Indie Light

Homebody is an interactive thriller, and puzzle game released on June 1st 2023. It was developed by Game Grumps, and published by Rogue Games. Homebody was created by Leighton Gray and Jory Griffis, both of whom were also involved in the development of Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator which we’ve also reviewed, and you can check out by clicking here if you’re interested.

I cannot describe how excited I was when I first saw this game being advertised, I mean I already liked the people involved, and I knew from personal experience with Dream Daddy that the pair were more than capable of making an amazing game, but despite being just a truly terrible lateral thinker, I’ve always enjoyed puzzle games. In fact I think some of my favourite memories as a kid was playing the seemingly endless stream of escape games that were present on those old flash game websites.

Okay, now onto the review. Firstly, I absolutely loved the retro style of the game, not only does it evoke a palpable nostalgia for the point & click or puzzle games of the 90s and early 2000s but also it has the benefit of not being limited to that style, meaning it can both be retro and polish things slightly at the same time. I just love the art style though, it’s clean, distinct enough that it’s recognisable and it works really well. I mention in my review of Kathy Rain, which you can check out here, that I’ve always had a preference for this type and style of game, but even for something that already ticks all the boxes for me it’s still a strong contribution nonetheless. Keeping with the visuals for a moment (and I might come back to them later) Homebody does a great job of making something that’s appealing to look at. I thoroughly enjoyed the cutscenes not just because of the engaging narrative contained within, but also because they just looked really cool.

In terms of mechanics, I think being able to click a button and highlight all the interactable elements in a scene to be super helpful. It helped make the game easier and gave you points of reference, without thrusting you down a path and making you interact with things. It allowed for an organic exploration of the environment, but also ensured you didn’t miss something that might be important (even if you don’t quite know why it’s important yet).

Speaking of explorable elements of the environment, I found myself incredibly engrossed in the classic horror and gothic literature available throughout the house, not only does it serve to set a specific tone to the game, but it provided subtle characterisation about the owner of the home, and being totally honest with you also just gave you another interesting thing to look at and engage with in your playthrough. 

I cannot touch upon the environment and the explorable and interactable elements without talking about the puzzles, cause I mean what’s a puzzle game without puzzles? Anyway, especially for someone, who as I alluded to above, isn’t the brightest tool in the shed (see that was clever because I deliberately malformed a common turn of phrase), I found the puzzles to have just the right level of difficulty. I also liked that discovering the puzzles, exploring the answers and eventually solving them wasn’t something that could necessarily be done in one go. Sure by the end of the game, you’re powering through sections of the puzzle as quickly as you can go from point A to point B but fundamentally the puzzles are interesting and just tricky enough to make you have to work for it.

I want to discuss the atmosphere for a moment. From the first moment you begin the game, it starts to build a narrative, a tone, a feel, a vibe which all culminate in one of the best stories I’ve played in a while. It does this through pretty much every avenue, from the ambient noise, to the camera angles (which often evoke a cinematic experience) to the overall slow pace of movement, and even the plot relevant darkness you find yourself in later on in the game. They generate this profound sense of suspense and dread. This next statement is going to feel like a negative, but trust me it isn’t. Homebody does an amazing job of capturing, portraying and generating a real sense of anxiety. It’s not just during the overtly suspenseful scenes either, when the main character is being pursued or trapped, but also during the plot expanding cut scenes when you truly get you connect with Emily, and experience her doubts and troubles. It all feels very real, and definitely resonated with me. Oh also Cliff can be a real jerk. I originally had a harsher expletive to describe him, but I’ve softened somewhat on it, especially after experiencing the whole game, and subsequently replaying it.

Another element which adds to the building feeling of discomfort that Homebody creates is that despite Emily retaining their memories during the time loops, she is unable, for the most part, to communicate anything to the others in between loops, which not only robs her of the ability to help them, but it adds to the helplessness you feel. You really start to feel her desperation, as she goes through these loops knowing that her friends and eventually she will become a victim to the killer. 

Speaking of the killer; between the big blade, the stalkingly slow walk speed and the overall old house vibes, I got a distinct Clock Tower feel from this game. I’m not sure if it was deliberate or just something I extrapolated, but it also helped to build upon the solid framework of horror and suspense I’ve been talking about up to this point. 

I did not want to start with it upfront, and only just touched on it a moment ago, but I want to now discuss the core mechanic of this game that sets it apart from other similar titles. I’ve always been a fan of time loops, they present such an interesting idea, and are almost always fun or interesting. Considering the subject matter of Homebody, and the grizzly ending to the loops, I would not say that it was fun, or at least not funny, but it was certainly interesting. With each loop, you retain your knowledge and can continue to explore and manipulate the environment to succeed in escaping the house. It was such a genuinely interesting, subversive and engaging mechanic that it alone without the broader context of the game would have made it worth playing, but when added in to the deeply emotional and metaphorical and subtext infused narrative because so much more than a plot mechanic and becomes a way of externalising deep existential ideas about being trapped and stuck in a loop in our own lives. 

Something else I really liked about the loops was that in between loops you were occasionally treated to, sometimes just some hangout time with your old friend Pete, but other times you experienced events from Emily’s past which slowly built up her character and the history. I really enjoyed these segments, and felt they added diversity to the gameplay, and really fleshed things out in a cinematic fashion. There’s one scene in particular that I adore, and do remember *SPOILERS AHEAD* where Parker (the owner of the house) reveals himself, and discusses his creation (the Killer), it ends with a red door, the camera leading us through, and we are back in the house, the loop begins anew. It’s so evocative and visually interesting, plus it fleshes our Parker who seems like a really interesting dude all things considered. I will add that while I personally enjoyed it and found it to really add to the story structure that the cutscenes do become increasingly unsettling. I was particularly struck by one, which featured a series of interconnected images and scenery, punctuated by unsettling noises, and visuals of the killer (or the Homunculus) punishing themselves in a very similar fashion to the way Emily did in an earlier cutscene.

I found the game to be deeply engrossing, with a strong balance between character development, puzzle solving, exploration and danger. It flowed really well, and by the end you know that it’s going to be a game that sticks with you. Especially if you happen to connect with the overarching themes of isolation, compulsive habits, anxiety and depression which are woven into the narrative, leaving you to wonder how allegorical the entire experience was in the first place. I have so much more I could say, and I might edit this at a later point but I think I’ll move onto a few small issues I had with the game, and wrap things up as I feel I’ve made it clear what my opinion of Homebody is.

The dialogue was good, and each character more or less had a distinctive voice or tone, but I did feel like some of the conversations felt a little stilted at times. Sure sometimes this was explained in a sort of meta sense by relationships between the characters i.e. Emily and Francine have some issues and as such their dialogue is fraught with tension and coldness but sometimes the dialogue just didn’t hit as well as the other elements of the game. Also, maybe it’s just reflective of the bonds you sometimes find in life, but the group as a whole seemed quite mismatched and I couldn’t really see them being friends in real life.

Also not to keep hammering dialogue related issues, especially as this is more of a mechanical problem, but I found that the text boxes were a little slow, and especially when you’ve been through a loop or two, and things feel tense, you are rapidly clicking and then having to wait for the text to fill the box. Sure, you can click the action button to auto-fill the box but you risk skipping the text which is equally a problem. Okay, my last issue, and this is balanced out by the positive aspects of the feature, but the camera which provides a cinematic overview of the house and player, is really good from a visual point of view, but sometimes causes issues with controlling the character, and this might just be an issue if you use a controller, but if you head in a specific direction, holding the joystick to move forward, and the camera shifts, if you adjust your movement, then you’ll most likely end up heading back the way to came, as the directional input has shifted. It’s mildly frustrating but did cause me at least one death while being pursued by the killer.

Okay so those are my thoughts on Homebody, and in case it wasn’t obvious I resoundingly feel that you should grab yourself a copy and try it for yourself because you will not regret it. Speaking of which, Homebody is available on all major platforms. I, however, bought and played it over on Steam, so I’ll recommend you grab it over there, where it is usually £16.75 (but is currently on sale for £8.20). Oh and let’s wrap up with a rating, Homebody more than earns a solid 4/5.