When it comes to videogame launches across the American and European markets, there can often be a bit of disparity between the two. Take the new release of Home Sweet Home on PlayStation VR for example. Originally released in time for 2018s Halloween season in the US, the title has now just arrived for European players.
Home Sweet Home is a dark narrative inspired by Thai lore, myths, and beliefs that aims to captivate players via its use of stealth and lack of weapons. There’s no way to fight against the horror that lurks in the shadows, all you can do is stay hidden and work your way through the labyrinthine building, avoiding the evil spirits that roam the corridors.
“After a long night filled with mourning and sorrow over the recent disappearance of his wife, Tim awakens to find himself in a strange, dilapidated building instead of the comfort of his own home. Confused, he must avoid deadly spirits, solve perplexing puzzles, and unveil sinister secrets while desperately searching for his wife and a way out,” explains the bio.
The title can be played with or without the PlayStation VR if it becomes a little too scary. Just as the spirits roam every room and alley, you must also inspect every corner of this nightmare to learn its secrets and the tragedies that have befallen the condemned.
Home Sweet Home is the first in a series of terrifying first-person stealth horror videogames developer Mastiff has planned. How these interlink has been revealed just yet, but it may be along the lines of Wolf & Woods episodic horror franchise The Exorcist VRwhich came in five instalments with individual stories for each under one whole narrative umbrella.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Home Sweet Home, reporting back when further details on the series are available.
When it comes to VR horror games, many games sadly fall short in their quest to be truly scary, and instead just aim to give players a few good jump scares before unraveling pretty fast. Many games opt to go all-in on scares, and don’t deliver on what makes something truly scary: an overwhelming sense of dread. In Home Sweet Home’s case, however, you’re not just given some good scares, but are also constantly filled with that feeling of terror throughout the game, which already makes this Thai horror title worth the time.
Developed by Yggdrazil Group, a Thai visual effects company, Home Sweet Home was released last year as a non-VR PC title before getting the virtual reality treatment, which honestly seems to have made the game even more exhilarating. While you can play the game without a VR headset still on PS4, its style of play and surprisingly great looking atmosphere make it that much scarier once you strap yourself into a PSVR. Home Sweet Home tell the tale of Tim, a man who wakes up in a strange place after what seems to have been a night out drinking. As you begin to explore the strange building you find yourself in, it doesn’t take too long for some creepy stuff to start happening.
Though the plot — which shouldn’t take more than six or so hours — might be lost on some people who don’t choose to explore, Home Sweet Home actually offers a surprisingly deep amount of backstory. From the start, it appears that you’re searching for your missing wife, Jane, but in typical horror game fashion, things begin to unravel in frightening ways until you find yourself in the middle of a story that draws from various Thai myths and legends, all designed to freak you out as much as possible.
As far as gameplay goes, don’t expect anything too different from Home Sweet Home, who borrows heavily from past horror titles like the canceled P.T. demo and Outlast series. You’ll find yourself exploring a surprisingly good looking set of rooms, with some sort of light (be it a flashlight or candle) and some other tool to defend yourself. Much like other horror titles, you’ll also be able to find and collect various odds and ends, such as newspaper clippings or diary entries, that expand the story and give some more context as to what exactly is going on in.
When it comes to the world of VR, the number one key to any title is the immersion factor, and Home Sweet Home actually manages to accomplish that thanks to its incredible sound design. Not only is sound so important for a virtual reality game, it’s probably the most important factor in any horror experience. You need things like ambient noises, growls, or simple things like footsteps and silence to feel a certain way in order to draw you in for when the big scares occur. Thankfully, Home Sweet Home has no problem with this, as the sound in the game is likely its best facet.
In Home Sweet Home, Yggdrazil Group does an amazing job of sprinkling various ambient noises throughout the game that will keep you on edge. Couple that with the sounds of the box cutter that the main demonic entity — a ghastly looking woman — carries, and it all makes for a genuinely unsettling experience. One moment in particular saw me slowly moving down a near pitch black corridor and listening for the distinct sound of the knife, and for a brief moment, I was completely sucked into the game and what was happening.
Despite doing a bunch of things right, Home Sweet Home is certainly not without issues. The puzzles found throughout aren’t anything too difficult, and seem to be thrown in just to keep you playing for a bit longer rather than having any sort of real tie to the game, though that feeling fades pretty quickly when you’re rushing to solve one as a demon is trying to kill you. Elsewhere, the game does a poor job of guiding the player, so expect to be stuck in the same room looking for clues or figuring out how to get past an enemy for some time.
Final Score: 7.5/10 – Good
Like many VR titles, Home Sweet Home can at times feel like its VR mode is simply a tacked on bonus to an otherwise pretty entertaining game. Unlike other titles, however, Home Sweet Home manages to add enough to the mode to make it something that all PSVR owners should try out. Though it has its issues, the eerie atmosphere, incredible sound design, and surprisingly unique theme of the game make it one of the better horror experiences that I’ve had on the PSVR. If you’re into atmospheric horror and looking for something to scare you this month, then this is definitely worth a try.
October has been claimed by many as ‘spooky season’, with many people seeking out horror-themed entertainment, including horror movies, scare mazes and of course, horror videogames. Developer and publisher Mastiff along with Yggdrazil Group are seeking to cater to this with the launch of first-person survival horror title Home Sweet Home which is coming to the PlayStation VR.
Despite the cheery-sounding title, Home Sweet Home is a dark exploration of the mythology, religion and lore of Thailand.
Within the videogame players find themselves in a dark and strange labyrinth. Players take the role of Tim, a man trapped in grief and mourning over the disappearance of his wife. Despite going to sleep in his own comfortable home, he awakes to find he is in a dilapidated building, where nothing is quite what it seems.
Players need to seek escape and find the reason for Tim’s wife’s disappearance while avoiding dangerous spirits and uncovering dark secrets that have long been hidden. Players do not have any weapons to help them, instead they have only their wits, meaning that a sharp eye of good places to hide becomes a valuable skill.
Home Sweet Home is a narrative-focussed title, which concentrates on aspects of Thai mythology and beliefs in an effort to capture the imagination of the players and play to fears that are universal in the human mind.
In order to uncover the truth, players will need to make careful use of stealth, locate good hiding places, know when to be quiet, and when to run. There are also various investigative skills available in the gameplay to help reveal hidden secrets.
Home Sweet Home is available from the PlayStation Store, and is compatible with the PlayStation VR. A physical edition of the title is also available exclusively from GameStop. The launch trailer is also available to view below.
For future coverage of new and upcoming VR titles, keep checking back with VRFocus.
It might be too early to think about Christmas however there’s another big celebration to enjoy next month, Halloween. Of course that usually means an influx of terrifying horror titles to enjoy, a genre that virtual reality (VR) is particularly adept at. Due for launch in a few weeks time is Yggdrazil Group’s chilling experience Home Sweet Home, coming to PlayStation 4 with additional PlayStation VR support.
It takes some inventiveness to come up with an original horror experience nowadays, as they generally involve zombies, Lovecraftian monsters or some sort of demonic entity. Ubisoft’s Transference is one such title and Yggdrazil Group’s Home Sweet Home could well be another, with a story based on real-world Thai mythology and lore.
Sot he story goes that: “After a long night filled with mourning and sorrow over the recent disappearance of his wife, Tim awakens to find himself in a strange, dilapidated building instead of the comfort of his own home. Naturally confused, he desperately begins to search for a way out while attempting to solve questions that could lead to answers regarding his wife’s disappearance, he finds himself being hunted by blood-thirsty evil spirits. There is a dark and sinister secret casting a shadow over this interconnected labyrinth…and without question, it’s no longer the happy home that it once was.”
Very much the survival horror, Home Sweet Home features no weapons to speak of. Players have to use stealth and their investigative skills to evade the deadly spirits and understand whats going on.
“We are very excited to be working with Mastiff in order to bring the dark, Thai-inspired world of Home Sweet Home to consoles,” said Saroot Tubloy, Chief Operating Officer of Yggdrazil Group in a statement. “The game’s real-world lore and mythology is sure to captivate and intrigue players, while its brooding narrative keeps them clinging to the edge of their seat.”
Home Sweet Home is the first in the series of horror titles from Yggdrazil Group and Mastiff, with a digital launch date set for 9th October. A physical copy of Home Sweet Home will also make it to GameStop shelves across North America on 16th October. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.
