IThe Crush House developers Nerial describe the game as a “first-person shooter,” and the tagline is surprisingly accurate. A sprawling vaporwave and neon mansion sits on the Malibu coast, and you—Jae, the producer—sleep in the gloomy basement below. Your job is to lurk around the house behind a camera, filming the glamorous and sexy contestants of a reality show. You choose the cast each season, from a panel of 12, and follow them around the lurid property, hoping they’ll fight, or kiss, or both, so your ratings will go up and your viewers will be satisfied. You can move around freely, but you’re warned never to talk to the cast. The game certainly has, as the tagline suggests, the feel of a first-person shooter, but you wield a camera instead of a gun. Think Pokémon Snap, but sexy.
Every night, a different group of viewers tunes in, and all of them have very specific needs: some want drama, some want to see the art hanging in the living room, some want to see how food is prepared. And yes, some want to see feet — lots of feet — or other body parts, magnified and in great detail. And it’s your job to please them all or risk getting the show canceled.
This makes for a delightfully surprising film simulation experience. Audience demands scroll down the side of the screen, telling you to find where the actors sleep, or asking where they shower, or asking if anyone is ever going to kiss. They’re weirdos, but you have to do what they say, or you’ll be fired. The script is witty and funny, and sometimes a little shocking – it’s easily one of the most fun games I’ve played all year. Dialogue between cast members is algorithmically executed – each of the 12 brings something slightly different to the table and has a different likelihood of getting along or clashing with the other housemates, meaning every combination is a surprise. If an ensemble doesn’t work, there’s always next season to try a different combination. The housemates don’t care – they come back fresh, almost as if their memories have been wiped, or worse.
At night, once the housemates retire to bed, the player re-enters the house to add accessories to make it more interesting. These accessories, some of which serve the housemates’ specific interests, cost money, which is earned by airing surreal advertisements throughout the day. Balancing the ads with the audiences who might enjoy them is another task: more engaged audiences will bring in more money, of course, which could allow you to buy, say, a sauna. A headlamp. A saxophone. All of which makes the house more interesting.
However, after dark, while you’re setting up the props, you might also bump into an escaped housemate who wants you to do them a favor. More airtime, specific angles, catching them making out with two different people to spite their mother, personal requests. It’s up to you whether you want to fulfill them, and if you follow this path you’ll discover the story behind the good times by the pool and the deep talks by the fire. Of course, there’s more than meets the eye, and what a joy to discover the darkness that lingers behind the neon lights.
If The Crush House had simply been a clever and fun photography and cinematography game, I would have been satisfied and pleased, but it offers the player much more than that. Beneath the snappy text and fun design, it also has a strange heart. It’s worth noting that the test build still had moments of glitches, however, the strength of the idea and execution far outweigh any of the technical struggles. This in itself is remarkable – The Crush House is so much fun that even the slightly broken parts didn’t make me want to turn it off. It’s a fantastic way to spend the last cold nights of summer – and the seasons ahead, too.
