The Doll Shop is a beautiful hand painted point and click psychological horror adventure with romance elements, which tells the tale of a china doll shop owner who reunites with an old friend.
In The Doll Shop you are a rather dour doll shop owner who sells and repairs china dolls for a living. The remote snow-laden village that you live in isn’t exactly packed with customers, particularly after the disappearance of a young girl a while ago, but you get by.
The small village that you live in is the sort of place where everyone knows each other and all the locals you meet are all very friendly, but you’re quite standoffish and withdrawn – indeed you don’t even actually ‘see’ them, instead you just see their shadowy outlines. But then one day a childhood friend returns to the village, a girl whose grandmother you’re doing a doll repair for. You obviously like her, you can actually ‘see’ her, and depending on your dialogue choices maybe she’ll like you too…
Thanks to all the clues that you encounter, you can tell where the narrative of The Doll Shop is going quite early on, but that doesn’t make the reveals any less disturbing. There are three very different possible endings (plus a bonus one) which you can achieve by choosing different dialogue options, and while none of them could really be considered ‘happy’, there’s definitely one that’s a whole lot darker than the rest.
The Doll House’s blend of romance and psychological horror is riveting and very unsettling. It’s a great piece of storytelling backed up with some fantastic hand drawn artwork, and it’s not often that a horror game makes you feel scared for someone else’s life rather than your own. Highly recommended, but be warned – there are dark things afoot in this picturesque snowy village.
Controls: Mouse – Point & Click
Available On: Windows, Mac & Linux
Gameplay Video: Here (All 4 Endings)