Invoking memories of Kentucky Route Zero, Humble Grove‘s No Longer Home is an incredibly fascinating story all about the process of letting go of the past and moving on. No Longer Home is a semi-autobiographical narrative point-and-click adventure game that feels and looks extremely similar to other recent games in the genre.
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No Longer Home follows two non-binary roommates named Bo and Ao, who share a flat in London. They are both preparing to move out after graduating from University and are struggling “to find work and meaning in post-education life,” as Humble Grove puts it. The setting perfectly captures what college-aged living is like, with the mess and clutter that felt extremely nostalgic for me.
The game is a point-and-click narrative game, so you should expect going in to simply be pointing and clicking your way through the story as the lives of Bo and Ao unravel before your eyes. You can rotate the camera around to view things from a different perspective as well as interact with many of the items in the different locations.
The biggest thing to note about the story and the world it takes place in is that it manages to feel incredibly authentic. It feels like you are in the room with real people facing real problems, which at times can be a little unsettling with how familiar it will feel for many players. I felt some of my own personal struggles were being identified and handled throughout the game, which for some can be painful to have to relive mentally. There is also a constant eeriness and anxiety that was difficult to deal with at times, but the pacing made it very manageable. Those familiar feelings help make the story really impactful personally, and the way it is all packaged helps.
No Longer Home would probably feel pretty boring if it was purely just a college life simulator, though. There are supernatural elements mixed in throughout that manage to make the story more intriguing without ever feeling too extreme. One of those supernatural elements is Lu, who looks like something out of a classic Jim Henson movie if Jim Henson was on LSD when he created it. Well, maybe more LSD than normal. Lu also basically just lies around and chills; the combination of strange looks and lazy vibes really feels like they created a perfect character to represent me, which is why I absolutely love Lu.
Speaking of how things look, the low poly art style in No Longer Home is absolutely perfect. It is a style we tend to see often in games of this genre, but it also just seems to always work. Each character feels distinct, even if all of the people are faceless except for noses and the occasional bits of facial hair. The way colors and lighting are used is perfect, and each location feels incredibly unique. The way the rooms change when you rotate them is also a fascinating design choice to watch in action. If anything, my only complaint here would be that I wish each location had a bit more to explore in them. That’s mostly just me being greedy, though; what we get is still incredibly well made.
As always, it wouldn’t be a review from me if it didn’t include commentary on the music. Music almost always makes or breaks a game for me, which is why the soundtrack for No Longer Home was so important to me. I found that the music constantly added to the feelings of anxiety and eeriness but also helped make the normal interactions feel so much more, well, normal. Again, I wouldn’t call any of the music in the game groundbreaking, but it perfectly fits with the rest of the narrative and design choices.
No Longer Home is an authentic and often unsettling story about the process of moving out and moving on. Of course, every player will take something different away from their experience playing, but it is an experience that I highly recommend. With beautiful designs, excellent characters, and a great soundtrack, No Longer Home is well worth picking up.
No Longer Home is out now on PC.
