Review: The Cabin Factory wants you to check the cabins to see if they’re haunted, but where is the factory to check my pants after?

The Cabin Factory is a horror-based “spot the difference” type game in the same vein as Exit 8. You are a cabin inspector and it’s your job to find out if the cabin is haunted by walking through the cabin and seeing if there is any movement. If there is, you hit the danger button and if everything looks fine, then you can give it the all-clear.

Usually, when you see horror games on this site, there’s some element that makes it cozy-ish. Whether that’s a low scare factor or just knowing that nothing is going to chase you, that’s not the case with The Cabin Factory.

Welcome to the first game with a zero cozy score. As always, coziness does not impact the score and in this case, it is simply a reflection of my heart falling out of my butt multiple times.

The Cabin Factory: The Factory with Only One Cabin

The Cabin Factory is scary. Full-stop. As someone who has played games like Exit 8, you get comfortable in the knowledge that you’re likely not going to get jumpscared. You just stroll through the setting looking for what’s out of place. The Cabin Factory upped the stakes by throwing that assumption out the window.

Like most games of this type, you are inspecting the same cabin over and over again. But, unlike most games, things can move from the normal set dressing and still not be “haunted”. You’re not looking for what has moved so much as what is moving.

For instance, there is a portrait hanging in the main room of a lady and, in some cabins, that face is twisted. You’d think that makes it haunted, but it doesn’t. This particular cabin may have a different version of her portrait, but when you investigate the rest of the cabin, nothing is actively moving.

Likewise, you’ll notice that the cabin is not empty. You have two standard characters that are nearly always in the cabin; a father and a son. However, depending on the version of the cabin you get, you may see a daughter or mother. Their sudden arrival doesn’t automatically make the cabin haunted.

Repetition and learning the very specific rules are going to be key to winning this game. However, the deck isn’t stacked in a way that’s exactly fair. I’ve seen all of the cabins at this point and there are still some that I swore were fine that I got wrong for clearing.

Changes can be as subtle as one thing moving or a toy slowly growing in size. And, yes, some of the cabins will result in someone chasing you. If you’re captured, your progress will reset. These situations are especially frustrating because unless you’re lucky or keen-eyed, you’re likely going to miss the solution the first time you experience a chase scene. 

That’s fine, I’m sure my heart will last one more rotation… maybe.

For a while, I thought two of these situations were unwinnable. It just took me several times playing that particular cabin to figure it out.

I won’t spoil all of them, but I will say that if you see a cabin diorama upstairs, you need to get off the stairwell or you will die. It’s not as simple as seeing the playset and leaving because the door is locked. You have to survive that cabin and, unless you move into the room immediately, you’ll be reset.

Interspersed, there are some cabins that will trigger lore. You’ll get to see what went on in that cabin and how tragedy befell it. You just might even learn how you’re connected to the long-since-gone inhabitants.

Overall, I think The Cabin Factory did amazing at setting up a creep factor that left me needing to psych myself up to keep going into cabin after cabin, knowing this is the one that might give chase.

I do have some qualms though. I can’t say for sure that the rules aren’t finite because I just might be missing the caveat. However, they FEEL inconsistent. Especially when sound is involved. Sometimes, the radio will pop on and this is generally a cleared cabin. However, if you hear a child giggle, it’s haunted.

Every cabin seems to exist within its own personal rules. The only thing you can really say for sure is that movement is bad. Otherwise, you have to use your discretion and sometimes your memory if you’ve already seen this cabin.

Things will change. That is a constant. People will move and things will look creepy, but if they are not actively moving, it’s not considered haunted.

Please don’t move, please don’t move…

Overall, I did have fun with The Cabin Factory, but I, also, need to let my heart rest. I don’t like things chasing me, so knowing this game can give chase was probably the most freaky part. As I got more familiar, things did get easier. But, man, I don’t know if I would make it long-term as a horror gamer. 
If you finish the game, you’ll be started back at the beginning and will have a note on the mirror in the elevator and a post-it at your station that lets you know if you’ve seen all the cabins.

There are some achievements that are gotten through “facing” the characters, but I’m not sure what that means since I stared at the people a little too long and never got those achievements. Those with stronger nerves than I will have to figure out what constitutes “facing”.

If you love horror games that give you the heeby-jeebies and are actually scary, then The Cabin Factory is a great game. But, to my soft-hearted cozy gamers who never stray from the comfortable path… do not get this one.

I have to go make some tea, wrap myself in a blanket, and put on the sunshine-iest game I can find. If you’d like to give yourself a fright, you can grab The Cabin Factory for $2.99. If not, check out the cozy sea-cleaning adventure we just did a review on, Loddlenaut.