Heart of the House — Chase ghosts from the heart of a haunted manor!

[Kundiman]

I’ve heard a bunch of good things about Heart of the House, but I’ve been putting off playing it for a while because of other things and I’ve only gotten around to playing it now. I’m really glad I’ve finally gone through it, because this is the best text adventure I’ve played in a while. The mystery and suspense is exciting, the prose is engaging to read, the romance is heartwarming and flows naturally, the drama is heart-wrenching. I ended up rating it 10 twice.

I also loved the Bloodborne-esque themes at the end. I found it super interesting that your talents for the spiritual were sort of in the wrong context, because you weren’t dealing with ghosts, but eldritch beings. It still helped a lot, but you couldn’t banish the Formless Ones directly with your abilities they way you would with Lady Amelia and the churchyard ghosts because they were fundamentally different beings. It’s sort of like getting an ophthalmologist to deal with a broken bone. They can probably help more than the average person, but it’s not their expertise. I also wanted to ask, is the scene of Oriana holding a small tentacled eldritch baby a reference to the Childhood’s Beginning ending in Bloodborne? I hope I’m not reading too much into it and making connections where there’s none.

First time around though, I impulsively restarted because I couldn’t save Dev I effed up and thought I could save him by throwing the spirits to help him with 70 Arcanum, but the House still took him. Had to stand up and take a walk after that because my hands were shaking too much like the MC’s. A good story will do that to you, I guess.

Still, I suppose it was for the best that I restarted, because I never apparently romanced him properly, because I didn’t get the scene that lets you visit him the night before the ball. I kept getting the poly scene, but since I wasn’t romancing Loren, they just looked at me funny, heh. That’s probably one small criticism I have, because I never would have thought to send Dev and Loren back to their beds to get the option to visit people’s rooms once I end up in the Master Bedroom. I just stumbled into it since I went and got 80 Arcanum when I restarted and played through it again, and this time the MC was able to keep from collapsing after using the spirits to save Loren from Godfrey. It would be nice if it was made clearer in the poly option that sending them back to their respective rooms would trigger the official romance paths.

@resuri08 I super agree on hoping that you could have married Dev in the epilogue. Beyonce said if you like it, then you should put a ring on it, and I would if I could have I liked his romance path so much that I can’t bring myself to romance anybody else anymore.

I just have a few questions about the ending and the achievements, though. Am I correct in assuming that closing the portal without sacrificing yourself (and with Oriana’s help closing it on the other side) seals away the Formless Ones beyond the aether for good, and that the House won’t need to sacrifice people any more to keep them at bay? Would sacrificing yourself have destroyed the Formless Ones outside the aether or just those that were able to slip through? I’m also unsure of how to save all the people that you could save while also getting Kent’s memories back. I’ve helped Loren regain their memories, looked at the book, and found the amulet, but I still end up sending Kent away with Dev and the rest of the guests, and he never fully recovers even when you get back to London. Do you have to choose to save him in the ball? Same with getting the You Have a Little House achievement. I always invite Loren to stay with us in London, but I never get that achievement. Do you have to be in a romance with them?

I’ve probably gone on for way too long. I absolutely loved Heart of the House and I’ll be looking forward to Nissa Campbell’s other works.

[Katie_Adams]

O-o
I’ve replayed the story several times now, and I love it. It changes a little each time, which is wonderful.
But I need help with these last achievements I can’t seem to get!

Room for two more

Exquisite taste

Fear and loathing

An old and empty house

You have a little house

Be their hero

The lucky ones

All around this world

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Myrtle]

I think I got All around the world by lobotomising Reaves. It’s been a while since I played, but what I remember is basically when you get to the tower and Oriana says that Reaves needs to take their father’s place as lord of the house, side with her and agree to do everything she says.

[Alice]

I’m also having a hard time with Fear and Loathing, The Lucky Ones, and You Have a Little House.

What I’ve got for this list:

Exquisite Taste: When Loren offers you the different masks, check your options (like, try it on, then keep looking at your options rather than committing) repeatedly until you unlock it. I checked all of them and it wasn’t enough, so just keep checking!

Fear and Loathing: You can unlock phobias in the story through certain choices - the nightmare you have in the Violet Room the first time selects a phobia (cynophobia, acrophobia…), you can get haemophobia in Chapter 1 by saying blood makes your head spin when you’re injured, hydrophobia in Chapter 2 from panicking in the bath (I think)… these things must make checks harder to do in certain situations. Like, haemophobia affects trying to help Loren when their hand is injured, cynophobia affects whether you get injured when trying to help Biscuit in the kennels (randomised event while chasing after Kent), acrophobia I think is relevant to going over the cliff… not sure about the others. I think you need to overcome this kind of event without outside assistance (e.g. Loren’s help getting over the cliff) and actually succeed on the roll, but I’m not sure if it’s checking for Grit or some other stat. (I haven’t unlocked it yet)

An Old and Empty House: I think you get this one for destroying the House in Chapter 18. Just don’t side with Oriana and you should get a choice.

Be Their Hero: I think I got this one doing Sophia’s route, but I’m not 100% sure, because at one point you can explicitly discuss starving out the curse, but I’d already figured it out… Uh… I’m pretty sure I just got it from not letting the House feast on ghosts. It might have been from laying spiritual protections and stuff.

All Around the World: As mentioned, you need to lobotomise Sophia or Bastian and basically follow Oriana’s plan fully. If it doesn’t work, there might be more bad ending stuff to it, but I think that’s just it.

I’m also trying to find the poly ending - I’ve read this topic, but I’m still struggling to get it to come about, and would appreciate any more tips if people have them! I can get romantically attached to them both, but suggesting we sleep together the night before the ball doesn’t go well. I don’t know how to get them to bond, as someone in this thread suggested.

I really enjoyed this story - I’m just chasing down scenes I haven’t seen now, but I love how much effort was putting into fleshing out each chapter and how versatile each romance route is! (Also, I love all of Oriana, Dev, Loren, and Sophia? They’re all so well-characterised, and I really felt such tension and confusion playing through the game, because all of their sides were so compelling!) There’s so much you can do in Wyeford alone.

Any advice is much appreciated!

[Zwittericonic]

iirc you have to get hurt after freeing the prisoners.

[Alice]

Ahhhh, thank you so much! Looking forward to finally reading this ending <3

[Lesteer]

Question: does Dev always leave MC after we escape the House (i.e. removes himself to safety)? Is there an option where he stays? I’m asking because 1) I got the achievement “convince him to remove himself” without having to do anything, it acted like part of the story; 2) it felt kinda weird! I wanted to never separate ever again after we managed to reunite in (and out of) the House.
Thanks!
PS. Did I say I love Dev? Because I do.

[Lesteer]

I died at the end of my first playthrough! At the very end! It was so disappointing because I managed to save Dev in my first run and I was so relieved and just looking forward to the scenes where we reunite with Dev free again, and then I f—ing died! So I replayed and Dev died! So I replayed and Dev survived but I died again! It took more then ten replays to finally get both me and Dev out alive. This has been the very most frustrating CoG ever

Does anyone have some cheat sheet on some basic do / do not in surviving? For example - I learned that trying to close the portal alone is always a game end. I also had one weird end scene where Bastian takes me to the cavern to close the portal and then betrays me and says he will leave me there. That was a bit unexpected turn of events since I’m not sure I was hostile to him to deserve it, and also not really explained. Overall the death scenes were always so frustrating, unexpected and thoroughly unsolicited

Another question: if you romance Dev and you both survive, is there only one version of the epilogue, or are there more options? (Mine was we help care for survivors, return to London and continue living above my office and working together).

......................

I also thought someone might appreciate a detail I noticed on how to save Dev.

This is it:

If you try to save him using your spirit power, no matter how high your Will and Arcana is you will need Mr. Weber’s help. That means you must fail to rescue Mr. Weber before the ball - either don’t release all the prisoners, just the boy, or release them but be too weak to attack Godfrey profoundly, so that only some of them manage to escape. When you wake up Loren and Dev will tell you if Mr. Weber escaped or not. If he did, you will not be able to save Dev with your spirit power.

Hope it might help someone who is struggling with this part!

[fanatical]

Hi does anyone know how to get the ‘Walk Out the Door’ achievement? I got it twice before and I’ve been trying to get it again but I always fail. I must’ve replayed it at the very least a dozen times now, honestly would be great if CoG has a save feature or checkpoints at least

[Obsidian]

Has anyone done the room for two more achievement? What is it? Is it Dev and Bastian?

[Jender]

It’s Dev and the NB character who works at the mansion (sorry I forgot their name)

[Abe]

It’s Loren and i remember being able to but i don’t really remember the requirements to get the achievement other than making the two of them sleep in the same bed/room as you.

[Jender]

Yeah there is a bedroom scene w Dev and Loren, a sexy closet scene (during the ball)with them and you can have an ending in a poly with both of them if you live… (that’s prob where you get the achievement)

[Obsidian]

Oks oks, huhu. I like Loren but as a friend. Maybe I’ll try when I’m doing Devs and Bastian’s playthrough.

[Jender]

I don’t think Bastion is willing to share you…if you want the poly achievement, I believe it is only with Dev and Loren. Good luck!

[Myrtle]

It doesn’t seem like his style, does it? I remember that when you first realize you are trapped in the mansion you get the option to say something along the lines of “at least let me bring Dev, he might be able to help” and at that point, if you’ve flirted with Reaves, he flies into a jealous rage (apparently at the thought that you might know other men besides him ).

P. S: I don’t know why but “I like Loren but as a friend” sounded hilarious to me. Poor Loren! (Must have been the tone of voice I read it with).

[Obsidian]

They gave me best friend vibes haha, sorry!

[Raven_Jewel]

How to get the acheievments The old ways and pleased to meet you? Tried it so many times but couldnt unlock it… Also, how to partner with the house? I always end up taking the power but other than that there is no change…

[michellexylee]

Am I misunderstanding the stats in the game? For example, in one part, the code shows that if charm >=30, you’ll be able to phrase your suggestion smoothly.

#Can he sleep beside me? Chastely, of course.

*if (charm >= 30)
It’s an unusual suggestion to make, but it’s easy enough to find the right argument. “We’ll both need to be at our best tomorrow, and my bed is big enough for two. Aside from that”—you look away, not quite able to meet his eye—“I’m not sure I could sleep on my own, tonight.”
*goto share

*else
You stumble a bit over how to word the suggestion, which is rather unorthodox. “My bed is big enough for both of us. And I…” You trail off, biting back a curse. It’s much more difficult than you’d like to ask him this. “I don’t think I can sleep on my own after all that.”
*goto share

I have like Charm 50, but when I select that option it always give the “stumble over my words” part.

There are few times in text where they don’t seem to accurately reflect my stats. Don’t really understand why this is the case.

[Wizetective4]

Guys, do I need to break the curse to have a happy ending with a romance option? Or I can even embrace the evil for that?