05/14/2026
"Say hello to my masterpiece!" 🧟🔫
The House of the Dead is a 1997 light gun shooter video game developed by Sega AM1 and published by Sega for arcades. Targeting an adult audience, AM1 devised a story and atmosphere inspired by Western horror films. The game was developed for over a year on the Sega Model 2 arcade hardware. AM1's plans for detailed environments, non-linear level designs, and a gory aesthetic were challenged – and often limited – by the Model 2 hardware and other factors. After its initial release in arcades, the game was ported to the Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows, and Japanese mobile phones.
The House of the Dead has players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and "G" as they combat an army of undead experiments created by Dr. Curien, a mad scientist. The duo travel to Dr. Curien's estate to find Rogan's fiancee, Sophie, being carried off by a bat-like creature called "Hangedman." Utilizing the journal containing information about Curien's creations and their weaknesses from a mortally wounded scientist, the pair must rescue Sophie and defeat Dr. Curien's malicious monsters, destroying his evil work once and for all.
There are three different endings; which one players see is determined by their score rank. In what the developers called the "normal ending", achived by scoring under 62,000 points, and having a final score that is divisible by 10, Sophie is reanimated and becomes a zombie. What the developers have referred to as the "true ending" is only seen if the players get the highest rank, over 62,000 points, and have a final score divisible by 10: Sophie is alive, having survived her injuries. In the third ending, obtained by having a score that isn't divisible by 10, a far view of the mansion is shown and Sophie is absent (leaving it unknown if she survived or not).
In Japan, Game Machine listed The House of the Dead as the second most successful dedicated arcade game of April 1997. It went on to be the country's highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1998. The arcade game was also a major hit overseas; by 1998, it had sold 8,600 arcade cabinets worldwide, including 1,600 in Japan and 7,000 overseas. It is often credited as one of several games to restore popularity to the zombie genre that dominated the 2000s (alongside Resident Evil).
What's your highest score in House of the Dead? Have you ever seen the true ending? Let us know in the comments!
(sources:https://retrocdn.net/images/3/35/Sega_Arcade_History_JP_EnterBrain_Book-1.pdf =144, https://archive.org/details/Computer_and_Video_Games_Issue_188_1997-07_EMAP_Images_GB/page/n83/mode/2up)
