Sweet Home is a first person horror game by Space Octopus Studios, created for the Asylum Game Jam 2015. Set in Vermont in 1971, you play as a Alex, a young boy freshly moved into a new home with his mother. While she takes a shower, it’s your job to complete the short list of chores left for you on the fridge.
Take your boxes to your room. Put away your toys. Change into your jammies. Don’t make a mess. Seems simple enough – and it would be, that is if the house wasn’t hiding a few secrets of it’s own. Gameplay is similar to that seen in the ever popular Amnesia games, with Alex able to pick up and drag around items in the world at will, and the game neatly applying this fetch and retrieve mechanic to it’s core narrative with the chores.
Powered by Unreal Engine 4, Sweet Home takes a lot of pride in it’s setting, the house you wander (whilst small) is highly detailed with decor straight out of the Overlook Hotel, and the 70s backdrop allowing for a cool hazy rock soundtrack (also available for download). There’s some novel ideas too, like using a child’s light up toy ray-gun to light your path instead of a typical flashlight or camera. Subtle, and perhaps more mysterious than all out conventional horror, it’s these little touches that really work at drawing the player deeper in to the world. The story may be short, but those that make it to the end are almost certainly guaranteed to leave wanting more.
Download Sweet Home (and the Soundtrack) Here (Windows & Mac)