Rhome

About

Rhome is a single player and multiplayer casual simulation game with a horror theme. It was developed by SMU Guildhall and was released on February 21, 2020. It received positive reviews from players.

Rhome is a first person dark atmospheric exploration game where players navigate an increasingly chaotic and psychologically unnerving environment to reveal the fate of Hailey Rhome.

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89%

Audience ScoreBased on 439 reviews

story71 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

Visually stunning and creatively designed abstract and brutalist architecture creates a captivating, immersive environment.
Strong atmospheric horror without cheap jump scares, relying on psychological tension and unsettling liminal spaces.
Excellent voice acting and sound design that enhance the storytelling and emotional impact.
Short and well-paced narrative delivering a bittersweet, thoughtful story about loss and acceptance.
Free to play and polished for a student project, demonstrating impressive technical and artistic skill.

Gameplay is purely a walking simulator with minimal interaction and overly simple puzzles, which may bore some players.
The story is predictable, somewhat shallow, and the ending can feel abrupt or unsatisfying.
Performance and optimization issues on some systems, including frame drops and occasional bugs/glitches.
Repetitive exploration and linear progression with blocked paths reduce player agency and replay value.
Excessive or poorly used protagonist voice narration can detract from immersion and atmosphere.

story
160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
50%
6%
The story is generally described as short, simple, and bittersweet, with many praising its emotional impact, immersive atmosphere, and effective voice acting despite some predictability and lack of depth. While not particularly scary or complex, the narrative engages players through creative visuals, subtle horror elements, and a meaningful plot twist, making it well-suited for a brief, atmospheric experience. However, some find it underdeveloped or unoriginal, wishing for greater detail and length.
- “This is the type of short game I'm into; it has a story to tell, and knows how to accomplish it in a short time.”
- “The story is about an architect called Rhome (hence the title) who arrives home late only to find out her husband is not around.”
- “The story unfolds before your eyes along with every detail in this contained little world where everything becomes a dream and fear becomes reality.”
- “To be frank, the story is quite shallow, narrated rather poorly and backed up with flimsy homages.”
- “The story is very thin but I don't really think the creators cared about it.”
- “The story was also terrible, no depth at all.”
graphics
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
66%
31%
3%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their beautiful, detailed, and often surreal visuals that create a strong, immersive atmosphere, especially in later stages. While some mention occasional performance issues and limited graphic settings, the overall aesthetic appeal is a major highlight, elevating the experience despite the game's short length and simpler gameplay. The visuals effectively complement the story and sound design, making it a visually engaging indie title.
- “Graphics: 8/10 - the models, textures, lighting, it all looks great, almost rivaling that of AAA games.”
- “The game has highly detailed and beautiful visuals, the sound effects and voice acting is on point, and the surroundings get more bizarre as the story progresses.”
- “The graphical quality of everything in the world is consistent and doesn't contain any choppy areas that could've seen some improvement.”
- “This is a low-budget indie horror game with poor voice acting, extremely limited graphic options such as low to epic, lots of crushed blacks, no way to save the game or remap controls, extremely limited interactivity, improper scaling, unfitting music, frame rate issues in some areas, and it takes place in an unscary house of a thousand doors.”
- “It was such a short story for under decent graphics I would not recommend this game because it is not scary at all; instead it's a very crappy designed waste of 3 GB and time.”
- “Perhaps it has to do with my system, but it takes forever to load, and the graphics blur while moving around.”
atmosphere
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
34%
5%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its eerie, surreal, and immersive qualities, effectively building tension without relying on jumpscares or gore. Many reviewers highlight its dark, creepy, and liminal vibe combined with strong visuals and music, creating a memorable horror experience despite its short length and simple gameplay. Some criticism is directed at occasional distracting voice acting, but overall the atmospheric design is considered a standout feature that compels players to engage.
- “It has a really great atmospheric vibe, surreal and uncanny/liminal.”
- “Maybe short, but it's exactly as long as it needs to be, beautifully voice-acted, incredibly atmospheric, and has a simple, heartwrenching ending.”
- “The atmosphere was just eerie enough to keep me on edge the entire time, all the while still showcasing the brilliant work done by the graphics team.”
- “The atmosphere is a little bit ruined by the voice acting.”
- “The only small problem I had with this was that the protagonist kept talking during the most 'bizarre' part of the game near the end, something I thought was damaging to the atmosphere.”
- “I found the entire experience really boring; it felt like the developer had played Layers of Fear and thought, 'huh, I bet I can do that', but then skipped out on all of the atmosphere and shoehorned in a story which was incredibly overdone and predictable.”
gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
54%
7%
The gameplay is primarily a walking simulator with minimal interaction and simple puzzles, focusing more on atmosphere, story, and visual design than on complex mechanics. While some players appreciate its smooth experience and unique concepts, others find it too short and lacking in challenging gameplay elements. Overall, it's a brief, visually appealing narrative experience rather than a gameplay-intensive title.
- “An interesting mechanic is when we have the possibility to change the position of certain objects but for that we have to use their scale model version (after all, the protagonist is an architect).”
- “Enjoyable escape room(s) with a novel concept and well engineered mechanics.”
- “Very solid gameplay and great story!”
- “The game is rather linear as far as gameplay goes, but the story itself compounds very well.”
- “Gameplay - well I can say it's some kind of a walking sim with minimal interaction; some people might find it boring but the story and everything that's happening will keep you from playing (it's a 40-60 minute game only).”
- “About the only issue I have is it's very short, and I think the puzzles could've been a little tougher to figure out; aside from the walking around, it's the only mechanic this game has, and they're pretty easy to pass.”
music
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
39%
17%
The music in the game is praised for its atmospheric and mood-setting qualities, enhancing suspense and emotional impact, especially in VR. While some tracks are noted as overused royalty-free pieces, overall the soundtrack, paired with sound effects and voice acting, contributes significantly to the experience. However, personal preferences vary, with some players finding the music unsettling or not to their taste.
- “Music is amazing and it made me cry at the end. I strongly recommend you to play this game.”
- “The atmosphere, soundtrack, and level design just made this something special.”
- “It builds suspense both through the music and recurring themes, and is perfect for getting invested in the story.”
- “The music can be creepy but some tracks are very clearly overused royalty free music, such as the one you hear in the main menu screen.”
- “This is a low-budget indie horror game with poor voice acting, extremely limited graphic options such as low to epic, lots of crushed blacks, no way to save the game or remap controls, extremely limited interactivity, improper scaling, unfitting music, frame rate issues in some areas, and it takes place in an unscary house of a thousand doors.”
- “The tone is set well, but the soundtrack, for instance, isn't something I'd listen to.”
emotional
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply emotional and atmospheric experience, with a touching, heart-wrenching story and a powerful ending that resonates with players. Its evocative music and voice acting enhance the immersion, eliciting genuine feelings of fear, sadness, and empathy. While some found certain elements less impactful, overall it is praised for its emotional depth and haunting portrayal of loss and purgatory.
- “At many points you'll pause in fright before taking hesitant steps forward, and her emotional breakdown becomes your own.”
- “Maybe short, but it's exactly as long as it needs to be, beautifully voice-acted, incredibly atmospheric, and has a simple, heartwrenching ending.”
- “Music is amazing and it made me cry at the end; I strongly recommend you to play this game.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
23%
33%
The game's optimization is mixed, with well-optimized models and generally smooth performance, but issues such as poorly optimized lighting, lingering loaded areas causing frame rate drops, and visual glitches like edged shadows and occlusion negatively impacting immersion and performance. Some users note performance degradation over time and recommend using vsync for a better experience. Overall, optimization could be improved despite decent visuals and gameplay.
- “I think this game was well done and well optimized.”
- “The models are well optimized, the lighting, not so much.”
- “The graphics are nice, it runs smoothly, the voice acting is decent at times, and some level designs are quite alright.”
- “Hailey's voice actor really detracts from the experience though, and the game is poorly optimized, leaving large parts of the level loaded despite them being no longer accessible, which can tank your frame rate in a couple of places.”
- “Decent visuals, but the performance degraded as the game progressed.”
- “Some of them even visibly impact performance.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
78%
22%
The humor in the game is widely praised for its clever and genuinely funny character dialogues, particularly from Hailey and Gene. James Corden's portrayal of Hi-5 is highlighted as a standout, delivering side-splitting comedy that greatly enhances the entertainment. Overall, the humor is described as skillfully crafted, consistently hilarious, and a key highlight of the experience.
- “Hi-5, voiced by James Corden, is absolutely hilarious. James Corden is already a very funny man who gives me uncontrollable side-splitting laughter.”
- “Gene is an amazing character, and the way he gets back up every time he fails is truly a work of art. His becoming a yellow piece of candy in Candy Crush was also very funny.”
- “The best part of this movie is the truly hilarious side-splitting humor. I touched on this briefly when mentioning the greatest comedian ever James Corden, but I fear that I did not truly do the humor justice.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game's stability is generally solid with few glitches or crashes reported by most users. However, some players experienced buggy controls and occasional FPS lag in specific scenarios. Stability ratings typically hover around 8/10, indicating mostly smooth performance with minor issues.
- “I thought it looked like a pretty good game and I'm sure it is but I just can't get over how the controls are super buggy.”
- “I've heard some negative talk saying there were some glitches and the story didn't make sense.”
- “Stability: 8/10: I had zero glitches or crashes, however at the end of the game if I looked in a specific direction, my FPS lagged.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is often tedious and repetitive, with multiple back-and-forth trips through the same areas like the art gallery and elevators, which detracts from the overall experience. This repetition feels poorly executed and may require extra effort or resources, such as a second life, to manage.
- “Navigating the house was very repetitive. While repetition in horror games can add doubt and unease, in Rhome it was done poorly; walking through the art gallery three times in a row was very predictable, and entering 3 or 4 elevators was just tedious, especially since you have to lap the house about three times.”
- “Grinding is a bit tedious at times.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers a quick playthrough but lacks meaningful replay value, with no significant changes or new item locations to encourage multiple playthroughs.
- “Quick playthrough with no replay value.”
- “No new pickup locations or items to encourage replay value.”