How to Play The Witch’s House on Android with JoiPlay (Free Classic)
You have heard The Witch’s House called a free horror classic, and now you want it on your phone, but the search results confuse you because two versions exist. That confusion is normal, and clearing it up is the whole key to this guide. The original from 2012 is a free RPG Maker VX game that runs in JoiPlay with the RPG Maker Plugin. The paid remake, The Witch’s House MV, was rebuilt in RPG Maker MV, so it needs no plugin at all. Pick your version below, follow its own setup, and you will be inside that house in minutes.
If you enjoy short and tense games like this one, our roundup of Horror Games to Play on JoiPlay collects more titles in the same spirit.
Quick Facts
| Engine | Plugin needed | Price | Where to get it legally |
|---|---|---|---|
| RPG Maker VX for the original, RPG Maker MV for the remake | RPG Maker Plugin for the original only, no plugin for the MV remake | Original is free, MV remake is paid | Original free from vgperson’s website, MV remake from Steam |
What Is The Witch’s House?
The Witch’s House was created by Fummy and released free in 2012, built in RPG Maker VX. The English translation by vgperson is the version most international players use, and it is available free from vgperson’s website.
You play as Viola, a young girl who gets lost in the forest. Looking for a way out, she enters a mysterious house that is said to belong to a witch. A talking black cat helps her along the way, offering company, comments, and a place to rest between the dangers inside.
The house itself is the enemy. Its rooms are full of traps, puzzles, and sudden deaths, and the game is happy to punish a careless step or a curious touch. There is no combat system to save you. Reading notes carefully, watching the room, and thinking before you act are your real tools.
That design is why the game still gets talked about years later. It is short, tense, and built around surprise, so go in with as few spoilers as possible.
In 2018 a paid remake, The Witch’s House MV, was released on Steam, published by Dangen Entertainment. It was rebuilt in RPG Maker MV with redrawn graphics, and it adds extra content that unlocks after you clear the game. The core house and story stay familiar, but the presentation is new.
Two Versions, Two Setups
This is the part most guides rush, and it is the part that decides whether your install works. The two versions use different engines, so JoiPlay treats them in completely different ways.
| Version | Engine | Plugin | Price | File to select |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | RPG Maker VX | RPG Maker Plugin needed | Free | Game.exe |
| MV remake | RPG Maker MV | No plugin needed | Paid | index.html inside the www folder |
If you select the wrong file, the game simply will not start, and the error rarely tells you why. Check your version first, then use only the setup section that matches it.
What You Need Before Starting
Prepare the pieces for the version you chose:
- ✅ An Android phone with enough free space for the game folder and spare room during extraction
- ✅ Download and Install Joiplay App.
- ✅ The RPG Maker Plugin as well, but only if you are playing the VX original
- ✅ The free original from vgperson’s website, or your own paid copy of The Witch’s House MV from Steam
- ✅ An extraction app such as ZArchiver, because both versions arrive as archives or PC folders
Note the download sources. The Google Play listing for JoiPlay no longer resolves, so get the app and the plugin from the homepage, you will find the latest version as well as all the older version of app and plugins. If the plugin role is unclear, our guide to the JoiPlay RPG Maker Plugin explains which engines need it and which engines skip it entirely.
Step by Step: Install The Witch’s House in JoiPlay
First, install JoiPlay itself:
- Download and Install Joiplay App.
- Install the app and open it once so Android registers it.
- If you are playing the VX original, download and install the RPG Maker Plugin from the same official source, then reopen JoiPlay.
Route 1: The Free Original (RPG Maker VX)
- Go to vgperson’s website and download the English translation of The Witch’s House.
- Open the archive in ZArchiver and extract it fully into its own folder on your phone’s internal storage.
- Wait until extraction finishes completely, then check the folder for Game.exe with the game data folders beside it.
- Open JoiPlay, tap the + button, and add a new game.
- Name it, browse to the extracted folder, and select Game.exe.
- Launch the game from your library and allow extra time for the first load.
- If JoiPlay prompts you about a missing runtime, follow the runtime steps in the section below before you try anything else.
Route 2: The MV Remake (RPG Maker MV)
- On your PC, open the folder where Steam installed The Witch’s House MV.
- Copy the whole game folder to your phone’s internal storage, extracting it first with ZArchiver if you moved it as an archive.
- Open the copied folder, then open the www folder inside it and confirm that index.html is there.
- Do not install any plugin for this version, because MV games run in JoiPlay on their own.
- Open JoiPlay, tap the + button, and add a new game.
- Name it clearly, for example The Witch’s House MV, so you never mix it up with the original.
- Browse into the www folder and select index.html.
- Launch the game and give the first load a little extra time.
Naming the two entries clearly matters. If you keep both versions, a clear name stops you launching the wrong one and wondering why your save is missing.
If the Original Asks for a Runtime Package
The VX original can prompt for the RPG Maker VX Runtime Package, often shortened to RTP. The RTP holds shared graphics and sound files that some VX games expect to find outside their own folder. The MV remake does not use this system, so this section only applies to the free original.
Add the package like this:
- Close the game and return to the JoiPlay main screen.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Runtime Package.
- Tap Add Runtime Package.
- Select the RPG Maker VX runtime package file on your phone.
- Relaunch the game and check whether the prompt has cleared.
Our step by step guide on How to Add a Runtime Package shows the same process with extra detail if you get stuck at any step. Match the package to the engine every time, because an XP package will not help a VX game.
Save Often, and Keep More Than One Slot
This section is short, and it may save you more frustration than the whole setup. The Witch’s House is famous for punishing small mistakes with instant deaths. Open the wrong door or touch the wrong object, and Viola’s run ends on the spot. The game expects this, and its saves are built around quick retries. Build these habits from the first room:
- ✅ Save every time you see the black cat or another safe moment, before you explore a new room
- ✅ Rotate between multiple save slots instead of overwriting one slot again and again
- ✅ Save before you solve a puzzle, not only after, so a wrong attempt does not cost you progress
- ❌ Do not rely on one slot for the whole game, because a bad save point can trap you
💡 Multiple slots are your safety net. If one save leaves you in a hopeless spot, an older slot lets you step back instead of restarting the entire game.
First Launch Notes
Once you are inside the house, a few expectations will help your first session go well.
- The game is quiet on purpose. Soft sound and silence build the tension, so headphones make the atmosphere far stronger.
- Read everything. Notes, signs, and object descriptions carry the clues for the puzzles, and skipping text leads to avoidable deaths.
- Deaths come fast and often. Treat each one as information about the room, not as a failure of your setup.
- The first load can be slow. This is true for both versions, and later launches are usually quicker.
- Touch controls are simple here. You mostly walk, examine, and choose, so the virtual gamepad has little heavy work to do.
If you finish this house and want another story driven horror game on your phone, our guide to playing Corpse Party on Your Android is the natural next read, since both games build dread from exploration rather than fighting.
Common Problems and Fixes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The original will not launch | RPG Maker Plugin missing or not detected | Install or update the plugin, reopen JoiPlay, and add Game.exe again |
| A runtime prompt blocks the original | The VX Runtime Package is missing | Add it through Settings, Runtime Package, then Add Runtime Package |
| The MV remake will not launch | You selected the wrong file, or a plugin route was used | Add the game again and select index.html inside the www folder |
| Missing file errors at the start | The archive was only partly extracted | Delete the folder, extract it fully with ZArchiver, and add the game again |
| Your save seems to vanish | You launched the other version by mistake | Check the entry name in your library and open the version you actually played |
Conclusion
The Witch’s House gives Android horror fans a rare gift, two good ways in. The free VX original from Fummy, in vgperson’s English translation, is the classic as players first feared it, and it needs the RPG Maker Plugin, Game.exe, and sometimes the VX Runtime Package. The paid MV remake from Steam is the polished rebuild, with redrawn graphics and extra content after a clear, and it needs no plugin, just index.html in the www folder. Whichever house you enter, respect its rules. Move slowly, read carefully, and save often in more than one slot. Do that, and this small free classic, or its bigger remake, will give you one of the tensest few hours you can play on a phone.