HOUSE RULES

Break a rule. He'll come for you.

Midnight. One last delivery, to the castle on the hill. The doors lock behind you, and on the mat there is a card: kindly observe the house rules.

Every room has one. Stay off the carpet. Don't break anything. No fists at the table. Keep it, and the dead of the house are all you have to fight. Break it, and a bell rings somewhere, and the Butler comes up out of the floor. He can't be hurt, and he doesn't stop. One touch and you're his.

HOUSE RULES is a first-person horror brawler: ten rooms of a castle, from the Great Hall to the Lady's rooms at the top of the tower.

THE HOUSE RULES

No. 1, The Great Hall: Stay off the carpet.
No. 2, Peacock Alley: Get down the alley in 45 seconds.
No. 3, The Library: Quiet. Don't break anything.
No. 4, The Dining Room: No fists. Use the furniture.
No. 5, The Conservatory: No running away.
No. 6, The Oak Room: Don't get hit more than 3 times.
No. 7, The Wine Cellar: Don't touch anything.
No. 8, The Tunnel: Get through before the lights go.
No. 9, The Stables: Don't get hit more than 4 times.
No. 10, The Lady's Rooms: Don't get hit more than 6 times.

HOW IT PLAYS

Fight with your fists (three in a row, and the third lands hard) or with anything you can lift: chairs, vases, barrels. Throw them.

Listen for the bell. If you hear it, the Butler is in the room. Keep moving until the room is clear.

Keep the rule for a star. Beat the room's time for another. Little bottles of tonic fall out of broken things, and most of them are good for you.

Keep an eye on the paintings. The house paints over them when you're not looking. And at the top of the tower, the Lady in Blue is waiting: your fists go straight through her.

IT'S FREE. The whole game plays right here in your browser, on a computer or a phone. Nothing to download, no sign-up. Best with headphones.

CONTROLS — Mouse to look (click the house first), WASD to walk, SHIFT to run, CLICK to punch (hold for more), E or RIGHT-CLICK to pick something up and again to throw it, SPACE to dodge, ESC to pause.
Phone: your left thumb walks, drag on the right to look, and HIT, GRAB and DODGE are on screen.
Controller (PS5, PS4, Xbox or Switch Pro): R2/RT punch, L2/LT or Square/X grab and throw, Cross/A dodge, L1/LB run, OPTIONS/MENU pause.

MADE WITH AI — The paintings, films, music, voices and sounds were made with AI (Nano Banana Pro, Veo 3.1, ElevenLabs, Stable Audio, Rodin), and the game was built with AI coding assistants. Photo textures and furniture: Poly Haven and ambientCG (CC0).

HOUSE RULES is a work of fiction, set in a castle inspired by Toronto's Casa Loma. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Casa Loma.

Also at fliinch.com/houserules, with the trailers. Privacy: no names, no accounts, no advertising. The whole of it: fliinch.com/privacy

A Fliinch game, made by one person in Toronto. Also free: ABYSS and HOLD YOUR BREATH. Follow fliinch.itch.io for what comes next.