The House of the Dead (series)

The House of the Dead
The logo of the first and second game. The third and the fourth game features a fully reworked logo
Genres	Light gun shooter Rail shooter
Developers	Sega Wow Entertainment
Publishers	Sega
Platforms	Arcade, Saturn, Microsoft Windows, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 3, Mobile phone, Steam, Android, iOS
Platform of origin	Arcade
First release	The House of the Dead 1996
Latest release	The Typing of the Dead: Overkill 2013

The House of the Dead is a video game franchise created by Sega.

As of 2016, there are five House of the Dead games originating in a first person rail shooter format available. The main series all have common elements of a pair of agents teaming up to take on hordes of biologically engineered undead (referred to as 'mutants' in Overkill). The games are divided into chapters, each of which culminates in a boss battle against usually massive, terrifying creatures. The bosses in games 1-4 are all named after the Major Arcana of occult tarot. The games are all controlled with a light gun in the arcades, but can be played with controllers or a mouse on consoles or the computer. For the PlayStation Network releases of 4 and III, they can also be played using the PlayStation Move controller.

Gameplay elements differ among the different games in the series, with each having different characters, firearms, and types of enemies. In many of the games, there are branching paths (determined by one's actions) and unlockable bonuses, along with different endings based on one's performances.

Several spin-offs to the mainstream storyline have also been produced (including a virtual pinball game, an English tutorial and a typing tutorial), as well as two films. In addition, select enemy characters appearing in the first two games were adapted into fully articulated action figures by Palisade Toys, which canceled the second toy line before street release due to limited returns from the first series.

The main gameplay mechanic is the on-rails shooting mechanic. The player must clear each area of enemies before advancing to the next area. The first two installments featured pistols, the third featured a shotgun, the fourth featured a submachine gun. Overkill features different firearms which can be changed to the players' liking. The instructions on the cabinets note that a head shot is the most effective way to kill zombies.

Successful clearing will result in boss battles. Before most battles, the game will show what the bosses' weak point is. Final bosses have no identifiable weak point. If the boss is shot enough times, it will recoil; otherwise, it will take one of the player's lives. All of the bosses in the first four House of the Dead games are named after Major Arcana cards. They are also classified by 'types', which are shown as either a number or Greek letter.