| The House of the Dead | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the first game in the series. Each game starting from the third entry features a different logo and style. | |
| Genre(s) | Light gun shooter Horror game |
| Developer(s) | Sega Wow Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Saturn, Microsoft Windows, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 3, Mobile phone, Steam, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S |
| First release | The House of the Dead March 1997 |
| Latest release | The House of the Dead: Remake April 7, 2022 |
The House of the Dead, also referred to as Curien Mansion,[1] is a horror-themed light gun shooter video game franchise created by Sega in 1997. Originally released in arcades, it utilizes a light gun on the platform, but can be played with standard controllers on consoles and a mouse or keyboard on home computers. For the PlayStation Network releases of III and 4, they can also be played using the PlayStation Move controller.
There are six House of the Dead games originating in a first-person light gun rail shooter format. The main series all have common traits including special agents pairing up to take on hordes of biologically engineered undead (referred to as 'creatures' in the wider series and as 'mutants' in Overkill). The games are divided into chapters, each of which culminates in a boss battle against usually massive, terrifying creatures. The bosses in the first four games as well as the sixth are all named after the Major Arcana of occult tarot.
Gameplay elements differ among the different games in the series, with each having different characters, firearms, and types of enemies. In many of the games, there are branching paths (determined by one's actions) and unlockable bonuses, along with different endings based on one's performances.
Several spin-offs to the mainstream storyline have also been produced, including a virtual pinball game, an English tutorial and a typing tutorial — as well as a film trilogy. In addition, select enemy characters appearing in the first two games were adapted into fully articulated action figures by Palisades Toys, which canceled the second toy line before street release due to limited returns from the first series.
The House of the Dead has been, along with Resident Evil, credited with popularizing zombie video games as well as re-popularizing the zombie in mainstream popular culture from the late 1990s onwards, leading to renewed interest in zombie films during the 2000s.