Homebody is a time loop throwback to PlayStation horror games

Horror is a huge genre, ranging from blood-soaked slasher movies to weird and cerebral campfire tales. Roommatepublished by Rogue Games and developed by Dream Daddy: a dating simulator for dads studio Game Grumps, leans towards the latter. I take on the role of Emily, a young woman with agoraphobia – an isolating, suffocating fear of leaving your safe place and uncomfortable, embarrassing or uncomfortable experiences.

I’m in an isolated house full of friends, rented for years by an eccentric writer, when the power goes out unexpectedly. After a few jokes about the atmosphere of a horror movie, I check the power box, which is strangely empty – there are only two cords, one to the attic and one to the basement. These are also parts of the house that we are not allowed to enter by the absent homeowner. Just as I’m resigning myself to checking the basement, I’m stabbed to death by a mysterious masked figure.

But then the clock turns and I’ve just arrived back at the house. I try to bring up this experience with my friends through dialogue trees when we chat, but no matter how hard I try to warn them – it just gets filtered into banal small talk. Roommate mixes the primal fear of one’s life with the much less intense (but more relatable) fear of awkward conversations, strained friendships, and people being mad at you.

Roommate joyfully takes inspiration from survival horror games of the PlayStation era, with fixed camera angles and polygonal graphics. Emily isn’t gifted in combat, which is why my best option for dealing with the killer is to just hide in a closet or run away. Underline cutscenes and flashbacks Roommate, portraying Emily’s social anxiety. She’s been self-isolating for the past year, and it’s a growing source of resentment for her friends.

To make matters worse, the gentleman who owns the house my friends rented is eccentric. There are locks and keypads everywhere. On a desk I find a note that corresponds to a mailbox; when I open that I find a color code, which can be used to modify a machine in the basement to open another door.

These puzzle chains are the challenge of Roommate; I must find clues and solve riddles while dealing with the pressure of evading a masked killer. When I die, the clock rolls back to the beginning of the night. However, I keep my memories, which are conveniently sorted and cataloged in a memory log. As I progress, the time loop begins to break. Other characters give signals that they too are aware of the terrible fate that awaits them. The killer shows up earlier in the evening and breaks the routine.

Image: Game Grumps/Rogue Games

The masked killer and the creepy house are just one more reason to explore the tension between Emily, her agoraphobia, and her friends. As such, Roommate is not about the immediate fear of being stabbed, but about the slow decay and isolation caused by her agoraphobia. The game plays on the fear of being reunited with people who may be angry with you, and worse, their feelings may be warranted. As Emily struggles to survive the killer, she must also endure the ordeal of honest relationships with friends she’s hurt.

While the writing is intriguing, the mechanics can be tricky at times. The fixed camera and tank controls often caused me to wander around a door and inadvertently go back and forth between two rooms. There’s also only one master volume bar in the settings, which is inconvenient if the sound effects are a bit too loud. Half of Emily’s group of friends feel a little redundant, like they’re just there to complete the cast. A few friends end up playing important roles in Emily’s past, and her catharsis comes from exploring those relationships. Others in the house are only there to comment on the relationships that matter, before being murdered to ramp up the tension. As such, it feels like there’s a little too much padding between the setup and the payoff of this particular story.

These minor but persistent issues aren’t deal breakers, but they do lessen the tension. Roommate didn’t scare me to the core, but I still felt compelled to reveal its secrets, and it only takes a few hours to complete. The plot leaves key points open to interpretation, and as such, this is the kind of game I’ll be processing for quite some time. It’s not the same kind of horror as jump scares or gory deaths, but it’s unnerving nonetheless.

Roommate was released on June 1 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PC using a download code from Rogue Games. Vox Media has partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy here.