The Witch's House is a freeware puzzle-oriented horror game by Fummy made in RPG Maker VX.

The young Viola visits a mysterious house in the woods.
She soon discovers its dangerous nature and must find a way out.
But the house is ever-changing, and death could be lurking anywhere...

(Content Severity: Discretion Advised)

Click here for content warnings.

Blood and gore.
Body horror.
Many possible ways to die, some with rather gruesome animations.
Numerous jumpscares.
Animal death.


Download The Witch's House 1.09a | (Mirror)

(Chrome may falsely flag the download as malicious, but it's safe to ignore.)

A remastered version is now available on Steam and consoles (Switch, PS4, Xbox One).
(The original version will remain free here.)

Supported Platforms

The game's engine is made for Windows only, with no native support for other platforms. To play on Mac, you can try a general-purpose tool like WineBottler.


Usage Notes

Fanworks are allowed if they keep the tone of the game intact, and do not make alternate endings/etc. to the original work.

The rules for the free version forbid profiting from the game itself in any way, including ad revenue. Videos and streams are allowed if they're in accordance with these rules.

The Witch's House MV has different guidelines that allow monetization of videos and streams.

[1] Japanese rules page (Free)
[2] Japanese rules page (MV)


Troubleshooting

Make sure to extract the game to its own folder instead of running directly from the ZIP file. If you don't do so, any saves made will be lost the next time you run the game.

If you extracted the ZIP but save data is still being erased, try running the game as an administrator. Without admin privileges, the game may not have permission to create save files.


Screenshots

Screenshot Screenshot Screenshot

Walkthrough

The official site includes hint-based walkthroughs if you get stuck, which I've translated below. Click or highlight the black boxes below your problem to see a hint or answer.

There are also some details about the endings and other special events.

In The Witch's House MV, Extra difficulty is unlocked after seeing the true ending on Easy or Normal.

Walkthrough (Normal)

Begin

Q: I can't go anywhere.
A: There's a secret passage on the left of the area with the large patch of roses. Get the machete there.
Go to the small rose patch in the area you began in, open the menu, and choose the machete.


Witch's House Floor 1

Q: What do I do in the room with the blood stain?
A: Don't step on the bloody tile. Read the note on the wall and leave the room.

Q: The *** won't fit.
A: Cut it up with the scissors.

Q: How do I get past the giant ***?
A: Just run away into the hall on the right, and it'll leave.

Q: I can't lend a hand.
A: Lend the teddy bear's.

Q: I found some soup, but I don't get any choices.
A: Move the chair on the left side of the dining room and read the note on the table.

Q: The poison kills me.
HINT: Silver tableware can help detect poison. Check your item descriptions.
A: Use the silver key in front of the soup.


Witch's House Floor 2

Q: The door out won't open after I get the butterfly.
A: Put a butterfly model in place of the living one, and you can leave.

Q: Where can I get something to bind books?
A: In a barrel on the right side of the room with the big spider web.

Q: How do I use the Book of ***?
A: Put it in the bookshelf in the bottom-right of the room with glass cases.

Q: After using the book, what do I do?
A: A skull will start chasing you on the way back. You simply need to get around it and leave the room.
It's easiest to go around the bookcase to evade it. Remember that you can run with Shift, Space, Enter, or Z.

Q: What do I do with the books in the library?
A: Reading them has no impact on progression.


Witch's House Floor 3

Q: I can't dodge the knives.
A: Running down the left side is the easiest way.

Q: I can't flip the switch across the thin bridge.
A: Use the frog to flip it.

Q: I can't make a mirror image.
A: Once everything else in the rooms is mirrored, finish by tearing off the note on the wall.
Here's how it should look.

Q: What do I do in the passage of no distractions?
A: You can't move to the sides, period. Ignore any knives that come your way.

Q: There's something on the other side of the door...
A: Once you've noticed the window on the door, push the frog in.


Witch's House Floor 4

Q: Where is one eye closed?
HINT: Check in a place where one eye would be closed and one eye would be open.
A: Here.

Q: How do you make sound in the four rooms?
A: Play the piano.
Correctly start the music box.
Hit the pumpkin.
Make the clock tick.
Once all that's been done, the upper-right door in the piano room will open.

Q: What does "BLUE EYES SEE THE SCORE" mean?
HINT: The painting ladies are looking across the room at something. But which one has blue eyes?

Q: I can't figure out the "Eye Studies" book.
HINT: Check the dresser mirror or open the menu for an extra bit of information.
A: Check the wall opposite the painting of the black-haired woman.

Q: The door won't open in the room with the paintings.
A: Hit the big pumpkin four times.

Q: What's the answer to the riddle?
A: A clock.

Q: After getting the blank ***...
A: The door will be locked. Strike the wall where the woman painting used to be.

Q: How do I play the music box?
HINT: "12" involves the playing cards in the room on the right. 12 in cards is...
A: Use the Queen key. When you exit into the hall with the music box playing, your answer will be judged.

Q: How do I get the clock to make sound?
A: Push the red chair in front of the clock, climb up, and use whatever key you have left.


After Making Sound in Four Rooms

Q: I can't make it past the woman statue.
A: Once you've talked to her, go back and take a look at the previous room.

Q: I can't leave after getting the *** ring.
A: Return the gold chopsticks to where they were. The correct location is in the ribs.


Witch's House Floor 5

Q: What do I do in the room with the dolls?
A: Match the dolls with the color of the pedestals.

Q: Where's the medicine?
HINT: The powder from the yellow flowers...
A: Talk to the yellow flower on the bottom to hear its request. Just talking to it is fine.
Afterward, talk to the red grasses and ask them about how to X.
Then, X the white flower, talk to the yellow flowers, and you'll get the white powder.

Q: What's the proper way to X?
HINT: Ask the red grasses, but remember what you read about them.
A: "Plucking."

Q: What do I need to use the medicine?
A: It's deep in the dark area. Go there once you get something to light your way.

Q: How can I light my way?
HINT: When the white flowers are touched by rain...
A: Get the empty bottle from the shelf in the poison room.
Get the petals from the plucked white flower.
In the room with the skulls, line them up correctly, then pull the lever.
This will pour water into the room with the big hole.
Combine the petals, bottle, and water to make a glowing bottle.

Q: These creepy plants are in the way.
A: After giving the white powder to the prisoner, pry open the toppled birdcage.

Q: Where can I get skulls?
A: Under a table in the yellow flower room.
After asking the red grasses how to X, on the chair next to the Talkative Plants book.
On one of the shelves in the poison room - the location is random as of 1.07 (also in MV).
In the pot on the way to the room with lined-up skulls.

Q: I don't get how to arrange the skulls.
HINT 1: Starting in the center, he turns his head front, right, left...
HINT 2: From the center, is there a logical route that follows the repeating front-right-left pattern?
HINT 3: Don't overthink how the soldier orients himself; a skull facing left from your perspective is always "left."
HINT 4: Let the pre-placed skulls guide you. A front-facing skull is in the center - where does it go from there?
A: Here's the solution.

Q: The skeleton wall...
A: You can leave by mashing the confirm button. There's no item to get. This event can be ignored.

Q: What to do with the *** shoes?
HINT: "Let them bleed," because they're bloody.
A: Use the red shoes in front of the water to wash the blood off.

Q: The number door... (NOTE: This puzzle was removed from newer versions.)
HINT 1: Check the corners of the room.
HINT 2: Four numbers, and a four-digit code. Which means...
HINT 3: The numbers are all single digits from 0 to 9. The key to the puzzle is the upper-right.
If it's only one digit after being multiplied by 666, what digit would it have to be...?

A: 6006.

Q: How do I use the doll ***?
A: Combine it with the headless doll.
Put that doll on the pedestal in the room where you arranged the dolls.


Ending Split

There are two endings.
They split off after the very last save.

NORMAL END

Leave the house without doing anything special.
Whether you get the item in the forest afterward or not has no bearing.

TRUE END

While fleeing, check the closet in the upper-right room on the first floor.
After getting ***'s ***, leave the house.


After the True End...?

While there are only two distinct endings, there are a number of things you likely may have missed. Click to reveal details.

If you backtrack before crossing the point of no return, some things earlier on have changed.

Most notably, additional books appear in the 2F library as you progress and read certain diaries.

After getting the true ending, something earlier on changes.

"A Funny Story" in the library changes to a book about Ellen. This is stored in a "global" save file at the very end of the true ending, and is reset if you start a new game. Thus, you should keep a save prior to the witch's room and load it after the credits.

You can go through the game in a special way.

You can beat the game without ever talking to the black cat, proving you don't need his help. (Make sure you don't talk to him AT ALL. Even if you don't save with him, it counts against you. The one exception to this is the distractions hallway on the third floor, though only in the free version.)

If you do this, he'll talk with you in front of the witch's room, which leads into some other slight changes. Fummy calls this a pseudo-third ending, but you can go to either of the defined endings from this point.

Regarding the "no distractions" hallway...

As long as you don't read the note in the previous room, you're free to go to the sides.

As of 1.07 (also in MV), your reading of the warning is permanently remembered across playthroughs. Delete PublicData (or common.rpgsave) if you want it to forget. Be sure to start a brand new save after doing so.

If you bug the cat and say you need help, saving there won't invalidate a no-saves run. (Free version only.)

A new thing you can see as of 1.07, also included in MV.

The "-----" ending, which Fummy doesn't even count in the readme.

To obtain it... you have to wait on the first screen. For an hour. You can't move to the other areas, and time only passes if the window is active.

At 10 minutes, the cat will get bored and tell you to move on. At 50, he'll leave. After an hour, you'll be automatically taken to the south area, where the roses vanish.

Why do they do that? The end of the novel, The Diary of Ellen, provides an explanation. It's also the most practical way to figure this out for yourself, but still...

Walkthrough (Extra)

Begin

Q: I can't find the machete.
A: The machete has been moved to the log in the first area.


Witch's House Floor 1

Q: How do I get past the giant ***?
A: After placing the bear torso, you need to run one more room than usual to escape the giant bear.

Q: I can't find the bear ***.
A: They're on the shelves in the scissors room.

Q: Someone X's me after handing over the bear ***.
A: Run away before he can grab your hand.

Q: Where's the Silver Key?
A: Under a toppled chair in the dining room.


Witch's House Floor 2

Q: How do I use the *** Ball?
A: Show it to the cat painting in the glass cases room.

Q: Placing the Book of *** isn't working.
HINT: A note reads "somewhere in this room..."
A: There's a secret passage right of the cat painting in the glass cases room.

Q: After using the book, what do I do?
A: Run down toward the blue bookshelf, go ABOVE it to avoid a crush death, then come back around.
The head will get crushed, but don't let your guard down until you exit the room, as it will get back up.


Witch's House Floor 3

Q: I can't dodge the knives.
A: As soon as you enter, a knife comes up the center, then another comes down at your location.
Move down carefully along the right side, and dodge left as soon you trigger the next knife.
Near the end of the hallway, three knives fire, with the closest one being targeted on you.
Being on the left side probably gives the easiest pattern (step right, then left).

If you're really struggling: Where is the black cat looking...?

Q: The painting switch does nothing.
HINT: One of the women seems to have gone somewhere. Go look for her.
A: Return to 2F and check the bottom painting in the glass cases room to make the woman return.

Q: I still can't make a mirror image.
A: The plate on the right side needs a Fork, located on top of the left shelves.
Place the chocolate cake on the table, and also rotate it so it looks like a right arrow.
Push the plant, sit the frog, and tear off the note at end as usual.
Finally, you must sit in the chair at the right table.

Q: The frog won't come back out.
HINT: Look for something to serve in his place.
A: Take the stuffed frog from the mirror room and put it through the window.
The hole in the wall will widen, letting you catch the Frog and push it through again.

Q: The cat statue...
A: Either touch it from the right, or pass along the very bottom to not get hit.


Witch's House Floor 4

Q: Where is one eye closed?
HINT: It's not entirely visible this time.
A: There are eyes and mouths you can check along the bottom wall.
Enter the mouth across from the center mouth.

Q: Where are the brown eyes?
A: Go left from the music box room and check the jack-in-the-box twice.

Q: What do I do with the *** Key?
A: Play the music box with it.

Q: How do I open the right door?
A: Stop the music box to get the Soldier Key back, and use it on the soldier's back.
Wind left twice to point it at the locked door, then wind right to fire.

Q: Where are the blue eyes?
HINT: Hit the top-right pumpkin in the right room to find a hint.
A: Follow the chain of hints. Unlit lamp left of diary, teacup in pumpkin room, bottom side of piano, then back where you started.

Q: What does "BLUE EYES ... ... SCORE" mean?
A: Insert the Blue Eyes in the black-haired painting woman.
Check the crack across from her, then run from the soldier, all the way to the music box room.

Q: The *** isn't where it used to be...
HINT: Take another look through the crack in the wall.
HINT 2: Was there another hole that would be "damp and foul" somewhere?
A: Return to the snake's room on 3F.
Enter the crack, grab the Sheet Music, and leave. (Keep running straight down.)

Q: I played the piano, but nothing happened.
HINT: "The red eyes are in the unseen one."
A: Accept the Red Eyes from the invisible audience member in the middle bottom seat.

Q: What are the answers to the questions?
A: Woman, man, woman, woman. Try to leave to make the cat appear. "The house's will."

Q: Where do I use the green eyes?
A: Hold them up to the mirror in the music box room.


After Returning Eyes

Q: Where do I hide in the kitchen back room?
A: After talking to the leftmost skeleton, hide in the center of the right pile of bones.
Choose "not yet," "not yet," then "exit" (after the door sound). Then you can take the chopsticks.

Q: I can't find a way to escape...
A: Run to the bottom side of the table and press the check button to jump on top.


Witch's House Floor 5

Q: How do I get past the windows?
A: Run right as soon as the witch jumps in (after third window).

Q: The doll colors don't match.
A: Flip over the yellow and black tablecloths (when there's no doll on them) to get the proper colors.

Q: I can't get the candle in the yellow flowers' room.
A: It belongs to them, so taking the candle is impossible.

Q: How do I get water?
A: Go to the skulls room and pull the lever.
When the skull appears in the hallway, don't escape right; fully break the pot and duck into the alcove.

Q: What do I use the Bone Bowl for?
HINT: Listen to what the tree says.
HINT 2: "Water can seal time."
A: Fill it with water, use it on the clock in the yellow flowers room, and move aside.
Talk to the elder tree until it shakes and drops a Tree Branch.

Q: How do I free the caged creature?
A: In the central room, use the Tree Branch on the Green Candle atop the greenery to dislodge it.
In the bottom-left of the yellow flowers room, use the Green Candle on the lit candle to transfer the flame.
Burn the rope on the cage and open the door. FInally, show it the Green Candle to make it leave.

Q: What's the proper way to X?
A: Take the Empty Bottle from the poison hall, then gather the poison water above.
Pour the poison water on the white flower.

Q: How do I go down the poison hall?
A: Avoid cracks and spikes. Don't step on the body, or you'll slow down. Don't go for the side door.
Walk over the last crack: it's fake, and there are hidden spikes to the sides of it.


Final Chase Guide

Witch's Room: Dodge to far right.

Hallway: Dodge to middle/bottom row, then dodge to upper row.

Kitchen: Either go straight left or dodge down (it's random).

Dining Room: Run left just above the chairs, dodge the moving chair, and dodge right when going down.

Scissors Room: No hands to worry about, just a hole if you head straight down.

Entryway: The right vase falls, and will slow you. Go along the bottom.

1F Hallway (After Knife): Head straight down, then dodge left.

Entryway (After Knife): Make sure you're running along the bottom to avoid the vase again.
(If you exited the 1F Hallway on the lower tile, you'll be in position already.)


Music

All the music in the game can be found in the Audio/BGM subfolder. Below is a list of songs and their sources. Note that there are some spoilers, mostly with regard to where songs are used.

Do not reupload these songs elsewhere without permission from their respective creators.

Song List
Name Full Name Usage Source Link
op2 Awakening 4F Piano Fummy Original
spoolofthread Spool of Thread 4F Music Box Fummy Original
ed3 Ending No. 3 Unused Fummy Original
Cellar Cellar 2nd Floor Source
Lost_Chair Lost Chair Title Source
Miller_house Miller House Ending Source
Outline Outline 4th Floor Source
Rumor Rumor 3rd Floor Source
Undermine Undermine 5th Floor Source
Warehouse Warehouse 1st Floor Source
loop_65 loop_65 Tension Source

Extra Links

Fummy has written a prequel novel to The Witch's House, now available in English with a translation by me. It's highly recommended that you see the true ending of the game before reading the novel.

The Witch's House: The Diary of Ellen (Kindle Edition)


COME TO MY ROOM