Moby Housekeeper

Moby Housekeeper is a whimsical stealth game that stars a mischievous but not mean spirited imp.

Gameplay is composed of Robin-Hood-esque effort to rob the rich and save the obligatory orphanage from evicting its doe eyed tenets. Moby, the titular hero, sneaks into the houses of the neighboring wealthy and tries to nab as many valuables in the dark as possible without getting caught.

Playing as an imp invading people's homes is an fun concept and fairly well realized here. Playfully ducking behind furniture offers a sensation unique to this game among the RM community.

The mechanics of this are a bit simple. The home owner will come into the room occasionally and turn on the lights to check to see what's making all that racket. If you're not out of sight, your victim will chase you down to get their treasures back. If you don't escape through a vent duct, you have to start the level all over.

The detection system seems a bit arbitrary. Some hiding places just don't work when they don't seem visible, and some times you start a map with no idea which direction the home owner will be glancing to check for you. This means a little trial and error is required to play, but it still offers enjoyable tension.

Each level has 100 'points' worth of valuable to find. It can be a real bother recognizing what is valuable and what is not, especially if you are down to collecting your last two items and you've no idea where to find them. Thankfully the levels are small enough that this doesn't become overly frustrating.

The graphics in the game are well represented. Everything fits together well and the game makes good use of modern style tilesets and characters. The cutscenes are well directed and Moby behaves as spritely as one would hope.

The dialogue suffers considerably. Most of the game is told in broken English, with frequent mispellings and obvious grammar issues, and a LOT of the text scrolls off the edge of the text window. This is easy to pardon since the game is not particularly plot driven, but it is still distracting when a good chunk of the text you are supposed to read isn't visible. The cutscenes, while goofy and hammy, are still heart warming and nicely done.

In the end, the game is a fun and whimsical diversion with a few wrinkles. Definitely worth your time.