The Horror: Mansion

by Lost in Cult (Editor)

Before you is a house. A large house. A house of creaky floors. A house of long corridors. A house of dust caked carpets and candle smoke stains, stretching along the walls like grimy fingers. A house that no living thing should ever enter. Yet here you are.

Are you brave enough? Welcome to… Mansion.

Inside you'll find 280 pages filled with interviews, essays, and the histories behind classic games, along with art and galleries from, and inspired by, all the games that go bump in the night. Unlike an abandoned manor rising at the top of a hill over tangled and overgrown hedges, it's clear someone's been taking care of MANSION—this hardcover edition features glow-in-the-dark cover accents and black-edged pages.

A collaboration between Fangamer and Lost in Cult, The Horror examines the foundational hits, cult classics, indie nightmares and obscure curiosities of gaming. The first volume in the series is Mansion, all about creepy castles, unkind estates, and cursed digital architecture. Will you enter?

Genres: Nonfiction, Video Games, Horror

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Thorin Kafka · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Horror: Mansion” is a collection of essays predominantly about horror game spaces ranging from the well-known classics of Resident Evil to the lesser known independent games like Anatomy created by Kitty Horrorshow, and more! The essays themselves range from critiques of classic games, meditations on themes and stylings, to creative and personal retrospectives. The variety on display is both a strength and slight weakness of this book, as there will be equal opportunities for sections to be personally interesting or dull. However, even the sections I’d consider dull may interest someone else, and this book is altogether something you wouldn’t be able to find a substitute for anywhere else! It should also be said that the internal layout and designs here make this book a delight to behold and a sleek addition to my shelf. I give this a 5 star simply because this unlike any book I’ve ever read and hard to pass up if you’re a fan of reading deeply into the design, themes, and histories of many a horror game.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mansion is a decidedly mixed bag. Some of the essays here are insightful, some are a bit dry; some are overlong, while others could've used another page or two. Some aren't even about games at all, despite the book's premise (like the dissection of the movie, Skinamarink). But with dozens of titles covered, you're bound to find something here that speaks to you, especially given the obscurity of some of these games.

I think I was expecting more a series of reviews of horror games throughout the decades, rather than a collection of essays (sometimes a bit loosely) inspired by those games. But the good of what's here generally outweighs the bad. And if nothing else, I've discovered a few titles I'd never heard of before that I'll have to check out. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

[Nikodem Parchem · Rating 5 out of 5]

didn't read all of the essays yet, but out of 43 (!!!) features there's only one essay I kinda hated. some works are more dry than others, which was expected from a collection of this length, but the overall standard is through the roof. the spectrum of topics is surprisingly broad, and most pieces are REALLY good, there's also a couple of truly spectacular ones. Housebound, My Home Is Trying to Kill Me, and The House and the Labyrinth are some of the best writing on games I've read since, like, forever. and I read a lot of this stuff. it also looks beautiful (the screenshots aren't overwhelming and the dedicated artwork is chef's kiss) and feels nice too