Review: Never House by DarkPark

Review – Never House by DarkPark

Website Link – ​​https://www.darkpark.com/en/

Price – ​​$79.54 (currently on sale for $59.66 as of 4/3/2022)

Disclaimer: we purchased the game with our own money, this review is not sponsored. All thoughts are our own.

Product:

Never House is a horror based puzzle box experience.  Players will receive a plea for help from a family who has recently purchased a house that might not be the dream home they imagined.  Thankfully, the family has provided a number of artifacts and items that may prove useful for players as they try to unravel a mystery and see what help they can provide the new homeowners.  

The Never House box comes with a large number of physical components, but players will also require use of the internet to complete the experience.  

This is a horror based game so buyers should be aware that the content does deal with the occult and spirit world.  The tone of the narrative and some of the story beats can be quite dark as well, so this game would probably be best for adults and older teens.  

Thoughts:

Never House lives up to its claim of being a horror game.  We completed the experience late at night and the overall vibe of the gameplay perfectly hit the spook factor.  Players beware and prepare yourselves for possible nightmares.  While there was a little cheesiness with some of the acting, that never took away from the darker tone of the narrative and the creepiness from several of the clues and story developments.

As for the puzzles themselves, Never House came with many components that were put to good use throughout.  The physical elements allowed for a variety of puzzle types and were where a large portion of the puzzle solving took place.  We had a lot of fun figuring out how to put the different pieces together and figuring out what value they held for us on our journey.  While we did have to stop and think things through from time to time, our experience ended up having a really nice flow as we figured parts out or as pieces clicked for us once we gained more information.  The digital side of the puzzles meshed well with the experience too and provided several solid puzzles as well.  The virtual elements really helped do a lot of the heavy lifting with the narrative.  

We don’t want to spoil any of the story, but we will say that it was paced well overall and hit a nice climax as players neared the end of their time with Never House.  We felt very satisfied with our experience, which took us closer to two hours in total.

If you’re okay with some chills and frights (and darker story elements), we’d strongly recommend Never House.  It’s a unique experience that offers a lot to admire about its design.  

Official C&C Rating:

Narrative: 5/5

Puzzles: 5/5

Overall Enjoyment: 5/5

Total Averaged Rating: 5/5

Never House is one of the best at-home puzzle games we’ve ever played!