Home for the Heart (PC)

Source: Screen Capture from Game

Home for the Heart is a Visual Novel(VN) style game created by Ran. You play as Celine (the name is default, but you can change it), who is in trouble. Celine recently lost her scholarship after failing to keep her grades up due to her family problems. Not only that, but she’s gotten kicked out of the dormitory because she’s been unable to pay her rent! 

Celine’s parents were also both recently put out of work, leaving Celine out of ideas, and preparing to be homeless. Luckily, Celine’s best friend Lyle has connections, and manages to get her a place to stay with an acquaintance of hers named Joshua, and his cousin Philippe. Reluctantly, Celine accepts. 

Joshua and Philippe are like sibling rivals, but meaner. Phillipe has always been treated like a son by Josh’s parents, and Joshua resents that Philippe is seen as more of desirable child. They fight, a lot. In fact, they really seem to genuinely hate each other at times.  With all this fighting, and poor Celine stuck in the middle… how will she survive?

 Source: Screen Capture from Game

We help Celine go through her school life and home life, trying to stay sane. The game plays in typical VN style, and the pacing is good. I rather like both of the male characters, Josh and Phil. The sprite art is adorable and the backgrounds and beautiful and detailed. 

After everything, I ended up with Joshua… even though I kind of liked Philippe more. I don’t know if it’s possible to get another ending or not. I’m not saying that Joshua’s story wasn’t enjoyable—because it was. I enjoyed the story to the end. There are/were grammatical errors in the game, and in my typical fashion, I sent them off to the developers in hope that they can be corrected. I hate to see games be docked for poor grammar or spelling, so I try to help when I can. 

Source: Screen Capture from Game

The only really problem I had with the game was the text color. It made it difficult to read at times, having such light text on light background. It wasn’t impossible to read, but it certainly caused a strain on my eyes after a while. 

Overall, I liked the experience of the game. The game has its flaws (as we all do) but I felt the flaws weren’t glaring enough to keep me from enjoying the game.  Please feel free to try the game for yourself, free from Itch.io *here*!

Thanks for sharing your time with me, and Happy Gaming!

Bell