Home - What to expect

[eristic troubadour]

Now, let me start this off by saying that I purchased this game through the current indie gala bundle, so I got it for considerably cheaper than it is on Steam. With that being said, this game has been on my wishlist for a while, and I've always been curious about it, being one of the games that came out with Greenlight.

One of the immediate things I noticed was a bit of a skewed control system. Space Bar is the 'actions' key, but to advance text, you have to press the down arrow. And you can skip through text, but that's the right arrow. It took a bit of getting used to, but soon you'll be skipping dialogue like a pro. And you will be. The writing is sub-par at best, and you'll find yourself completely lost in some of the droning. I found myself just selecting every item I walked by, skipped the dialogue if I deemed it unnescesarry to the plot, and would only pay attention if it asked me if I wanted to pick an item up.

The player can pick up items, but they hold no real significance save for a few key items that are required to progress past puzzles and obstacles. Items primarily serve as the device that enriches and adds to the backstory. Which is very shoddily told, through a very, very bland narrator. Again, I cannot feel but I'm harping on this, but the writing is really not very well done. The game itself is sold on the principle that the story is immersive and interactive- when in reality it is:
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And that's the interactivity of it. Not to mention the ending- which can be lackluster at best- and even confusing. Without giving any spoilers, the game's climax essentially boils down to something along the lines if 'WAS IT ALL A DREAM?????'

If you paid a few dorras like I did for several games and happen to get this one, or get it via trading keys or something, it's not *awful*. It's just a cheap little 1-2 hour story, which may leave it a bit dissapointed, or alternatively, you could pay money for this with the intent on getting a good story-based interactive game and just be that much more let down. Home does nothing new, nothing interesting, and I feel bad that I can name flash games with more depth, emotional and mechanical.

I mean, you can't even view your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ items.