Home
- August 31, 2012
- BancyCo
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"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.
Mac OS
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- Engaging atmosphere that builds suspense and tension throughout the game.
- Unique narrative structure allows players to shape their own story and endings based on choices made.
- Short playtime (around 1-1.5 hours) makes it easy to experience multiple endings.
- Lacks traditional horror elements; no real scares or threats present in the game.
- Ending is ambiguous and unsatisfying, leaving players with more questions than answers.
- Gameplay is mostly walking and reading, with minimal interaction and no real puzzles to solve.
- story1,102 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story of "Home" is a unique blend of interactive narrative and psychological horror, where players piece together a fragmented tale through their choices and exploration. While some find the open-ended and ambiguous nature of the plot intriguing, others criticize it for being predictable and lacking a satisfying resolution. Overall, the game offers a chilling atmosphere and encourages multiple playthroughs to uncover different interpretations of the story, though it may not appeal to those seeking a clear-cut narrative.
“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 game is rather slowly paced and its story is cryptic at times, yet it does deliver an engaging and creepy experience for one, or - should you go for more clues - more evenings.”
“The story unfolds differently depending on how observant the player is.”
“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.”
- atmosphere336 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of "Home" is widely praised for its ability to create a deeply immersive and unsettling experience, enhanced by effective sound design and lo-fi pixel graphics. Many players appreciate the game's eerie ambiance and psychological tension, although some feel that the atmosphere diminishes over time or lacks substantial horror elements. Overall, it is recognized as a strong point of the game, contributing significantly to its narrative and replayability.
“Not only is there a creepy, fog-swept atmosphere present already thanks to the subtle sound effects, but much of the text also adds further depth to the game's overall ambience with descriptive notes thrown in here and there; from describing pine-scented air to musty basement dwellings.”
“The atmosphere is so thick you could shoot at it and the bullet would get stuck.”
“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.”
“The game attempts to create a creepy atmosphere by invoking tired cliches - 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.”
“Good on creating a stressful and threatening, disconcerting atmosphere, but since it never delivers on that threat it creates a sense of security that undermines the whole thing.”
- graphics204 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative 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 detail, with some even finding it distracting. Overall, the graphics serve the narrative and ambiance well for fans of indie and pixel art styles, but may not appeal to everyone due to their simplicity and low resolution.
“The lo-fi pixel graphics and atmosphere are pretty well done.”
“The pixel graphics and sound are brilliant and create the perfect atmosphere.”
“The minimalist pixel aesthetic lends to charming visuals and the sound ties in perfectly to create a uniquely suspenseful atmosphere in so simple a game.”
“A choice was made to use obsolete, decades-old retro pixel 'art' as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
“The graphics are awful!”
“To me, these graphics just look cheap and a way for the developers to cut corners while hiding behind a currently popular style.”
- gameplay168 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Home" is characterized by its minimalistic and linear mechanics, primarily involving simple navigation and decision-making in a choose-your-own-adventure format. While some players appreciate the atmospheric elements and narrative-driven experience, many criticize the lack of engaging gameplay, repetitive tasks, and a short playtime of about 1-2 hours, leading to a sense of boredom and disappointment. Overall, it serves more as an interactive story than a traditional game, with limited interactivity and depth.
“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.”
- replayability76 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability due to its player-driven narrative and multiple endings, encouraging players to explore different choices and outcomes. While it is relatively short, lasting about 1 to 2 hours, many players find value in revisiting the game to uncover alternate routes and hidden items. However, some reviewers note that replay value may diminish after a few playthroughs, particularly if players exhaust all exploration options on their first run.
“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 is due to the fact that every playthrough is unique; you could literally play the game a dozen times or more and every playthrough could still be unique - and it will always have a different outcome despite having only three different technical endings, which gives it incredible replayability.”
“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.”
- music46 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The music in the game is largely absent, with most players noting that it consists primarily of 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 sound effects are praised for their ability to create tension, 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.”
“There is no music in the game, only sound effects.”
“Sounds very basic, almost nonexistent music.”
- grinding12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly due to excessive backtracking and the inability to speed up text or skip transitions, which detracts from the overall experience. While the game offers a rich atmosphere and story, the repetitive nature of exploration and the 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 onto 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.”
- humor8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as hit-or-miss; while some players found a particular ending choice to be hilariously nonsensical, others criticized the developer's personal comment as creepy rather than funny. Overall, opinions on the game's humor vary, with some feeling it lacks cleverness and comedic design.
“I swear there's a choice at the ending that can make your entire run nonsense and it's hilarious!”
- emotional8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players report a mixed emotional experience, feeling initially startled and unsafe, which contributed to a sense of engagement. However, the lack of impactful choices and a satisfying conclusion diminished the emotional weight of the narrative, leading to a perception that players had to generate their own emotional connection rather than it being effectively crafted by the developers. The pixel art was noted as a comforting element amidst the tension.
“This did startle me and now 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 development4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative 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 engagement with 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.”
- stability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game is reported to be stable and bug-free, meeting expectations for its genre. Players have not encountered any bugs or glitches, contributing to a smooth gaming experience.
“It is bug-free (which is honestly expected from a game like this), and is easy to pick up.”
