HOMESICKNESS

This is the first game I’ve seen that truly understands the meaning of liminal spaces and dreamcore - ESPECIALLY in the third chapter. What an absolute trip.

Very effective at achieving its intended atmosphere. Genuinely unsettling in parts. Doesn't do a lot of new things, but takes a lot of the experimental concepts indie horror has been going for and produces a very polished experience. The randomization keeps failure from making the gameplay stale. You can't min/max or pathfind based on your previous failures. You simply must get better at the core gameplay loop. Honestly very surprised nobody is talking about this

trans coded story??? (very cool if so <3)

unforunately i would not recommend simply because of how floaty the UI is dying to something because your mouse feels like its stuck in butter is not entertaining game itself is semi interesting. only three main levels though besides the challenges I wouldn't really be super stoaked for the price though of paying for extra difficulty though thats just a me thing.

this game is SICK

*mostly small mechanical but still SPOILERS ahead* -Seems strongly inspired by I Saw the TV Glow, and successfully works as a nostalgic amalgamation of late 90s-early 2000s tech and those ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pizza place restaurants everyone has been to at least once. -Where Homesickness falters is in the mechanical implementation of its art; surely every audiovisual element of the game contributes to the atmosphere and the themes and all of that good stuff, but mechanically, I don't see any reason why the first two levels needed to consist of finding the exact same items to unlock one door and play one mini game on a computer in order to get a code for a door. -I am not of the opinion that everything MUST contribute to every facet of a game for it to be worthy of inclusion, but the mini-games that repel the monsters are pretty nondescript as it is, so I question why the computer game specifically had to be included twice over. -An exception to the latter point is the lingering enemies, which need to be erased in the notebook. This is a neat trick, but it also suffers from not being properly implemented in any other way, robbing it of significance; were the notebook to be mentioned even in passing in the dialogue, this could've been mitigated. -I think the environments are extremely indistinct, noisy, and properly crunchy (the audio is a perfect VHS throwback, almost painful to listen to in the best way possible), and this should not be taken as a slight against the game; in fact, I consider this to be the single most indelible aspect of Homesickness. The lasting impact of the audiovisual quality that stems from mechanics is something this game has in spades. -For as critical as this review is, I consider Homesickness to be a success. I was not disappointed, and I strongly want to vouch for this game, particularly to anyone interested in a late 90s exploration of childhood and nostalgia through an eccentric maze of confusion and yearning.

amazing fnaf-like point & click game, but I'm broke so I had to refund it after playing through half of the first floor :( Only problem with the game is the price, which imo is quite high, however it is very unique (I haven't played a fnaf fangame with mechanics exactly like it, I have played maybe one that has the "listen to instructions then follow them" trope, if I correctly recall it was Dormitabis, an enemy says numbers that you have to enter correctly or you die, which isn't super similar but it's the closest I could think of, so yeah definitely unique, I'm just gonna recommend getting it on sale if your short on cash

Homesickness is kinda hard to describe solely in words honestly, it almost exists purely as a feeling, and trust me when I mean that in a good way! It's a very charming and frankly unsettling game, with the whole thing leaning into the horror of a nostalgic memory gone so very, very wrong. At its core is a decently fun gameplay loop, borrowing some mechanics often seen in other Sit n' Survive games (but also bringing new ones to the table) and incorporating them well into the flow of the game. There's also quite a touching story at the heart of it all, and I may have shed a tear or two at the various "ends" of the game... Along with a decent amount of content in this game too, I never found myself bored at any point; gotta say the final level was my favourite part though! I will say that I'm a bit mixed on the game's style though, like it certainly suits the themes and atmosphere of the game and I definitely think it does its job well, but I also can't say I'm particularly fond of it. Also, the RNG secrets are a bit annoying because the one with RNG within the RNG would just not show up for me for ages, but that's the achievement hunter in me complaining. I do have a bone to pick with the computer maze puzzles though, they got a bit old real fast working through Playtime mode and the like, some more variation would have been good! Overall, Homesickness is a pretty unique game that I would definitely recommend for those big on nostalgic horror; particularly ones that tackle that theme super well and leave an impact on you that's more than just a good scare or two! 7.5/10 - Ah sweet, horrors of my nostalgic childhood comprehension!

Seeing how many challenges there was after completing the main story impressed me especially with this being a clickteam game. The sit and survive gameplay thrives here and finding all the secrets was fun

A very fun experience. I beat the story in about one night, and it left me with more questions than answers, but not really in a bad way. There's a lot of stuff after the main story that may expand on things more but I feel like there wasn't really a resolution to the story. The visuals and gameplay were amazing however.