The Witch's House MV

The Witch's House MV is a puzzle horror game created by the Japanese developer Fummy (ふみー) using the RPG Maker MV engine. It was published by DANGEN Entertainment and released for Windows and macOS on October 31, 2018, with a port to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One following in October 2022.^[2] It is a remake of The Witch's House,^[a] a freeware game created using RPG Maker VX that was first released on October 3, 2012 for Windows.^[3]

A prequel novel titled The Witch's House: The Diary of Ellen serves as the in-game diary of the game antagonist Ellen.^[4] Starting in 2017, the novel was adapted into a nine-part manga series of the same name illustrated by Yuna Kagesaki, and then condensed into two tankōbon volumes.^[5]

The game is a survival horror game in which the main goal is to solve all puzzles correctly and escape the witch's house. It contains a creepy atmosphere, complex riddles and jump scares. This game is played from bird's-eye view using ornate 16-bit graphics, and controlled via keyboard.^[3][6]

A black, talking cat can be met at various places in the house, serving as a save point, as well as something of a companion. Throughout the vast majority of the game, the cat is the only source of conversation, usually talking in a casual, nonchalant manner.^[3][6] The player character, however, doesn't have any response until the ending of the game.

Viola, a 13-year-old girl, awakens in the middle of a forest. As the only way out of the woods is blocked by a wall of thorns, Viola looks for another way out of the forest. On her search she finds an old mansion. As night draws close, Viola decides to enter the house.

When she enters the mansion, Viola finds that the entrance has vanished. Now trapped, Viola tries to find a way to leave the old mansion, which is filled with lethal dangers. She is accompanied throughout the mansion by a black cat with the ability to speak. Throughout the game, the history of the mansion is revealed through interactable objects and conversation with the cat. The house belongs to the witch Ellen, who was originally a young girl affected by an unknown illness and neglected by her parents. The black cat turns out to be a demon who gave Ellen her magic powers, promising her that if she lured people to the mansion for him to eat, she would be cured of her illness.

The game has several endings which can be achieved based on the decisions and the actions of the player throughout the game. In two of these endings, it is revealed that the "Viola" the player has been controlling is Ellen after stealing Viola's body. The "Ellen" visible in the game is thus Viola using Ellen's magical powers, trying to trap Ellen inside the mansion to regain her original body.

Fummy has stated they were influenced by Ib, another RPG Maker game released in 2012.^[7]

Fummy, who developed and published the original game in 2012 as freeware, wrote a light novel which tells the backstory of Ellen before meeting the demon and becoming a witch. The book was released on October 31, 2013 via Japanese publisher Enterbrain under the name 魔女の家 エレンの日記 (Majo no Ie: Ellen no Nikki) with illustrations done by Oguchi.^[8] A Chinese-languaged localization was published via Chingwing Publishing.^[9]

In May 2017, mangaka Yuna Kagesaki started a manga based on the novel.^[10] It was first released in the Dragon Age magazin of publisher Kadokawa Shoten and was collected in two tankōbon volumes.^[11] American publisher Yen Press licensed the manga for an English release.^[12]

Jay_Is_Games gave the original release a positive review, calling it a "gory, moody, fantastic little adventure to spend an evening with", though they criticised some of the puzzles as vague and complicated.^[13]

• The Witch's House official website (in Japanese)
• The Witch's House MV official website