Elbow Elbow Games
  • Isometric
  • Haunted House
  • Dark Comedy
  • Management Sim

HAUNT
WORKS

Fear is fun. Death is paperwork.

Studio Elbow Elbow Games
Engine Isometric · 2.5D
Status In Production
Anticipated Halloween 2026
A Word from the Bureau · Internal Use Only
Filed In Triplicate
Bureau · LIM Memo · 2026
Reissued Annually

Memorandum · Curator Conduct

Bureau of Liminality
Office of Hauntings, Containment & Acceptable Loss
FORM B-13
REV. ⅩⅩⅣ
To: All Active Curators Date: 29 Octember, MMXXVI From: Bureau Compliance Desk 4-B Re: Permissible Body Count Cc: The Audit Pool File: 2026 / H-0042 / CC

Curator, you are to be reminded that Nausoleums exist to entertain guests, not to manufacture the deceased. The distinction is subtle. It is also load-bearing.

The Bureau permits up to two (2) guest fatalities per lunar cycle as an acceptable cost of the haunting profession. Should the Bureau have reasonable suspicion of a corpse on the premises, an investigator will be dispatched for an audit. Repeat offenses will result in accelerated consequences.

Your Patrons are not to be neglected. Their appetites are a matter of public record and private nuisance. Feed them. Build out the manor. Locate the gate. Do not, under any circumstance, attempt to leave through the door marked FALSE.

Jefferson, Liaison
District of Ash · Obsidian Monarch
Page 1 of 1
§ I · The Premise · Host the Dead

A dark-comedy management sim

about hosting the dead
and processing the living.

You wake up dead. The Bureau of Liminality has assigned you a haunted house and five demanding Patrons whose appetites you must satisfy.

Scare your guests for screams, laughs, vomit, and mind shards. Process the resources, build out the manor, recruit monsters who'll help (but might kill the guests), and assemble the gate in the backyard before the Bureau notices the bodies piling up.

  • 01 · Scare the guests (do not kill)
  • 02 · Harvest the resources (see § II)
  • 03 · Feed the patrons (see § III)
  • 04 · Hide the corpses (quickly)
  • 05 · Assemble the gate (in the backyard)
§ II · Emotional Currency · Harvested from Guests

Four resources.
All of them harvested from guests.

Every reaction has a market value. The Bureau accepts no barter — only the four official emotional commodities listed below. Substitutions will be flagged for review.

  • R-001 ▸ Active
    S

    Screams

    Patron · Enchiridion

    The terror harvest. Slurped down whenever a guest rounds the wrong corner.

    Difficulty · 1/6 Tier 1
  • R-002 ▸ Active
    V

    Vomit

    Patron · Chester

    Canned regret. Decanted, sealed, and shelved alphabetically by guest.

    Difficulty · 4/6 Tier 4
  • R-003 ▸ Active
    L

    Laughs

    Patron · Wynn

    Coax a giggle from the right guest and the manor lights warm a half-shade.

    Difficulty · 3/6 Tier 3
  • R-004 ▸ Active
    M

    Mind Shards

    Patron · This Ol' Wood

    Splinters of sanity. Catalogued, jarred, and fed to a very particular tree out back.

    Difficulty · 3/6 Tier 3
§ III · Patrons of Record · Mouths to Feed

Meet the Patrons

Five demanding mouths. Each one wants something different.

Feed them and they'll hand over a piece of the gate that leads out of limbo. Neglect them and their appetite turns on you. The Bureau does not mediate Patron disputes.

  • P-001 RISK · ?
    E ARTIFACT · LOOSE-LIPPED

    The Enchiridion

    Appetite Screams

    A book that wants to know what happened. Knows the false door is false. Gossips, but only ever about you.

  • P-002 RISK · I
    C CANINE · COMPLIANT

    Chester

    Appetite Vomit

    A dog. A good dog. Eats what the guests leave behind. Very polite about it.

  • P-003 RISK · I
    W CANINE · DELIGHTED

    Wynn

    Appetite Laughs

    Smiles like she's in on the joke — because she is. Demands one (1) belly laugh per shift.

  • P-004 RISK · II
    T FLORA · MUNICIPAL

    This Ol' Wood

    Appetite Mind Shards

    A tree in the backyard. Refuses common sap. Insists on the particulate dust of a broken mind.

  • P-005 RISK · III
    A ARCANE · CARNIVORE

    Amun-maw

    Appetite Ash & Meat

    Lives behind a sliding bookcase in the Shadow Lounge. Takes its meals scorched, then raw. In that order.

FEAR IS FUN.

A management sim about hosting the dead. Wishlist now — the Bureau is watching.