Childhood Homes (and why we hate them)

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After more than a decade, you go back to the house you grew up in.

Platforms: Browser
Stores: itch.io
Price: Free
Rated: 4.8 out of 5 from 141 ratings on itch.io; players praise its writing and the way the text moves from metaphor to the literal
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse only: click words and links to read on
Made by: qrowscant
Released: 2023

What frightens After more than a decade you go back to the house you grew up in, writing a letter to the father you have not spoken to in years; the text shifts, flickers and cycles as you click, the house grows stranger the deeper you go, and what begins as metaphor turns, slowly, into body horror, with descriptions of child abuse along the way.
Content: flashing lights, child abuse, suicide, body horror, gore, animal death.

Childhood Homes (and why we hate them) is a free, short horror story in Twine by qrowscant, played in the browser. You return to the house you grew up in and write to the father you left behind, clicking through flickering text and dithered black-and-white pictures as the house, and the story, turn darker.

About Childhood Homes (and why we hate them)

Childhood Homes (and why we hate them) is a piece of interactive fiction by qrowscant, made in Twine as their first work in it and released free on itch.io in 2023. It is played in the browser and rated 4.8 out of 5 by its players.

The maker's whole pitch is one line: after over a decade, you return home. The story opens as a letter, Dear Dad, from someone who has not spoken to their father in fifteen years and keeps a pile of unsent letters under the bed. From there you go back into the house, room by room and down the stairs to the basement, reading and clicking on words to move on.

The form carries the fear. Text appears at its own pace, words change colour and brightness, some options cycle through different thoughts as you click them, and black-and-white dithered pictures of the house sit between the pages. Players note how the writing slides from metaphor into something literal without showing where the switch happened, and how the descent to the basement filled them with dread.

It deals with heavy things, and the maker lists them: eye strain and flashing light, descriptions of child abuse, discussions of suicide, body horror and mild gore, and a minor rodent death. It suits readers of interactive horror like my father's long, long legs, and anyone who finds an old family house more frightening than a monster.

How to play Childhood Homes (and why we hate them)

Open the game on itch.io and press Run game; it plays in the browser.
Click to begin on the title screen; full screen helps if the page will not scroll.
Read each passage, and click the highlighted words to go on.
Click the words that change to cycle through different thoughts before you choose.
Keep reading through the house to the end of the letter.

Screenshots

A page of the story: a letter dated 03/16/2020 beginning Dear Dad, in white typewriter text on black between bands of static

Cover: a two-storey house with dark windows in grainy black-and-white dithering

Tips

Read the maker's trigger list first; it covers abuse, suicide and flashing light.
Read slowly and let the text appear; the pauses are part of it.
Play in a quiet room; players found that silence made it more intense.
If you cannot press start or scroll, try full screen, as one player did.

Questions

Is Childhood Homes (and why we hate them) free?

Yes. It is free to play in the browser on itch.io.

What kind of game is it?

Interactive fiction made in Twine: you read and click words to move through the story, with dithered black-and-white pictures.

Is it scary?

It is unsettling rather than jump-scary: a return to an abusive father's house that grows into body horror. The maker warns of flashing light, child abuse, suicide, body horror and mild gore.

How long is it?

Its maker calls it a short story; it is meant to be read in one sitting.