Reviving House of the Lost: How We Brought Our 2012 Roguelike Back From the Dead

A behind-the-scenes look at restoring one of the App Store's earliest roguelikes: coming back to iOS and Google Play on July 16th.

Back in 2012 we launched a little game called House of the Lost for iPad and iPhone. It had shifting levels full of Halloween monsters, screen-filling boss battles, weapon crafting, and secrets hidden behind almost every wall. It was one of the first roguelikes on mobile, and it proved the idea could work on a small touchscreen device. It was even called "the closest thing to iOS Spelunky" by TouchArcade, which if you were making mobile games in 2012, was about the highest compliment you could hope for.

Then, in 2019, House of the Lost disappeared

This is the story of how it broke, why we couldn't let it stay dead, and what it took to bring the House back, better than it's ever been. House of the Lost: Revived launches July 16th, and if you want the less than a minute version first, check out the announcement trailer below.

The original: a roguelike that fit in your pocket

The premise was simple: your sister vanishes into the House of the Lost, and the only way to get her back is to go in after her with a slingshot and a lot of nerve. Every run reshuffled the House with new layouts, new enemies, new ways to die. And let's be honest, you were going to die... a lot. It's not quite Dark Souls level hard, but we're in the neighborhood.

What made it click was the loop. Even though each run is different there is still a lot you can learn from each new attempt. Add in a weapon-crafting system that rewarded experimentation, and boss fights that punished sloppiness, and you have a game that can earn its way into a gamer's heart. It was fun and chaotic in the way the best roguelikes are, and because it ran in the palm of your hand, you could take it anywhere.

Unfortunately, while it did run in the palm of your hand, it didn't always run well. The mobile hardware we had in 2012 was nothing like what we have today, and on some of the older devices the game could slow down in busy rooms. There was even an issue with the skateboard item that could allow players to phase through walls if they timed it along with a slowdown in the game. Thankfully we were able to iron out all of those issues and get the game into a really good state for players.

The disappearance: how a game just... stops working

But, here's the uncomfortable truth about mobile: a game isn't a finished object. It's a thing that has to keep surviving on a platform that never stops moving underneath it. And so, in 2019 after several warnings from Apple, House of the Lost was removed from the store.

Throughout the years Apple has had several OS updates that have caused apps to be removed and lost from the store. One of those was the move away from apps built for 32-bit devices and on to 64-bit. This wouldn't have been an issue except that House of the Lost used an open source library to load its map, and that library wasn't being maintained any more.

While we tried several times to swap out the library for something more modern, or update the library ourselves, we just couldn't get a clean build of House of the Lost for modern devices. After several unsuccessful attempts we started to think that House of the Lost might really be lost for good.

Why revive it instead of moving on?

We've shipped a lot of games in 20+ years, so we could have let this one stay a fond memory. But House of the Lost kept nagging at us, for a few reasons.

First, the core still holds up. The roguelike loop we built in 2012 is the same loop players love in the genre's biggest hits today. Second, we have continually received messages from players wondering where House of the Lost has gone. Usually when a player upgrades to a new device and realizes they can't download the game from the store anymore. We hated not having a good answer for our players when they were asking to play our game again.

As we worked through the graphics issues it made for some funky layouts. Thankfully, all this is fixed now.

Finally, the tools and the audience have both caught up in 2026. What was a technical stretch on 2012 hardware is not an issue at all now, and mobile players who'd never have touched a roguelike a decade ago, seek them out today. We were also able to use the time away to come up with a new approach to get around the outdated libraries in the original game without completely rewriting everything from scratch.

You can see one of our work-in-progress shots from the rebuild above. It took some trial and error to get everything in the right place again, but eventually we were able to put the House back together.

The rebuild: what "Revived" actually means

This isn't just a re-upload of the original game. This is the definitive House of the Lost experience with every enhancement, bug fix, and new feature that we introduced throughout it's original 7 year run. Here is a look at the features you'll find inside House of the Lost: Revived.

* Random levels that stay fresh: No two runs are the same; the House reshuffles layouts, enemies, and challenges every time.
* Weapon crafting: Combine what you find into new tools of destruction, and discover the combos that turn a doomed run legendary.
* Multiple Control Styles: The game now defaults to directional shooting controls but you can also swap back to the original 'NES style' button controls if you want an extra challenge.
* Four boss domains: Each with its own enemies, hazards, and an epic battle waiting at the end.
* Secrets everywhere: Walk through walls, chase down clues, and pull the House apart.
* Leaderboards and Achievements: Challenge your friends to see who can set the highest score, or defeat the House quicker.
* Offline and all yours: No connection required, and no ads, no gacha, no energy timers. Ever.

How is it priced?

We've made it pretty simple; play the first two levels and the first boss completely free as many times as you like. Then, a single purchase unlocks the entire game forever. No ads. No gacha. No energy timers. You buy the House once, and it's all yours.

That's the deal we'd want as players, so that's the deal we're offering. Also, if you purchased the unlock in the original iPad version, you should be able to restore that purchase in this version without paying again.

It's our way of saying, 'If you were there in 2012, thank you. If you're new to the House, welcome; you picked a good time to knock'.

The House reopens July 16th

House of the Lost: Revived arrives on the iOS App Store and Google Play on July 16th, 2026.

Here's how you can help us bring it back loud: