Homebody

About Homebody

Homebody was made by Game Grumps, the studio behind Dream Daddy, and released by Rogue Games on 1 June 2023 for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. Its makers describe it as a time loop horror puzzle game and a homage to 80s slasher films and retro horror such as Clock Tower, with a deliberately PS2-era look.

Emily and her college friends rent a house in the woods to watch the Perseid meteor shower, as they do every year. Old wounds and social anxiety make the weekend hard going even before the lights go out. Then a killer appears in the dark and picks the group off one at a time. After a bloody night Emily wakes again in the foyer, with everything reset except what she remembers.

Each loop gives you a stretch of real time to explore before the killer comes. You walk the house under fixed cameras, talk to your friends in choice-driven conversations, and work at non-linear puzzles that the makers say were inspired by Myst. A journal keeps every clue and solution you find, so death costs you time but not knowledge. When the killer is near you sneak, listen and hide in closets; the hiding places break after a few uses, and the clock does not stop while you think.

The fear starts as slasher suspense and slowly turns inward. Reviewers note that the house and its repeating night become a picture of Emily's obsessive thoughts, and Steam warns of violence, body horror and themes of anxiety, OCD and depression. Kotaku put its length at about seven hours.

It suits players who like Clock Tower-style run-and-hide horror, escape-room puzzles and story-led horror about the people in it, and who do not mind replaying the same evening many times to piece it together.

How to play Homebody

1. Explore the rental house with Emily and talk to her friends before the power goes out.
2. Look around every room for clues, codes and objects, and read the journal where they are kept.
3. When the killer is near, move quietly and hide in a closet until he passes.
4. Use what you learned to work at the house's puzzles; if you die, the night loops back to the foyer.
5. Carry your knowledge into each new loop and keep going until you find a way out.

Tips

• Write nothing down twice: the in-game journal keeps codes and puzzle solutions across loops.
• Hiding spots break after a few uses, so do not rely on a single closet.
• Time keeps running while you solve puzzles, so learn a puzzle on one loop and solve it quickly on the next.
• Every loop can teach you something new; dying early is not wasted if you learn where the killer goes.

Questions