I'm still technically working on this, but my motivation to continue it has waned recently through no particular fault of its own (I'm just busy and distracted by other games), so I'll throw a review out anyway and just update it whenever I get around to completing the available story.
I'll get the criticisms out of the way first:
- This is likely entirely a me problem, and this is a very specific nitpick I have, but I cannot describe how much I resent this protagonist. As far as I can tell, the creator is a woman of colour, and the cast of characters is in general very diverse and interesting, but the main character is the most boring, generic, milqetoast-end-slice-of-white-bread guy I've ever seen. Whenever his model appears in a scene I have to actively pretend he's not there in order to stay in the mood of the moment because good god he's not attractive at all, and he's even less relatable. I'm guessing the creator just went for The Most Average Man In The World for the sake of male players being more likely to find him viable as a self-insert, but it leaves all the rest of us (and I say this as a white man myself, just not one who looks anything like this guy) in the lurch. I can understand not being able to create your own protagonist, but at that point I'd actively prefer not seeing his face and just having him appear in scenes from the neck down, from the back, having NSFW scenes be in first-person, whatever. A lot of them are in first-person, so I'm not sure why it's not consistent. It's very difficult to believe that the entire town is chasing this guy's dick.
- The game has some surprisingly "straight man"-esque writing from a female author, if you know what I mean; the type of thing that comes from books written by men trying to write an Attractive Female Character. Some quotes that stood out are "She was wearing a crop top her breasts constantly threatened to spill out of" about Kendra, and "I can see her breasts shift around underneath her dress" about a teacher. That doesn't generally happen, and if your breasts are shifting around autonomously I suggest seeking medical attention or, perhaps, an exorcist. I'd also note here the fact that there's a scene where Suzy is crying and you're comforting her and the game chooses to focus on a panty shot.
- I do wish there was more diversity in the sense of gender when it comes to the romance options. Other kinds of diversity are given respectable amounts of attention, but out of the 20+ love interests and side flings, there's only one gay option, and one trans woman. Every other option is a cis woman. I prefer men myself, so it was pretty noticeable to me.
- There's some fetishisation of bisexuality/lesbianism, with lots of mentions of "lesbian experiments". Overall, there are quite a lot of "I fuck women because you, the male protagonist, find it hot, but I don't actually like women" undertones to certain characters' dialogue.
- The dirty talk in NSFW scenes is pretty same-y, with some exceptions. A lot of the characters drop the same phrases and words, which is fine because, I mean, it's hot, but it does start to get repetitive.
- There are some typos, spelling errors, and mistakes between past and present tense, but not so much that it's distracting. There are also some continuity errors, such as having the option to tell Reba you believe in God, but later getting automatic dialogue with Ms. Welsh where the protagonist states he doesn't believe in God and that he instead believes in science. Another is that the protagonist's username in Brandi's Twitch chat is 'BurgerBuddy' at the start and then inexplicably becomes 'BurgerBoy'. There was one instance of the wrong colour and character name used for another character's dialogue, though apparently I didn't note down which one. It's worth noting, though, that the game is still in early access, so it's understandable.
- Jaime's route contains the use of "Asperger's syndrome", which is an outdated term that isn't used or diagnosed anymore. It would just be Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
- Brandi hits that strange trope of "skinny girl who eats a ton and that's sexy because she's Hot And Thin (and a fat character eating a lot wouldn't be sexy)". You're telling me this woman eats 14/15 burgers at a time and she's still model slim? And why is the dialogue telling me she has a "thick ass"? This chick is skinny.
- The male protagonist has sex with a lesbian side character. Again, not something that doesn't happen in real life, exactly, but when it's not being written by a lesbian...
Neutral/Varied:
- The voice acting is spotty in places; Jamie's in particular is patchy and very "reading from a script" rather than sounding natural, with some strange enunciations/emphasis. A lot of the VA work is trying a little too hard to sound 'porn sexy' and hits too close to unnatural. The rest are generally fine; Suzy is notably good, and Mrs. Mills is great - her voice actress fully commits to it and I respect it. Mi-Cha is a little so-so at points, but she sounds so cute that I can't be bothered by it.
Positive:
- This game has some really great diversity in all respects other than gender identity. The love interests include black women with natural hair and dreadlocks, brown women, Asian women, a disabled woman in a wheelchair, a girl with a terminal illness, and older women (both mothers and grandmothers included). Shoutout to the body types of said older women, too - though all the younger women tend to generally fall into the category of 'slim', Lisa and Connie have very realistic body types for their characters.
- I'm refreshed and relieved by the fact that, in my experience so far, Adrian being a trans woman isn't treated as a fetish at all. The fact that her name is Adrian is a little questionable (trans women absolutely can have unisex or masculine names, but when it's the only trans character written by a cis author it invites some caution), but other than that she's, as far as I can tell, written empathetically and respectfully. Maybe this changes later in the updated content, I'm not far in her route in my replay, but hopefully not.
- The characters have a super wide range of personalities and romance/relationship types. There'll probably be at least one dynamic and person that's up your alley.
- I really love that the protagonist cries during a counselling session. Especially with how I mentioned my feeling that he's a very generic 'cishet male gamer' centered design, it was refreshing and great to have him openly show emotion and 'weakness'. I think that's super important for men to be able to do.
- Brandi's Twitch chat was such a fun feature, with being able to see dozens of comments each scene. There's the single somewhat annoying element of there being an ad for the game in the form of a commenter who's always advertising it to the Twitch chat (why? We're already playing the game), which could have just been a fun nod if not for the fact that in my game so far I've already counted it happening 12 separate times. I'd take that down a notch. Other than that, though, it's a really fun addition, and I liked seeing the returning commenters/characters each stream, especially when you have the chance to meet some of them in person.
- The interface. I love the interface. One of the biggest issues I have playing visual novels is I'm incredibly picky with interfaces, the dialogue font/speed, menus, etc., and Come Home's is so clean and useful and easy to navigate. It's changed a lot since the first time I played through the game, definitely for the better.
- Bai coming out to his parents made me super emotional. It was such a lovely scene to include after I've had to sit through so many stories in all forms of media with rough coming-outs. I really, really appreciated the handling of that.
- The protagonist's monologue to Terry after he hits Dana is great (at least, it was in my playthrough; the options I chose to get the scene were "Get Dana and leave" -> "She doesn't want you" -> "Grab him and yell at him"). It wasn't giving 'saviour complex' vibes like some 'rescuing a woman from an abusive relationship' stories do, but it was cathartic and important.
- Polyamory representation! Sure, there's the low-key kind where the love interests are generally fine with you having other partners at least for now, but there are also straight-up polyamorous relationships included. Eden and her husband have an open relationship, and there's also a polyamorous triad between Suzy, Tammy, and the protagonist if you pursue either of the girls, with it made clear that all three of you have feelings for one another.
- Most importantly, and I really do want to emphasise this: the amount of content given out for free by RJ Rhodes with Come Home is insane. I forked out for the purchasable Premium Edition because, damn, she deserves it, and I thought the bonus outfits were a cute enough addition to warrant it. But even with the free version of the game, you are getting hours and hours of gameplay, plot, romance, character development, enjoyment, options, all for absolutely nothing. The amount of work that's gone into this game is a little mind-blowing.
Favourite Male Character: Bai
Favourite Female Character: Mi-Cha
First Character I Liked: Bai
Favourite Character Design: Whitney
Favourite Moment: So far, Bai's coming out scene
Least Favourite Character: You already know it's the protagonist
I'll get the criticisms out of the way first:
- This is likely entirely a me problem, and this is a very specific nitpick I have, but I cannot describe how much I resent this protagonist. As far as I can tell, the creator is a woman of colour, and the cast of characters is in general very diverse and interesting, but the main character is the most boring, generic, milqetoast-end-slice-of-white-bread guy I've ever seen. Whenever his model appears in a scene I have to actively pretend he's not there in order to stay in the mood of the moment because good god he's not attractive at all, and he's even less relatable. I'm guessing the creator just went for The Most Average Man In The World for the sake of male players being more likely to find him viable as a self-insert, but it leaves all the rest of us (and I say this as a white man myself, just not one who looks anything like this guy) in the lurch. I can understand not being able to create your own protagonist, but at that point I'd actively prefer not seeing his face and just having him appear in scenes from the neck down, from the back, having NSFW scenes be in first-person, whatever. A lot of them are in first-person, so I'm not sure why it's not consistent. It's very difficult to believe that the entire town is chasing this guy's dick.
- The game has some surprisingly "straight man"-esque writing from a female author, if you know what I mean; the type of thing that comes from books written by men trying to write an Attractive Female Character. Some quotes that stood out are "She was wearing a crop top her breasts constantly threatened to spill out of" about Kendra, and "I can see her breasts shift around underneath her dress" about a teacher. That doesn't generally happen, and if your breasts are shifting around autonomously I suggest seeking medical attention or, perhaps, an exorcist. I'd also note here the fact that there's a scene where Suzy is crying and you're comforting her and the game chooses to focus on a panty shot.
- I do wish there was more diversity in the sense of gender when it comes to the romance options. Other kinds of diversity are given respectable amounts of attention, but out of the 20+ love interests and side flings, there's only one gay option, and one trans woman. Every other option is a cis woman. I prefer men myself, so it was pretty noticeable to me.
- There's some fetishisation of bisexuality/lesbianism, with lots of mentions of "lesbian experiments". Overall, there are quite a lot of "I fuck women because you, the male protagonist, find it hot, but I don't actually like women" undertones to certain characters' dialogue.
- The dirty talk in NSFW scenes is pretty same-y, with some exceptions. A lot of the characters drop the same phrases and words, which is fine because, I mean, it's hot, but it does start to get repetitive.
- There are some typos, spelling errors, and mistakes between past and present tense, but not so much that it's distracting. There are also some continuity errors, such as having the option to tell Reba you believe in God, but later getting automatic dialogue with Ms. Welsh where the protagonist states he doesn't believe in God and that he instead believes in science. Another is that the protagonist's username in Brandi's Twitch chat is 'BurgerBuddy' at the start and then inexplicably becomes 'BurgerBoy'. There was one instance of the wrong colour and character name used for another character's dialogue, though apparently I didn't note down which one. It's worth noting, though, that the game is still in early access, so it's understandable.
- Jaime's route contains the use of "Asperger's syndrome", which is an outdated term that isn't used or diagnosed anymore. It would just be Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
- Brandi hits that strange trope of "skinny girl who eats a ton and that's sexy because she's Hot And Thin (and a fat character eating a lot wouldn't be sexy)". You're telling me this woman eats 14/15 burgers at a time and she's still model slim? And why is the dialogue telling me she has a "thick ass"? This chick is skinny.
- The male protagonist has sex with a lesbian side character. Again, not something that doesn't happen in real life, exactly, but when it's not being written by a lesbian...
Neutral/Varied:
- The voice acting is spotty in places; Jamie's in particular is patchy and very "reading from a script" rather than sounding natural, with some strange enunciations/emphasis. A lot of the VA work is trying a little too hard to sound 'porn sexy' and hits too close to unnatural. The rest are generally fine; Suzy is notably good, and Mrs. Mills is great - her voice actress fully commits to it and I respect it. Mi-Cha is a little so-so at points, but she sounds so cute that I can't be bothered by it.
Positive:
- This game has some really great diversity in all respects other than gender identity. The love interests include black women with natural hair and dreadlocks, brown women, Asian women, a disabled woman in a wheelchair, a girl with a terminal illness, and older women (both mothers and grandmothers included). Shoutout to the body types of said older women, too - though all the younger women tend to generally fall into the category of 'slim', Lisa and Connie have very realistic body types for their characters.
- I'm refreshed and relieved by the fact that, in my experience so far, Adrian being a trans woman isn't treated as a fetish at all. The fact that her name is Adrian is a little questionable (trans women absolutely can have unisex or masculine names, but when it's the only trans character written by a cis author it invites some caution), but other than that she's, as far as I can tell, written empathetically and respectfully. Maybe this changes later in the updated content, I'm not far in her route in my replay, but hopefully not.
- The characters have a super wide range of personalities and romance/relationship types. There'll probably be at least one dynamic and person that's up your alley.
- I really love that the protagonist cries during a counselling session. Especially with how I mentioned my feeling that he's a very generic 'cishet male gamer' centered design, it was refreshing and great to have him openly show emotion and 'weakness'. I think that's super important for men to be able to do.
- Brandi's Twitch chat was such a fun feature, with being able to see dozens of comments each scene. There's the single somewhat annoying element of there being an ad for the game in the form of a commenter who's always advertising it to the Twitch chat (why? We're already playing the game), which could have just been a fun nod if not for the fact that in my game so far I've already counted it happening 12 separate times. I'd take that down a notch. Other than that, though, it's a really fun addition, and I liked seeing the returning commenters/characters each stream, especially when you have the chance to meet some of them in person.
- The interface. I love the interface. One of the biggest issues I have playing visual novels is I'm incredibly picky with interfaces, the dialogue font/speed, menus, etc., and Come Home's is so clean and useful and easy to navigate. It's changed a lot since the first time I played through the game, definitely for the better.
- Bai coming out to his parents made me super emotional. It was such a lovely scene to include after I've had to sit through so many stories in all forms of media with rough coming-outs. I really, really appreciated the handling of that.
- The protagonist's monologue to Terry after he hits Dana is great (at least, it was in my playthrough; the options I chose to get the scene were "Get Dana and leave" -> "She doesn't want you" -> "Grab him and yell at him"). It wasn't giving 'saviour complex' vibes like some 'rescuing a woman from an abusive relationship' stories do, but it was cathartic and important.
- Polyamory representation! Sure, there's the low-key kind where the love interests are generally fine with you having other partners at least for now, but there are also straight-up polyamorous relationships included. Eden and her husband have an open relationship, and there's also a polyamorous triad between Suzy, Tammy, and the protagonist if you pursue either of the girls, with it made clear that all three of you have feelings for one another.
- Most importantly, and I really do want to emphasise this: the amount of content given out for free by RJ Rhodes with Come Home is insane. I forked out for the purchasable Premium Edition because, damn, she deserves it, and I thought the bonus outfits were a cute enough addition to warrant it. But even with the free version of the game, you are getting hours and hours of gameplay, plot, romance, character development, enjoyment, options, all for absolutely nothing. The amount of work that's gone into this game is a little mind-blowing.
Favourite Male Character: Bai
Favourite Female Character: Mi-Cha
First Character I Liked: Bai
Favourite Character Design: Whitney
Favourite Moment: So far, Bai's coming out scene
Least Favourite Character: You already know it's the protagonist