On a general note, I’m a sucker for sales, specially those that take place on Steam. It’s way too easy to look at a game, give it a quick validation and then either skip it or pressing that infernal ‘Purchase for myself’ button. The sale need not be substantial, either. Take this game for example. Even though it’s actual price is $2.99, and on sale $2.54, I still felt the urge to find out more. I feared it would be another indie game that looks charming but that I will end up never liking. Super Meat Boy, for example, is a prime candidate of a game that succeeded in becoming a global indie hit, but failed in maintaining my interest. In fact, it was because of Meat Boy that I skipped on The Binding of Isaac as well. Let me know if I’m wrong to do so.
I was close to shoving Home in that indie bin as well until I discovered that it was an adventure game.
Let me put the premise of the game in the easiest way possible: You wake up, not knowing where you are or what you are doing in that location. You open the first door and the game throws you in a mind fuck of a whirlpool from there on and all the way to the end. It’s a simple adventure game that allows you to structure your own story and signs off asking you to submit what you believe happened in the game by visiting the official site.
You pick up items, but there is no inventory and you will be prompted to use them when they are needed and the story progresses from location to location, possessing an air of mystery and fascination that is rarely found in such basic games. If anything, Home is proof that great experiences do not require cutting edge graphics and sound.
But, as some indie games out there are, this game is not for everybody and I would not want you to go for it blindly, regardless of how much I want to support the developers. For that, I have worked out a checklist that I believe you should go through first. If at least two of the points apply to you, please stop reading, click here, play the game and support such projects:
- You get giddy when you see old school pixels
- You appreciate adventure games
- You like indie games
- You entertain the likes of David Lynch
8/10
Home was created by Benjamin Rivers and is available on Steam for less than $3.
