A sad story, turned into a relatively simple point and click game, or a choose your own emotion adventure, I'm still not entirely sure. Home Story: 1971 by Justwo Games doesn't sit easily in simple pigeonholes.
A great use of colour and excellent background music give this short game a relaxed, almost melancholy air. There are no bullets flying or monsters chasing you, allowing you to stroll through it, enjoying the view. While there is nothing ground breaking, and the puzzles won't tax any regular point n clicker, it is a solid, reliable game that deserves recognition for a job well done.
Theme warning from Bindie: Heavily focused on death and dealing with grief. Play Home Story: 1971
An immensely sad but beautiful game...really enjoyed it.
I wouldn't say "heavily" focused on death. There is the tone, yes, but it's not thrown in your face. Also, why is it rated XP? There is no gore, no swearing, no violence, no scary, nothing so "in your face" that it should be given a XP rating, :O would feel more at home here.
As I played this game, I couldn't stop thinking about friends of ours who recently lost their son, and I know that they would find a game like this incredibly confronting. Perhaps 'heavily focused' is an overstatement though. I wouldn't want to turn anyone off this beautiful little game.
I changed the rating but keep the theme warning.
Thanks.
any chance of a walkthrough soon?
Hi Paul, the game creators have a linked video walkthrough here if that helps. Or if you wanted a text walkthrough I could try and write one tomorrow.
a text walkthrough will work better for me.
Walthrough - Home Story
Jamie's Room
Inspect the tray in the bottom right. It has a fragment of a photograph. You will need to find more fragments scattered throughout the room. Note the poster in the top-left - you will need it for a later puzzle. Pick up the shovel by the left-hand side of the right-hand side of the dresser on the right side of the room.
Hallways
Exit your room and find yourself in the hallway. Click the lower photo hanging in the middle of the room to reveal
a red 5, part of the code for a later puzzle.
Find a photo piece hiding behind another hanging photo on the right side of the room. Head to your right. Try to enter the bathroom and Dad will ask you for toilet paper. You will find it
locked inside the dresser in this room, but you need the code to open it.
Open the bottom drawer of the dresser in the middle of this room to find another photo piece, and turn on the lamp to reveal
a yellow 6 as a digit for the dresser code.
Now head right two more times.
Kitchen
You will find another digit for the code on a note on the fridge.
It is a 2 for the blue digit.
You should now have the full code for the dresser puzzle, so head back to the left two times and enter it:
5 for red, 2 for blue, and 6 for yellow.
Obtain the toilet paper and use it on the bathroom door. Move one screen away and come back to find the bathroom door ajar. Open it and go inside.
Bathroom
Grab the metal disc on the left wall, the flashlight and photo piece inside the medicine cabinet, and the hooked stick hidden behind the shower curtain.
Kitchen
Navigate back to the kitchen and open the cabinet under the sink. Fit the metal disc in and solve the puzzle.
The discs must have their dots match up with the corresponding color arrow. Match the middle disc first, then the innermost, and finally outermost to open it.
Find a photo piece and a handle inside. Use the handle on the bottom drawer to find the 6th birthday tape.
Den
Move one screen to the left and give the tape to the father. It will evoke memories of the two of you playing in the sandbox and he will hand you a key to go outside.
Outside
Move one screen right and use the key to open the door and go outside. Click on the sandbox and dig in the appropriate place to uncover batteries. Hint: does the layout look familiar?
It will match one of the four layouts you saw in the picture in your bedroom. Find which one it matches and dig in the right spot. See here for a quick reference.
Use the batteries on the flashlight. Interact with the "Simone" toy next to the sandbox to find another photo piece inside. You will need to copy the sequence of lights. The sequence varies from player to player, but one example is:
Green.
Green, blue.
Green, blue, blue.
Green, blue, blue, green.
Green, blue, blue, green, red.
Green, blue, blue, green, red, green.
etc...
Attic
Go back to the second hallway with the bathroom and use the hooked stick on the trapdoor in the ceiling to gain access to the attic. Use the flashlight so you can see, and pick up the tape in the right side of the screen and the photo piece in the bottom right corner. Note the Roman numerals on the floor and move your mouse over them to find a clue for the time...
The stars match up at "II" and "VII".
Den
Set the clock to the combination you found in the attic, that is 2:35. A photo piece will drop out.
Jamie's Room
Go back to Jamie's room and assemble the missing photo pieces. They will snap in place when lined up properly. Use the tape to fix it up, then bring the photo to Mom's room, the other door by the bathroom. She will give you a key to Jack's room.
Ending
Enter Jack's Room with the key. Read the letter on his bed and enjoy the touching ending.
This is a very sweet, touching story. Thank you!
In the attic I found that the stars match with: III , II and V
Which is the pattern to leads to 2.35 ??????
They are supposed to match
one with II and one with VII.
You might want to double-check to make sure they are in perfect alignment. Some are close but not quite.
Thank you, but...
...there are THREE stars, light blue/red (match with V), yellow/red (match with II) and light blue/yellow (match with III). Where is the connection with 2.35 ??? Perhaps II.III V ?? In that case, why not II III.V (23.05 = 11.05)??? Or III.II V (3.25) ???
I think, you're right.
Initially, I thought that the 3 stars give you another code for the drawer downstairs (because of the colours :D)...
But
yes, it's for the clock and there are definitely 3 stars, you can match up:
From left to right, you get II, III and V and accordingly 2, 3, 5 which translates to 2:35 (or 02:35), so move the hour hand to II (2) and the minute hand to VII (7) for the "35 minutes".
Hope this clears everything up finally. :)
Touching story,I have lost a brother so I know how loss, grief and struggle to acceptance works, it changes you and how perceive everything.
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