Home

70%
Game Brain Score Based on 868 reviews
  • story
  • atmosphere
  • graphics
Home Game Cover
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"Home" is a single-player adventure horror game with an interesting plot and good game mechanics. It takes place in a beautifully designed pixel world, where the game's environment subtly changes to reflect your perspective. As a murder mystery, the game allows you to decide its outcome, creating a unique and masterfully crafted atmosphere.

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Reviews

70%
Audience ScoreBased on 868 reviews
story136 positive mentions
grinding6 negative mentions
  • The game creates a chilling atmosphere that keeps players engaged.
  • The narrative is unique, allowing players to shape the story based on their choices.
  • The pixel art style and sound design effectively contribute to the overall experience.
  • The gameplay is very linear and lacks meaningful interaction, making it feel more like a walking simulator.
  • The ending is ambiguous and unsatisfying, leaving players with more questions than answers.
  • The game is very short, taking only about an hour to complete, which may not justify its price for some players.
  • story551 mentions

    The game's story is a mix of intriguing concepts and execution flaws, with many players finding it predictable and lacking in genuine horror elements. While some appreciate the open-ended narrative that allows for personal interpretation and multiple endings, others criticize it for being overly vague and unsatisfying, often feeling like a collection of disjointed plot points rather than a cohesive tale. Overall, the storytelling is seen as an experimental approach that may appeal to those who enjoy narrative-driven experiences, but it often leaves players wanting more depth and clarity.

    • “Amazing short story about a man with no memory of the night before uncovering the horrific events that took place, lots of secrets to discover for those who like to explore!”
    • “The story unfolds differently depending on how observant the player is.”
    • “Home is a uniquely told story where your simple decisions affect how the plot of the game unfolds.”
    • “The story is unimaginative with fairly predictable options, and the 'horror' aspect is limited to fake pixel blood and text; you won't find any real frights in the game.”
    • “I played it through to one ending hoping for a twist in the plot or an exciting setting, but that never happened.”
    • “The plot of the game is predictable and stupid; the monologue that moves the game forward is poorly written and culminates in a cheesy short story you can't even skip.”
  • atmosphere168 mentions

    The atmosphere in "Home" is widely praised for its ability to create a creepy and immersive experience, enhanced by effective sound design and minimalist pixel art. Many players appreciate the game's psychological tension and the sense of dread it instills, although some note that the atmosphere can diminish over time or lacks substantial horror elements. Overall, it is considered a strong point of the game, making it appealing for fans of atmospheric and narrative-driven horror experiences.

    • “The atmosphere is amazing.”
    • “The creepy atmosphere the developer was able to achieve was quite well done through sound, text, and pixels.”
    • “Home is an atmospheric adventure game with a concept clever enough that it makes up for a derivative setting and plot: you make the decisions about what actually happened before the game begins.”
    • “With home, once you realize what's going on from a gameplay perspective, the game loses all tension and atmosphere.”
    • “The game attempts to create a creepy atmosphere by invoking tired clichés - it's set at night, in 'creepy' locales like abandoned houses, sewers, and forests, and your character has inexplicable amnesia - but after playing for more than ten minutes these reveal themselves to be the crutches they are, with nothing to back them up.”
    • “The atmosphere that the game is trying to portray is completely absent, and I really just didn't click with the game.”
  • graphics102 mentions

    The graphics of the game are predominantly retro pixel art, which elicits mixed reactions from players. While some appreciate the minimalist aesthetic and its contribution to the game's atmosphere, others criticize it for being outdated and lacking resolution options, leading to a perception of cheapness. Overall, the pixel graphics are seen as fitting for the game's narrative style, though they may not appeal to everyone and can detract from the experience for some players.

    • “The lo-fi pixel graphics and atmosphere are pretty well done.”
    • “The minimalist pixel aesthetic lends to charming visuals and the sound ties in perfectly to create a uniquely suspenseful atmosphere in such a simple game.”
    • “The pixel graphics and sound are brilliant and create the perfect atmosphere.”
    • “A choice was made to use obsolete, decades-old retro pixel 'art' as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
    • “To me, these graphics just look cheap and a way for the developers to cut corners while hiding behind a currently popular style.”
    • “The graphics are extremely primitive, but gameplay is good and the atmosphere is great.”
  • gameplay84 mentions

    The gameplay in "Home" is primarily a minimalistic, choose-your-own-adventure style experience that involves simple navigation and decision-making, with little in the way of traditional gameplay mechanics or challenges. While some players appreciate its narrative-driven approach and atmospheric elements, many criticize it for being repetitive, lacking depth, and offering a linear experience that fails to engage. Overall, the game is seen more as an interactive story than a fully fleshed-out game, with gameplay that is often described as tedious and unfulfilling.

    • “The gameplay is simple but absorbing, and the use of sound makes it one of the most atmospheric 8-bit games ever.”
    • “Its tone, its mechanics, and its simplicity add to a beautifully connected narrative completed through game mechanics.”
    • “Home is a really interesting experiment in minimalistic gameplay and interactive storytelling.”
    • “With Home, once you realize what's going on from a gameplay perspective, the game loses all tension and atmosphere.”
    • “Home has virtually no gameplay; you simply navigate in different areas, collecting clues and making decisions.”
    • “The gameplay mostly consists of walking around and finding vague, uninteresting clues to hint towards what's actually going on, as well as some very simple, very easily solvable puzzles.”
  • replayability38 mentions

    The game offers significant replayability due to its player-driven narrative, multiple endings, and the impact of choices on the story's progression. While it is relatively short, lasting around 1 to 2 hours, many players find value in exploring different routes and outcomes, although some feel that replaying may diminish the overall experience. Overall, the replay value is considered decent, especially for those who enjoy uncovering various story interpretations and hidden elements.

    • “The player-driven narrative lends itself to replayability, especially if you enjoy the atmosphere the game creates.”
    • “The impact of different choices on the game's progression and outcome adds another layer of replay value, and I love how much of the outcome is left to the player's interpretation and action rather than a set story.”
    • “This leads to a lot of replayability, and many different ways to interpret the same story.”
    • “Not very much of value and replayability.”
    • “There's also the attempt to give it replay value but if you play it no stone unturned on the first playthrough then the exploration element is largely done with.”
    • “I also don't expect much replay value due to the narrative system used; in fact, multiple playthroughs would more than likely detract from the overall experience, not enhance it.”
  • music23 mentions

    The music in the game is largely absent, with most players noting a reliance on ambient sounds rather than a traditional soundtrack. While the sound design effectively contributes to a creepy atmosphere, many reviewers expressed a desire for more musical elements to enhance the experience. Overall, the game's soundscape is appreciated for its atmospheric qualities, but the lack of music is a common point of criticism.

    • “The soundtrack is composed of only ambient sounds: winds, cave echoes, doors, etc... it is sufficient.”
    • “Very creepy atmosphere that translates to the player, the soundtrack has some sudden noises in it, a couple made me jump, which is hard to do; I play a lot of horror games.”
    • “This game surrounds you in a well-designed dark and lonely atmosphere, aided by a creepy soundtrack and the feeling you are alone, alongside you trying to figure out this devastating mystery after waking up somewhere that's not home.”
    • “Environmental sounds are decent but there is virtually no music, with the finale of the game featuring an endlessly droning five-second loop.”
    • “The sounds are great overall (which may scare you if you're not expecting them!) and the music is almost nonexistent, but in the last sections, it is creepy as hell, which fits the whole situation.”
    • “There is no music in the game, only sound effects.”
  • grinding6 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the need for backtracking to locate missed items and the inability to speed up text or skip transitions. While the game offers a rich atmosphere and story, the repetitive exploration and slow pacing can lead to boredom, especially during longer play sessions.

    • “The exploration can get pretty tedious, as you'll often find yourself backtracking to previously explored locations trying to find an item you missed so that you can progress to the next area.”
    • “For a game that actively encourages you to replay it to see more endings and aspects of the story, the inability to speed up the text boxes or skip the transitions is kind of tedious.”
    • “And it gets to the point where walking around back and forth in areas is just tedious and boring.”
  • humor4 mentions

    Reviews on the humor aspect of the game are mixed; while some players find certain choices, particularly at the ending, to be hilariously nonsensical, others criticize the humor as lacking cleverness and even describe some elements, like the developer's comment, as creepy rather than funny. Overall, the humor appears to be hit-or-miss, with varying opinions on its effectiveness.

    • “I swear there's a choice at the ending that can make your entire run nonsense, and it's hilarious!”
  • emotional4 mentions

    Players express a mix of emotions, noting moments of tension and unease that initially engage them, but ultimately feel let down by unsatisfying choices that diminish the impact of the narrative. While the pixel art provides a sense of comfort, the lack of a compelling conclusion leaves players feeling that their emotional investment was not reciprocated by the game's storytelling. Overall, the emotional engagement seems to rely heavily on player interpretation rather than being effectively crafted by the developers.

    • “This startled me and made me feel unsafe in what I had thought was an empty house.”
    • “You as a player end up basically creating the emotional engagement that, from the looks of it, the devs clearly could not create on their own.”
    • “The pixel art made me feel comfortable.”
  • character development2 mentions

    Character development in the game is largely criticized for being shallow and lacking substance, leaving players indifferent to the characters' fates. While the visuals and text presentation are praised, the overall narrative fails to provide meaningful growth or depth for the characters.

    • “Frankly, I couldn't care less about what happened to any of the characters. The game contained no substance or real character development and was very shallow, despite the frame-by-frame text and visuals being good.”
    • “Other times, the in-story character development is a little wonky.”
  • stability2 mentions

    The game is praised for its stability, with users reporting a bug-free experience and no glitches encountered during gameplay, which is expected for a title of its caliber.

    • “It is bug-free, which is honestly expected from a game like this, and is easy to pick up.”
    • “The game runs smoothly without any crashes or glitches, providing a seamless experience.”
    • “I appreciate how stable the gameplay is; I can focus on enjoying the story without interruptions.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

2hMedian play time
3hAverage play time
2-5hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 7 analyzed playthroughs

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