Doctor Hauzer is a survival horror-adventure game in which the objective is to explore a large mansion in search of clues leading to the missing, titular character. All the game's environments and their elements are fully rendered in 3D with the default viewpoint being a third-person perspective at fixed camera angles that adjust according to the player's position in a room. Every self-contained room is separated by the others with a door, staircase, or similar pathway that acts as a loading screen between them.
The game utilizes tank controls, whereby pushing up or down on the controller's directional pad moves the player character forward or backward relative to the direction he faces and pushing left or right rotates him. Additional controller inputs let the player run while moving, leap forward, investigate the scenery, push or pull heavy objects like furniture, pick up important items, and access an inventory of collected items. This inventory consists of a notebook for saving the player's progress, a map, keys for unlocking doors, and items for solving various puzzles necessary to advance through the house. Some items can be combined by selecting them one after the other, such as a candelabra and lighter that will illuminate a dark passage.
Other items for working out puzzles include weapons like a knife and a gun. However, the mansion in Doctor Hauzer features no combat or enemies and instead relies upon numerous traps and obstacles that can cause the player an instant game over. These include floor pits in numerous areas, a room filled with swinging blades on pendulums, and a hallway containing a large, rolling boulder. The player can freely switch to first-person and top-down (overhead) camera perspectives at any time. These views have situational advantages over one another. For example, the first-person mode is useful for investigating objects and puzzle clues up close, while the overhead mode is better for surveying room layouts and jumping over floor gaps.
The backstory of Doctor Hauzer is explained during the game's prologue, expounded through its protagonist. Set in 1952, it follows Adams Adler, a young reporter for the Boston Science Monitor newspaper. Adler has built his decade-long career around covering stories about Dr. Hauzer, an eccentric archeologist for Boston University, world-famous for his scientific discoveries. Hauzer suddenly vanishes from the public eye and Adler tracks his last known location to a secluded, oceanside mansion. Adler quickly learns that the house is riddled with perilous traps, locked doors, and secret passageways. Also strewn throughout the mansion are journal entries detailing recent events. Having the home built over the excavation site, Hauzer and his two assistants unearthed a stone lithograph relating to the cherubim, biblical beings tasked by God with protecting the Garden of Eden. Hauzer's devoted wife, who accompanied him, eventually died from illness while he was preoccupied with his work. Hauzer's obsession with the cryptic tablet steadily grew, leading to his belief that if he was able to decipher its meaning and communicate with the cherubim, they would lead him into paradise where he could partake from the tree of life and gain immortality. Hauzer's increasing insanity caused him to sacrifice his assistants in the name of the cherubim and his final diary entry implies that members of law enforcement and university faculty would also potentially fall victim to his paranoia.
Adler makes his way through the property and has a brief encounter with the ghostly figure of Dr. Hauzer, then eventually comes across and pockets a photograph of Hauzer's wife. He descends deeper into the excavation area, his journey culminating in a minecart ride to the location of the lithograph. There Adler again meets Hauzer's spirit, which then merges with the stone artifact to become a large, humanoid face. Hauzer states that he has achieved the divinity he sought through the cherubim and now only wishes to reunite with his deceased wife. Angered by Adler's presence, the spirit becomes malevolent and begins emitting an endless barrage of fireballs at the journalist in an attempt to kill him. Adler desperately makes his way forward and tosses the photograph of Hauzer's wife at the entity, causing a large explosion. The dig site becomes unstable and Adler narrowly escapes on the minecart as the mansion and its surrounding foundation fall into the abyss below. During the game's epilogue, Adler states he wishes not to publish his findings for fear the public would dismiss them as fiction and admits he himself was in disbelief that the events actually occurred.
Doctor Hauzer is abandonware and no longer sold or supported by its publishers. Files are archived here for these platforms:
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