by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer

What I don’t like about the new personal estate from nDreams will very likely be just what other people, especially the guys, absolutely love.

Excuse my sexism, but I have found that the male of the human species seems to be more accepting of blood and gore in most cases. Sometimes they even find that it’s funny. However, I don’t think anyone will find Savage Manor to be funny, and you may even be a little spooked there. In many ways, this new space is a perfect Halloween offering. Warning: this article is full of spoilers.

When you first arrive, you will find yourself outside of the manor, and you are greeted with a message that reads as follows: “Welcome, my friend, I have been expecting you. I hope you enjoy your stay at Savage Manor, but I must warn you, this is a tormented dwelling. Search the manor for riddles to unlock its history and learn its secrets. A new riddle will appear every day, so keep a look out for these fragments of knowledge.”

While standing here behind locked gates and surrounded by dark, brooding trees on the far side of high walls, you will notice the gentle sounds of crickets — and occasional gunshots. It’s at this point that you may want to brighten your gamma a bit and adjust your volume.

You will need to walk up the dark, graveled path, which is barely lit by four tall lanterns, toward the eerie estate which welcomes you with an open door. To your right you will see three old, wooden crosses, which seem very out of place here. As you cross the wooden porch you will note a child’s wooden sword on the balustrade and moss on the stone steps ahead of you, resembling trails of green goo. You may see a flash of lightning as well, as though in warning.

Through the doors, and you find yourself in a grand entryway, with deep but brilliant red carpeting and walls, where portraits hang — including one of a shifty-eyed Miss Tamsin of Hampshire, as a nice bit of in-humor. High above you is a large globe in a coffered ceiling, which offers very little light to the space.

There are several rugs here of gold, trimmed in red and the stair runners are red, trimmed in gold. Also, there is a grand curved double set of stairs here leading up to the second floor. You may note several overturned items and books under these stairs. You also may catch sight of a dark figure running along the upstairs hallway. From here you have the choice of going up those stairs or to the left or right.

If you chose to go left, you will find yourself in a hallway that turns twice, once to the right and then to the left. Then you will reach the nearly vacant dining room. Above you is a huge crystal chandelier, and in front of you, you will see a cloth-covered table and three animal heads that are perhaps deer or elk, mounted on a marble-covered portion of the  wall. This room has black brocade wallpaper on three walls above a chair rail and panel in gold. Strangely, there is a fire burning in the fireplace of this abandoned room.

There are two items of note here. One is a door that has been forced open, even though it was walled over years ago. The other you will find on the right side of the room, near the ceiling. From some points of view, it rather reminds me of chocolate pudding that has been left to boil too long. It surely is a hole to another dimension or alternate reality. When the owner interacts with it, there is a throbbing red glow all about and the hole starts emitting lurid green smoke and you can hear other-worldly growling noises. This all lasts about thirty really long seconds the first time you see and hear it.

Returning to the entryway, you will see a childlike drawing of four human stick figures on the back of the door. One has a red skull over it and is carrying a sword, while poor Henry’s name is noted over his head, but crossed out.

From here you can go up the stairs to the second floor. In this hallway there are two locked doors at either end and an open door in front of you. When you enter through this door, you will see that you are in a library where something has gone terribly wrong in the space/time continuum. There are endless shelves of books here to the right and left, and especially ahead of you. There are two ruined spiral staircases leading up, but there appears to be no ceiling here. On a table ahead of you, at the intersection of two red runners over the polished wood floor, you will discover the Savage Manor Journal, where the story of this estate will be continued as each riddle is solved. This room is silent and motionless, until you sit in the chair at the desk. I will leave it to you to discover what happens if you do so.

Return to the entryway once more and go down the right-hand hallway that leads straight into the kitchen. You will hear very odd unearthly whispers here. This is the room that leads to my distaste of this estate, because here you will discover signs of cannibalism.

There is a swinging light somewhere above that illuminates some of the details of this room, such as a sink full of blood and chains, hooks, and cages that hang from the ceiling. One ghastly hanging item appears to be a “suit” made up of human skin. On the surfaces and shelves you will find body parts, such as rib cages and legs with feet still attached, mixed in with the pots and pans. There is a partially open chest-style freezer here that gives me a creepy feeling that I know where the bodies were stored. The stove has a pot covered with an occasionally rattling lid, which can be startling, also. There is another door in this room, with light coming from it that is so bright you cannot see in and you cannot enter, either.

So, there you have it. This estate may suit your taste (pardon my awful pun) or not, but be sure to visit before buying if possible. Estate tours are being offered by various people through the Sony Home forum. Check at this link for the tour thread.

By the way, did I mention the screams?

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