You play as Tim (an everyman in every sense of the word) whose dealing with the loss of his wife: Jane, who’s recently disappeared without a trace. The narrative of Home Sweet Home is steeped heavily in Thai folklore, dealing with the customs and taboos surrounding the paranormal (spirits, demons, curses etc.) while following a story relatively simple in nature. Horror steeped in folklore will always hold an unmatched layer of fear to anyone outside of the belief structure of the media’s cultural origin, something that Thai VR developer: Yggdrazil Group has attempted to follow with their first video game outing: Home Sweet Home.
However, it wasn’t the pre-Y2K era visuals and similar plot tropes to the 2002 western remake that made the film so scary, but rather the mysticism surrounding the demon: Sadako, and how the main characters Reiko and Ryūji discovered the fate that befell the child (which deals far more with the paranormal when compared to its western counterpart). Loosely based on the 18th-Century Japanese ghost story: Banchō Sarayashiki, Hideo Nakata’s Ringu stands as a testament to the power of Eastern horror, standing as one of the most terrifying films ever made. Whether it’s down to the cultural differences or the alternative approach in cinematography, Asian horror has the capacity to terrify western audiences, drilling the fear of the unknown deep into the psyche of its viewership, far more so than any western horror has been capable of doing in recent years largely in part due to the Western market’s incessant focus on remaking a lot of classic titles from other countries and failing miserably (the American remake of the 2007 Spanish cult-horror: REC was hilariously bad).
Having only released on the UK PSN store on May 31st, I’m going to be giving my verdict on the time I’ve spent with the indie horror title, showcasing the positives and deconstructing the negatives, ultimately discussing whether it’s worth your time and money at the £24.99 asking price (EU PSN Store).įrom Park Chan-wook’s neo-noir revenge thriller: Oldboy, to the terrifying 1998 cult-horror: Ringu by Hideo Nakata there’s something subliminally terrifying about Asian cinema which has not only raised the bar for the medium as a whole, but has allowed it to stand on its own as a force to be reckoned with within contemporary media. Having released initially via Steam in September 2017, the indie horror title is the foundation of a new series, focusing on exploring Thai folklore, following disgruntled everyman: Tim who is dealing with the mysterious disappearance of his wife Jane, only to find himself stuck in a nightmarish reality in an attempt to track her down. Hailing from Bangkok, Thailand is indie VR dev: Yggdrazil Group with their spooky, folklore-laden VR horror title: Home Sweet Home. “You start to play it and it’s like somebody’s nightmare…”
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