Doctor Hauzer is a Survival Horror game for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer made by Riverhillsoft. Released in 1994, it is notable for its 3D-rendered models and environments, as well as the ability to switch from fixed camera angles to an overhead or first-person view. Though it was only released in Japan, fan translations of the game exist, and as obscure as the game is now compared to its predecessors and successors, Doctor Hauzer has been cited as an inspiration for Silent Hill.
Set in 1952, the plot follows journalist Adams Adler, who has made a career out of covering the works of Doctor Hauzer, a renowned archaeologist and scientist. After Doctor Hauzer suddenly goes missing, Adams tracks him down to a curious remote mansion, and decides to enter to investigate Hauzer's disappearance. But not all as it seems in this strange place...
Its Spiritual Successor, Over Blood, did receive a Western release and is more known, though still obscure in its own right.
Doctor Hauzer contains examples of:
- Antagonist Title: The formerly good Doctor Himself
- Apocalyptic Log: A letter written by one of Doctor Hauzer's staff describes how Hauzer started killing all of the workers who unearthed the ruins.
- Big Bad: Doctor Hauzer.
- Bookcase Passage: Several are found in the mansion.
- Cel Shading: The Ur-Example of this in video games, utilized six years before it was popularized by Jet Set Radio.
- Deadly Gas: Contained within the vase in the guest bedroom. Picking it up will release the gas and kill Adams.
- Death Trap: The mansion is chock full of these. Justified in that the victims of the traps are meant to be sacrifices to Hauzer's "master."
- Drowning Pit: The bathroom death-trap. The right shower lever is the right one.
- Game-Over Man: Adams' horrified face often immediately precedes his unfortunate demises.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: In the ending, Adams decides that he cannot share the tale of what happened in Hauzer's mansion, as he has no proof to support anything he has witnessed—and would rather forget about it all himself.
- Haunted House: Along with its myriad Death Traps, Adams eventually encounters Hauzer's spirit within its walls.
- Human Sacrifice: Hauzer murdered the workers who excavated the lithograph and ruins, and built his mansion of death traps to further kill more people as sacrifices to his Master.
- Immortality: Doctor Hauzer seeks this, and appears to have received it by fusing with the stone he unearthed.
- Indy Escape: An early corridor somehow has a boulder in front of Adams, which begins rolling at him. The only way to survive is to run into the alcove between Adams and the boulder.
- Leap of Faith: One pit is accompanied with a painting labelled "Walk calmly and with courage." Walk normally across the pit, and you'll be fine. Run or jump upon it, and the glass over it will shatter and drop Adams to his death.]
- The Lost Lenore: Dr. Hauzer's Wife. Who Can't join him in the eternal life. Her picture is needed to vanquish him.
- Mad Scientist: The eponymous Doctor Hauzer, who was known as an eccentric. That Adams became the only journalist he ever established a rapport with was what led Adams to focus his career on Hauzer.
- The Many Deaths of You: Adams can fall to his death, be crushed, be shot in the head, have his head chopped off, die to poison gas...
- One-Hit Kill: Almost every hazard will kill Adams instantly. The only aversion is Doctor Hauzer's fireball spam, which Adams can survive a few hits from.
- Pendulum of Death: The dance hall has three swinging blade traps. Time your steps poorly, and Off with His Head!.
- Pit Trap: A common obstacle throughout the mansion, including one right on the other side of the unlocked door in the front foyer.
- Sanity Slippage: Doctor Hauzer, after discovering the lithograph and the secret to immortality.
- Schmuck Bait:
- The unlocked door in the front foyer immediately leads into a fatal pit.
- The vase in one of the early rooms, which releases a poisonous gas if Adams takes it.
- The bathroom contains no vital items and traps you inside, with one lever unlocking the door and the other triggering an inescapable Death Trap.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Oh, by the truckload.
- The first major room you enter has three exits. Two of them are locked. The third immediately drops you into a fatal pit. You need to search the clock in order to progress.
- The exit to the bathroom locks behind you. There are two levers by the shower. Pick the right one (literally) and the door unlocks. Pick the wrong one? The room promptly fills with water.
- The closet in the kitchen has two doors. Opening the side door will let you retrieve the axe within. Opening the front door causes the axe to fall upon Adams.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change:
- Picking up the lithograph in the dining room causes sections of the floor to collapse, triggering a jumping puzzle.
- The final confrontation with Doctor Hauzer has Adams trying to reach the target through a Bullet Hell-esque barrage of fireballs. Also notable is that said fireballs are the only hazard in the game that don't kill Adams instantly.
- Unwinnable by Design: If you enter the passage behind the second fireplace without the dynamite and photo of Hauzer's wife, you're screwed.
- Useless Item: The empty oil can and vent cover have no use in solving any puzzles. The inventory does at least tell you that neither item is useful.
- The Walls Are Closing In: Completing the puzzle in the gallery causes the wall before you to close in, necessitating a quick escape before Adams is crushed.
