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Dot's Home

Dot's Home Game Cover
88%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:gameplay, music
88% User Score Based on 86 reviews

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About Dot's Home

Dot's Home is a single player action game with drama and historical themes. It was developed by Rise-Home Stories and was released on October 22, 2021. It received positive reviews from players.

Dot's Home is a single player game about Dorothea (Dot) Hawkins, a young Black woman in her late 20’s living with her grandmother Mavis Hawkins in Detroit, Michigan. Following a cryptic conversation with her grandmother, Dot receives a mysterious key. This key allows Dot to open a door within her house and travel to another space in time within her own family history. In order to return home, Dot…

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Reviews

88%Audience ScoreBased on 86 reviews
story20 positive mentions
stability1 negative mentions
  • The game offers a beautiful, heartfelt story focused on Black history, family, and community with meaningful choices impacting multiple endings.
  • It features charming hand-drawn art and smooth animations, paired with pleasant and emotionally resonant music.
  • The short, free-to-play experience effectively raises awareness of social issues like gentrification, housing discrimination, and systemic racism in a relatable and educational narrative.
  • Gameplay is minimal and primarily involves reading dialogue with very limited interactivity, making it feel more like a visual novel or walking simulator than a full game.
  • The story and writing sometimes feel preachy or oversimplified, failing to fully explore the complex realities of its themes, and some dialogue and character elements come off as stiff or underdeveloped.
  • The game is very short with few impactful choices and lacks depth in gameplay and replay value, which may leave some players feeling bored or wanting more substance.

  • story

    47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    43% positive mentions, 51% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions

    The story is widely praised for its heartfelt and meaningful exploration of family, community, and social issues such as racism, redlining, and gentrification, delivered through well-written dialogue and engaging characters. While the game is short and gameplay is minimal, the impactful narrative, time-travel elements, and thoughtful portrayal of historical and contemporary struggles make it a compelling and important experience.

    • “I love how every choice has real meaning to the rest of the story. I appreciate how the game tackles double standards for Black and Brown people regarding buying and owning a home. The gameplay is basic, but in a game like this, what more could you ask for?”
    • “It’s a compelling story with decisively well-written dialogue that doesn’t waste a word.”
    • “A very nice, short game that does a really great job telling the story of a family and neighborhood affected by gentrification, racism, redlining, and housing problems in the US.”
    • “But choices made through the game that impact the story make little difference to any of the game except the end scene.”
    • “Story?”
    • “Dialogues, just as lazy, in the 70s section of the story the bad real estate man spews racist words like "your kind", "your people" and Spanish word for black in immediate succession, giving the impression of someone who's not actually racist deliberately trying to look like one.”

  • graphics

    17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    53% positive mentions, 29% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions

    The game features a charming hand-drawn, cartoony art style that many users find cute, clean, and visually appealing, enhancing its storytelling. While the graphics are praised for their uniqueness and beauty, some suggest they could be improved further. Overall, the visuals effectively complement the narrative, though they are noted as simple rather than top-tier.

    • “I love the hand-drawn art style; it really works for a game like this.”
    • “A graphically beautiful game with an interesting plot about dreams and the search for home.”
    • “The artwork is clean and beautiful, and while the actual point and click aspect is super simple, it's still worth the playthrough.”
    • “The graphics in this game are reasonably done hand drawn illustrations in a somewhat cartoony style, but could be better.”
    • “Simple graphics, but cute.”
    • “[Story 15/20, art style 15/20, gameplay 5/20, music 15/20, replayability 15/20.]”

  • gameplay

    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    21% positive mentions, 58% neutral mentions, 21% negative mentions

    The gameplay is minimal and primarily consists of point-and-click interactions, serving mainly as a vehicle to deliver the game's educational and story-driven content about black history and housing discrimination. While not mechanically engaging or complex, the gameplay's simplicity aligns with the game's focus on narrative and meaningful choices. Players seeking deep gameplay may find it lacking, but it effectively supports the game's thematic goals.

    • “The gameplay itself is very minimal (you just have to click a lot), but that gameplay serves the actual purpose: to tell a story of Black history and how the 'American dream' looks from the perspective of a Black family.”
    • “I love how every choice has real meaning to the rest of the story. I love the wokeness of the game and how it tackles double standards for Black and Brown folk when it comes to buying and owning a home. Gameplay is very basic but in a game like this, what more could you ask for really.”
    • “As for the gameplay, dot's home is mostly a point-and-click game, so you use the mouse to have dot walk around and interact with objects, such as doors and newspapers.”
    • “The gameplay itself is very minimal (you just have to click a lot) but that gameplay serves the actual purpose: to tell a story of black history and how the 'American dream' looks from the perspective of a black family.”
    • “Good message, subpar gameplay.”
    • “Not exciting gameplay-wise, but decent enough if you want history lessons about housing discrimination towards marginalized people. I would also say play this with an elder or anyone knowledgeable or experienced in this subject matter.”

  • music

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    43% positive mentions, 14% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions

    The game's music is generally pleasant and emotionally impactful, especially near the ending, with a soundtrack that effectively complements the story's setting. Although limited in quantity, the music is enjoyable and contributes positively to the overall experience.

    • “The music in the game is incredibly pleasant.”
    • “Music is good with some very emotional scores near the end.”
    • “As for the soundtrack, there were only a few present, but they depict the story's setting well, and they're enjoyable to listen to.”
    • “Endings, for a publisher named Rise-Home Stories Project, the 'bad' ending is really mild, with Dot getting a comfy apartment, cushy teacher job with 'plenty of resources and well-behaved kids', your family seeing success amid all the redevelopment going in old neighborhood selling properties like hotcakes, and she's whining because she got a noise complaint for listening to/playing music at loud volume.”
    • “"Guess my music is noise, huh?" This is the argument you hear from obnoxious people blasting ghettoblasters in places like the subway. I lost all sympathy for her at this point.”
    • “Gameplay is very low at 5/20, while music is rated 15/20, suggesting music is decent but possibly unimpressive compared to other aspects.”

  • emotional

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game delivers a heartfelt and emotionally impactful experience, with touching storytelling, meaningful choices, and a soundtrack that enhances key moments. Players appreciate its hopeful tone, strong family values, and engaging characters that deeply resonate throughout the narrative.

    • “The art, characters, and heartfelt narrative pulled me in, and I love that your choices truly impact the ending.”
    • “Made me feel happy and hopeful for the future!”
    • “A touching story that preaches healthy family values.”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is a mix of unintentionally funny moments, particularly through the quirky protagonist Dot, and lighthearted scenes that complement its deeper themes of community and connection. While not consistently hilarious, it provides a charming and relatable comedic tone.

    • “It reads exactly as when you try to recount a hilarious personal experience to a person you have no chemistry with and you end it with 'I guess you just had to be there.'”
    • “Dot is such an interesting (and unintentionally hilarious) protagonist, and I love seeing her journey into the past.”
    • “The game has its funny moments but also does a good job of highlighting the importance of community in our lives.”

  • replayability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game offers solid replayability, rated 15/20, indicating that players find it engaging enough to revisit multiple times, though it may not be exceptional in this aspect.

  • stability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent bugs reported even on high-end hardware like an RTX 3080. Users find it unstable enough to question its quality as a game.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Dot's Home is a action game with drama and historical themes. Common tags for Dot's Home include indie, exploration, narrative, free to play, alternate history and others.

Dot's Home is available on PC, Mac OS, Phone, iPad and others.

Dot's Home was released on October 22, 2021.

Dot's Home was developed by Rise-Home Stories.

Dot's Home has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Dot's Home for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Dot's Home is a single player game.

Similar games include Headliner: NoviNews, The Lion's Song, The Cat Lady, This Bed We Made, Life is Strange and others.