The only thing more nightmarish than being locked in a horror house with a mysterious killer who is stabbing all your friends to death is waking up and realizing you have to live it all over again. 

That is how Homebody—a survival-horror puzzle game developed by Game Grumps—begins. The game is soaked in nostalgia that will remind you of 2000s-era games, along with 80s slasher films.  

In Homebody, you take on the role of Emily, an anxious and agoraphobic millennial who drives to meet up with friends at an isolated house to watch the Perseid meteor shower. Like many people, Emily suffers from social anxiety and has isolated herself from her friends prior to the start of the game. The game opens up with her pulled over on the side of the road trying not to have a panic attack at the idea of arriving late to a house filled with people who might be mad at her. With a reassuring word from her friend Laura—the game's text reads “you’re fine. You’re safe. They miss you"—Emily starts her car and continues her drive. It’s a scene that hits close to home for the socially anxious—sometimes you’d rather die than have to endure awkward silences and shallow conversations. 

You arrive at the house your friends rented for the weekend, which is a peculiar residence somewhere in rural Pennsylvania that’s owned by an eccentric writer named Parker Nest. You plug in the code to open the gate and your friends greet you on the porch. You have time to mill about the house and experience the choice-driven dialogue before the lights suddenly go out. This leaves you to hopelessly watch on as a masked killer takes out your friends before stabbing you to death as well. That’s when the clock rewinds and you start back again by the front door as though nothing has happened. Emily, dazed and confused, immediately realizes that something is wrong—and other characters eventually begin to catch on too

This is where the majority of Homebody’s gameplay comes in. There are keypads, strange pressure pumps, locks, and wires everywhere; you need to figure out how to work them in order to unlock new clues and areas. Previously unsolvable puzzles all begin to make sense after you explore different parts of the house. The game also has a very helpful “memory log” that saves snapshots of important clues for your reference.

One thing that really grabbed me is how the game weaves in humor with its darker tone. There's a part in the game where Emily discovers a flooded mall beneath the house. Despite this, one of the interactables in the area is labelled "look at the silly chicken." 

It’s here that the killer begins to take on a more metaphorical form. What is anxiety if not fear of the unknown, and what is scarier than a masked murderer who may or may not be human? Homebody never really gives you any concrete answers about certain things, instead relying on surrealism and eerie dream logic to pose existential questions. 

The whole game can be taken as absurdist commentary on the crushing loneliness of social isolation, and how much fear the brain invents when suffering from anxiety disorder. All in all, Homebody is an excellent addition to the horror genre that is a must play for anyone who isn’t afraid to explore the unexplainable. Homebody is available now on the Epic Games Store.