The Crush House

The Crush House exceeded all my expectations, creating an experience that was enjoyable, engaging and incredibly reflective.

A fun and frenetic reality TV sim, The Crush House delivers thoughtful commentary on virtual voyeurism.

While the more randomized elements of The Crush House can make it frustrating at times, this "thirst-person shooter" still delivers quite the unique and fun experience. After all, how many games can claim that they provide a challenge in seeing if players can find a way to capture three butts on camera at once while also getting a glimpse of the Success Slide in order to please both the Conspiracy Theorists and Mega Fans? Throw in a good spoof of reality shows with a memorable cast and some bright '90s Malibu visuals, and you have something worth toasting over with a nice glass of Crush Juice....

The Crush House is a clever and entertaining spin on reality television - one that has its tongue firmly in cheek, but which also speaks to deeper themes in the metanarrative I'm working hard not to spoil here. It's repetitive and a little unfair at times, but also compelling and enjoyable - and there's a real thrill to getting good footage.

The different mechanics, like filming the cast in the day and talking to them, and buying props in the night, gave us some Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator vibes. The Crush House requires you to learn what the audience wants and apply some strategic filming techniques to capture multiple audience interests at the same time. Juggling filming with opportunities to run ads to earn money added a strategic element to the game, which kept things fresh.

“The Crush House turns reality TV into the funniest puzzle game you'll ever play.”

Film and produce 1999's hottest reality TV show: The Crush House! Select a crush-worthy cast, satisfy voracious audiences and keep the show on air to uncover the sinister secrets behind this darkly comic thirst-person shooter. Though the game's gameplay loop is satisfying and the dark narrative twist kept it from becoming too repetitive, the story never managed to grip me. Nonetheless, the simple nature of the game meant that it was addicting and hard to put down, much like how you might find yourself binging episode after episode of bad reality TV. PC reviewed. Review copy provided by company...

The Crush House is a FPS where you shoot with your camera instead of a gun. It really encapsulates the reality TV format, but like reality TV, it did run the risk of getting repetitive after too many seasons.

You can always count on Devolver, and its trustworthy partner studios, to release a game with a very interesting gameplay loop or premise, stuff you’ve never thought one would ever bother to come up with. Coming from the same people behind the Reigns games, as well as the oddly amusing Card Shark, The Crush House is the brand new addition to Devolver’s catalogue of “I have no idea what to expect from this but I’m still curious” type of games. Have you ever wanted to play a first-per...

The vapidity, personalities, and other pure junk to come out of reality dating shows like The Bachelorette or Love Island are long-standing in the entertainment industry. So much so that it feels like its own trashy art form, with rabid fans desperate to find peers to talk to engage in office water cooler talk about a standout in the most recent episode. That phenomenon hasn’t quite been fully tapped into games yet. That is, until The Crush House. Manning a camera and following four hot ...

The Crush House is a game that clearly manifested from a fantastic core idea, but falls short of realising its vast potential due to curious performance issues and a gameplay loop that just barely misses its opportunity to fully bloom.

I’m several hours (and seasons) into The Crush House at this point, and I find that it’s become more compelling to play over time; The layers of it all, be it the viewership demands or the creepy (and literal) underworld storyline, come together in a way that makes the game’s repetitive elements feel more interesting. It’s in those repetitive moments — you do the same things every day — that The Crush House feels like the concept is doing more work than the game itself. The level of intrigue — whether that’s simply wanting to see all the weird viewership groups and what pleases them or a morbi...