Noir and mazes go together like bread and butter. There’s just something creepy about a maze, but add the noir theme and you have what is the perfect setup for a good horror game. Dollhouse developed by Creazn Studios and published by SOEDESCO has long been in development and has always scream maze-like survival horror. We have gotten our hands-on Dollhouse and after several hours, we will say there’s some strengths to Dollhouse and some failings as well. Scroll down below to find out more on our thoughts on Dollhouse in the full review crafted by us here at

Dollhouse is a randomly generated maze survival horror title where you must outrun a killer while trying to piece together what’s happening around you. Trapped in a strange place, you will have to navigate constantly shifting mazes filled with traps, enemies and a killer desperately trying to end your life. Piece together memories to open up paths leading out of this hellish place and use your skills to survive each new location. Play through the campaign with one of several difficulties to make for a harder experience or play through voyeur mode to enjoy the puzzles and story without the threat of lingering death. Dollhouse will make you run for your life as there is no safe place around you…not a single one.

Where am I? What happened? Why am I here? These are the questions running through a young woman’s mind when she awakens in an unfamiliar location. Apparently, the woman is a detective who has been on the hunt for a killer, but her trail led her down the wrong path and things have spiraled out of control. With no memory of what transpired, the woman must believe in another called Rose who will try to get her out of this place…alive. With her investigative skills and Rose’s help, maybe just maybe she can find the killer before the killer finds her.

Dollhouse was a horror game long awaited by many gamers out there. Announced back in 2015, Dollhouse’s concept of noir themes with mystery and horror excited many and for good reason. Finally, in May of 2019, Dollhouse released and we got our hands on this ambitious title. Is Dollhouse worth playing though, especially when Layers of Fear 2 just dropped recently? Let our review of Dollhouse for the PS4 guide your buying decision!

On paper, Dollhouse seems like a simple title. Players assume the role of an amnesiac who is trapped in an unknown location guided by a woman who claims to want to help her escape. Dealing with amnesia is bad, but making matters worse is that our memory-loss woman is also being hunted by a killer who seems to want her eradicated before the mystery of what’s going on is solved. With a noir theme and an intriguing set up, Dollhouse seems like the hit horror game that everyone should play. Unfortunately, Dollhouse falters and while it has some strong elements, there are numerous problems that need to be addressed.

Before we dive into the negatives though, let’s discuss what we liked about Dollhouse. At its core, Dollhouse is akin to a game recently released called Dark Deception. Players will run through mazes picking up clues from the environment and trying to survive traps as well as the killer who lurks ever so close. Luckily, this daunting task is made possible with a few skills you have. Similar to BioShock—which Dollhouse clearly was inspired from in more ways than one—players are given perks to choose from each chapter. These perks range from escape powers like the ability to spring for 8 seconds without stamina penalty and/or powers that let you see doors/items making exploration a bit simpler. Exploration is where Dollhouse succeeds—most of the time—and here’s why.

While running through the various mazes—that change each chapter—you’ll need to find memories to help unlock doors and to solve the mystery of what’s going on around you. Dollhouse will keep you on your toes though as moving about the maze isn’t easy. There are numerous traps to deal with and with the killer—who can end your life quickly—right behind you at almost all times, exploring is tough but rewarding. Taken from the game Siren—another well-known horror title—players can see through the eyes of the killer while moving about the maze allowing them to know their precise location. It can be truly creepy seeing the killer’s eyes and then seeing it turn around a corner and be right behind you. For those who want to just enjoy the story and not deal with killers and traps all around you, there is a voyeur mode that allows for exploration only and removes death. It’s a nice addition if you’re more into puzzle/maze solving versus survival horror.

Visually and sound wise, Dollhouse also works quite well. While Dollhouse might not be game of the year in visuals, the creepy black and white themed atmosphere can be truly off-putting—in a good way—at times. Sound and ambiance also help Dollhouse with truly creepy noises that will make stereo players—or headphone users—jump when they hear footsteps grow louder behind them or hear a creaking of floorboards in the distance. Dollhouse can be creepy, but its fear factor dies…quickly.

Now, while Dollhouse seems perfect—given the praise we’ve said so far—the problem with it lies in its flawed identity and how that affects its overall gameplay. Off the top of our heads here at Honey’s Anime, we can name several games Dollhouse takes themes from and we can also say those games did it better. While it might have a LA Noire visual theme and BioShock concepts—the audio recordings are directly from BioShock—Dollhouse fails to deliver a story that truly captures the themes it goes for. Equally, all the other game elements within aren’t utilized to the best of their abilities. Running through mazes might be creepy at first—especially when you’re looking through the killer’s eyes—but it gets old extremely fast. Picking up memories, solving puzzles and going over notes just feels tedious after a while and if you die—which you will die—you’ll have to retrace your steps to re pick up your items/memories or lose them all and restart over and over again. Dollhouse should have taken the core ideas from other games and worked with a bit more but in the end, it feels like a crisis of too many ideas in one game and falters because of it.

Lastly, we’d love to discuss the multiplayer element to Dollhouse—as it has some truly interesting ideas—but we honestly can’t. We have tried several dozen times to find games and always failed to find one. From what we know, Dollhouse’s multiplayer has players choosing from one of fourteen characters and must use their detective skills to hunt down the killer while the killer aims to bring them down. The idea sounds amazing, but we can’t comment on if it works or not. We won’t hold this against Dollhouse though folks. It would be wrong to judge Dollhouse harshly just because we couldn’t play multiplayer.

Dollhouse had a lot of potential to be something incredible but falls short in the end. With gameplay that rarely creates true fear, constantly repetitive gameplay themes and a rather ho-hum story. Multiplayer—while interesting in context—we can’t actually review seeing as how its still been impossible for us to find players. That being said, Dollhouse isn’t without its merits. We still enjoyed the BioShock aesthetic and liked the constantly changing map layouts that kept us constantly vying for the exit but always fearful we’d meet our end by the killer’s hands. Dollhouse could have been a great horror game and we applaud Creazn Studio’s hard work that has lasted for several years. Yet, Dollhouse is a hard title to recommend if you don’t enjoy maze-like horror titles and are looking for a title that has its own personality not one taken from a dozen other games that end up not being used in the best way possible.

There’s a target audience for games like Dollhouse. If you loved Dark Deception—which we loved too—and enjoy mystery horror titles then Dollhouse will appeal to you. Despite its many faults, Dollhouse isn’t a bad game and we enjoyed our time with it despite our wish that we got to play multiplayer at least once. Dollhouse might not be the most exciting survival horror/puzzle game but it can be enjoyed and we give it a solid recommendation for those who want a simpler title as well as those who love that noir theme it does so well. Are you going to buy Dollhouse or skip it for other horror games like maybe Layers of Fear 2? Comment below to let us know! Remember to also keep stuck to our hive for even more video game reviews done by us here at Honey’s Anime!