Homebody is a horror game inspired by classic 80s slasher films. The game was developed by the Game Grumps and published by Rogue Games Inc. I expected a traditional slasher game where I would spend most of my time running and hiding but boy was that far from what I got.

Story

The story revolves around a young woman named Emily who is reuniting with her close-knit group of friends after a long time apart. They decide to reunite in an Airbnb which turns out to be a scary-looking cabin in the middle of the woods. It’s quickly revealed that a killer is in the house and appears at a certain time of night. Then whenever Emily is killed, the entire night restarts starting from when she first entered the house. The plot then consists of Emily searching for the reason behind this mysterious loop. This mechanic ties into the theme of not wanting good things to end. Emily and her friends don’t want their time together as friends to end, and no one wants to die so the loop prevents both of those things from happening.

I was pleasantly surprised when I first died in the game. I was going into the game expecting to be hiding, finding items to unlock things, and then escaping the house theoretically in one sitting. I died very quickly at first which made me feel like the game would take a lot of patience that I wasn’t sure if I had. I sat forward with a smile on my face and audibly gasped when I got a story cutscene upon my first fail with new content after I respawned, signaling that this game wasn’t at all what I had thought.

Gameplay

Most of the gameplay deals with Emily searching the house’s many rooms for clues and solutions to puzzles. Some of these puzzles are blocked behind doors and other puzzles themselves require the solving of puzzles to get through. A bulky chunk of the game is running around and connecting the dots. I would solve one puzzle to get rewarded with the solution to another puzzle and then so on. The conundrums are varied and can range from wire matching, water pump balancing, turning certain light switches in the house, and even video game mini-games like Minesweeper or an Atari-inspired game. The number of puzzles and accompanying new cutscenes upon death makes it feel like the player is progressing no matter what which is amazing.

For someone who loves solving problems, this game loop was very entertaining. The game has a system called memories where after finding a solution or item, they’ll be saved in the memories section so that whenever Emily dies the player doesn’t have to solve the problems from scratch because the solution is already known. This mechanic makes perfect sense with the narrative as Emily is the only one who knows that the house is in a continuous time loop so she’d remember.

Emily’s friends provide context both for their relationships and for certain problems to solve. I made sure to talk to everyone when I could because I found myself learning critical information. Once the clock strikes a certain time, the killer enters from a secret area. The player can still progress the game the same way but with the added threat of a killer. I found it much easier to just let the killer do his thing and kill me since there is an unlimited number of resets. The only issue with progressing is that the killer comes earlier and earlier as you progress through the puzzles.

Audio and Visuals

The audio takes its inspiration, again, from classic 80s horror films. There isn’t really any music, but the game does have sound strikes when certain things happen like a death or a cutscene. These capture the scene's tensions well. Most of the time it’s just the ambient sounds of the house like wood settling, a generator running, or footsteps across the floor. I find this to be better for horror games because it creates such a vacuum and false sense of security that when something drastic rings out it has a terrifying effect.

The visuals are okay but don’t expect any crazy good graphics. The game was made with an art style in mind, that being an old computer game, and that works well while still maintaining the scare of the game. It could just be me, but I noticed the game sporting a slight 80s movie film on the screen which further bears credence to the game’s inspiration.

Replayability

A full playthrough will have the player finding every clue and possibility. The only reasons to play again would be to potentially see new cutscenes by dying more or by using past knowledge to beat the game in a speed run. A lot of the puzzle solutions, including the one that takes you to the final area, are not randomized and will stay the same. Other than that, there isn’t any real substantial replayability.

What It Could Have Done Better

The game nails almost everything in its repertoire but those movement controls mixed with the camera view switches are atrocious. The game switches frames when certain areas are walked into, like the early Resident Evil games or the original Alone in the Dark. Homebody does it too but there will be times when I am going left only for the camera to shift. Now left is up and then I switch to a different movement direction only to have to revert back to the original camera view. This’ll go back and forth between the two until I can get used to what the second camera view needs me to do to go forward. Having to relearn what my movement keys do in a scene every time a camera changes, which it does a lot, is annoying and shouldn’t have been that complicated. I suggest maintaining a consistent movement path for all camera views.

The game is not voice-acted at all but requires a lot of text box reading. I always prefer voice acting so I think that would’ve elevated my experience. This one is a knit pick and doesn’t affect the overall game in any way.

My final gripe is with a certain puzzle. There is a puzzle and the clue hints that a page Emily picked up is from a book. There are multiple books in the house so naturally, players are going to check these books. Most of them have close to three hundred pages and even more sometimes. I checked all these, as did others who played the game, and found there was absolutely nothing and that a very specific book had to be found first. This created such a waste of time and it feels like a prank by the developers to waste time.

Verdict

Homebody is a great game and if you enjoy puzzle games with deep themes and a sense of discovery then this is a must-play. Although the controls for movement during camera changes bog down the experience a little bit, along with some of my minor grievances, this game deserves all the attention.

Homebody is available now on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.