The Difference Between Secrets And Pictures

This game has split up the collectables into two categories: Secrets and Pictures.

Secrets are items you'll pick up and examine as you walk around in exploration segments. You'll often have to turn them in your hands to find whatever the "secret" about the object is. Once you've found it, it'll be added to your Secrets menu for you to review anytime, with a brief explanation of its meaning. There are 50 Secrets in total.

Pictures are always clay tablets from ancient Akkad. They depict figures doing activities, like sacrificing a goat, as subtle references to potential outcomes of your decisions. One you pick up a Picture, you'll get what's called a "premonition" - a short clip of a possible future. You often will have little to no idea what could cause that future; it's meant to make you second-guess your decisions going forward. There are 10 Pictures in total.

 

It May Be Better Enjoyed With A Controller

Even if you're playing House of Ashes on your PC, you may want to consider setting up a remote controller to use instead of your mouse and keyboard. There are times where the mouse and keyboard can feel stilted as you play, and you're having to move awkwardly through the exploration zones by drastically pushing your mouse around.

 

Don't Let The Curator Spook You Too Much

The Curator is a third-wall-breaking character who first appears after the prologue during The Raid. He speaks to you intermittently throughout the story, occasionally giving cryptic tips on what you should do next or how you're progressing so far.

Our very own Eric Switzer noted that, while the Curator is a spooky character, he's not necessarily in the right when he judges your decisions. If you don't manage to save every single main character, you might earn judgement from him - but is saving everyone actually the best way to play the game? Don't let him make you feel too guilty until you've seen the ending and have decided for yourself whether the outcome was worth it.

 

Choosing Not To Complete Quick Time Events Is Sometimes Its Own Kind Of Choice

The parts of the game that aren't controlled by your decisions are largely filled with quick-time events. Keep in mind as you complete those events that choosing not to do it is a kind of choice, too. It can be hard to decide in the moment, though - for you just as much for the five protagonists who you'll control during the course of the story. Don't feel bad if you make a bad call because it was probably inevitable once or twice.

 

You Can't Turn Around

In the game, make sure that you have fully explored a room before you complete your next objective. In most cases, once you continue on, you'll be pushed through the story and won't get a chance to return to the room, so any undiscovered secrets or pictures will be inaccessible.

re paths and you won't know which one will progress the story and which is for exploration. Or, you may be timed without knowing it and will be booted into a cutscene after a certain amount of time. In these cases, there may be nothing you can do about it, but take your time and don't push ahead blindly before you've had a chance to look for secrets. Thankfully, the slow walking pace of the exploration parts will aid you in this endeavour.

 

Accessibility Settings

If you're not the kind of person who goes through the settings before booting up the story, you may not realize that there are accessibility settings you can activate to make it a smoother experience. Accessibility settings aren't just for players with a disability (though it's a godsend for those that do); they're just a great way to make the game more suited to your playstyle. We at TheGamer actually had a chance to speak with Supermassive about accessibility in the horror genre.

As a horror game, it's no surprise that there are lots of button prompts in House of Ashes. Several of the accessibility settings relate to the difficulty or activation of these button prompts/quick-time events. For example, the normal quick-time events might ask you to hit different buttons at different times. One accessibility setting makes them all the same button.

 

Set The Brightness Higher Than It Suggests

Your screen brightness is a very personal setting. It depends on your own personal preference and even the lighting in the room while you're playing. However, in general, we recommend setting it higher than the game suggests you do.

House of Ashes is a horror game, so it's dark no matter what you do. We don't recommend a higher brightness setting to eliminate the horror factor - in fact, it increases it, because you can actually see the scary stuff. The first scenes of the game are all in especially dark places so you won't be able to see what's going on if your brightness isn't set appropriately.