooie proudly advertises its enigmatic qualities. It’s the smallest level in the game by far, but there’s still a lot to see and do. As Banjo and Kazooie progress through the stage, they will encounter the usual array of bats, skeletons, and ghosts. They’ll have to contend with more unusual foes, too. Monsters will burst out of paintings, tree limbs will lash out in violence, and walking tombstones will ambush them when they least expect it. The mansion is surrounded by a hedge maze and a graveyard, and the full moon makes everything seem all-the-more spooky. The mansion itself is the center of many memorable moments despite being relatively small compared to the other houses on this list. At one point, you’ll have to avoid stepping on creaking floor boards and make sure not to wake a sleeping ghost. At another point, you’ll befriend a talking toilet and flush yourself into the sewers. (If the logistics don’t make sense, it’s only because I haven’t yet mentioned that Banjo and Kazooie can transform into a pumpkin during this level.) Many of the games that have been mentioned on this list rely on jump scares or psychological mind games, but Banjo-Kazooie keeps things lighthearted and fun.

Throughout the course of Tomb Raider II, Lara Croft will run into a T-Rex at the Great Wall of China, encounter yeti in an ice cave, and outswim sharks 40 fathoms below the surface. Her adventures are filled with danger, but her home is a relative safe haven. Croft Manor was used as a tutorial level in the original Tomb Raider, but the mansion was greatly expanded in the sequel. The first game let you visit the library, a music room, the main hall, the ballroom, and the pool. Several rooms were added in Tomb Raider II, however, and it was now possible to venture into the kitchen, Lara’s bedroom, and the basement treasure room. You’d expect a place the size of Croft Manor to have its own staff, but Lara’s only company is her elderly butler, Winston. (If you want even more privacy, you can simply lock Winston in the freezer!) Tomb Raider II also let players explore the manor grounds. I had a lot of fun running through the hedge maze, and the elaborate obstacle course provided players with a safe way to practice all of their moves. It’s to your benefit to familiarize yourself with the floor plan. In the final level, Lara has to defend the manor from invaders while wearing a skimpy bathrobe.

In the opening moments of Eternal Darkness, Alexandra Roivas is called to her grandfather’s Rhode Island mansion where she is asked to identify his body in the wake of a grisly murder. The detectives have no leads whatsoever, so Alex stays in the mansion and attempts to unravel the mystery herself. She searches the mansion for clues and eventually finds an ancient book called the Tome of Eternal Darkness. The book is filled with historical accounts of arcane magic and otherworldly gods, and Alex begins to lose her grip on reality while she reads it. Alex explores the mansion during chapter breaks, and it’s impossible to tell what’s real. Books fly off shelves, paintings spontaneously change, statues turn their heads when Alex walks by, the sounds of footsteps follow her around the house, and dead family members make impromptu phone calls. At one point, Alex sees a vision of herself in a blood-filled bathtub! The Tome of Eternal Darkness provides more insight into the Roivas Mansion, and it’s apparent that Alex’s ancestors experienced similar phenomena in the past. Note to self: If you’re going to build a mansion, make sure not to build it on top of an ancient city that channels vast amounts of magical energy.

Contemporary horror games tend to bombard players with onslaughts of supernatural enemies, but Clock Tower pits players against a single, relentless antagonist. In this respect, the game could be likened to teenage slasher flicks like Halloween. The story follows an orphan named Jennifer who is adopted by the Barrows family along with three other girls. The Barrows family mansion is known as the Clock Tower, named after its most predominant feature, and it’s the perfect setting for a good old fashioned horror story. Jennifer is separated from the other orphans shortly after arriving in the mansion, and she soon finds herself on the run from a deformed boy who wields a huge pair of scissors. The gameplay is largely based around jump-scares, and there is an element of randomness to everything. Every time you enter a room, there is a chance you will encounter the murderous “Scissorman” or face some kind of environmental hazard. In different situations, the Scissorman might emerge from behind a shower curtain, bust through a skylight, or jump out of the swimming pool. These events will not necessarily trigger right away, and they might not even happen at all! This element of randomness helps build tension and makes every room in the mansion seem important.

Maniac Mansion is a point-and-click adventure game based around 1980s tropes and B-movie clichés. Assuming the role of a teenager named Dave, players are tasked with rescuing their girlfriend from the mansion of Dr. Fred Edison. (Incidentally, the mad scientist kidnapped the girl for use in his human experiments.) You’ll find many unusual things while looking for Dr. Fred’s secret lab, including sentient tentacles, Dead Cousin Ted, and a staircase that is somehow out of order. The other members of the Edison family are just as hostile as their patriarch, and they will throw you into the dungeon – or kill you outright – if they find you snooping around their home. When Dave is sidelined in such a manner, one of his friends will take his place. There are seven playable characters in total, and each has their own unique abilities. Some puzzles can only be solved by certain characters, so the path you take through the mansion will ultimately be determined by the company you keep. Maniac Mansion was noteworthy for its non-linear gameplay, and this was true of its sequel as well. Day of the Tentacle actually allowed players to visit Edison Mansion in three different time periods!

Luigi’s first major outing as a main character is set against the backdrop of a mysterious mansion located in the middle of a spooky forest. He won the mansion in a mail-order contest that he didn’t even enter, and that should have been his first clue that something had gone awry. With his famous brother nowhere to be seen, Luigi is startled by ghosts upon arriving at his new house for the first time. After meeting Professor E. Gadd, he learns that the mansion was built by King Boo to shelter other ghosts. Luigi finally realizes that he was lured to the house as a trap, so he takes it upon himself to rid the mansion of its supernatural guests and locate his missing brother. Armed with a flashlight and a special ghost vacuum provided to him by the professor, Luigi explores the mansion’s rooms and methodically hunts down the ghosts that lie within them. The ghosts can hide anywhere, so Luigi has to examine every cupboard, cabinet, drawer, and closet he comes across. Most people would feel compelled to exit a haunted house as quickly as possible, but poor Luigi has to examine the ghost-filled residence in meticulous detail.

Resident Evil follows the exploits of an elite task force that was sent to the outskirts of a small rural town. After being chased to a nearby mansion by a pack of rabid dogs, the survivors decide to split up and search for stragglers. From the moment you step into Spencer Mansion’s main hall, it feels like you’re in the lap of luxury. The vast rooms are adorned with fancy chandeliers, fireplaces, and extravagant art pieces, but you won’t have a lot of time to admire the floor plan. Unfortunately, the place is crawling with zombies, and there are undead monsters around every corner. (The place seems ridiculously large at first, but it becomes claustrophobic the moment zombies are introduced.) It’s eventually revealed that the mansion sits on top of an underground laboratory that was used to conduct inhumane experiments. Incidentally, the flesh-eating creatures that populate the mansion had been exposed to a mutagenic virus that was created in the lab. In order to escape with your life, you’ll have to solve puzzles, use hidden passageways, and avoid deathtraps. Spencer Mansion doesn’t seem so opulent once the ceiling starts falling on you.