There are many flavors of survival-style games. From the wild sci-fi setting of Ark: Survival Evolved to the voxel stylings of Minecraft, there are many settings to be dropped in with nothing but your wits and whatever is around you. Whether it be giant cities built precisely to your vision, or a collection of disposable camps made hastily under pressure, this robust genre offers many ways and settings for players to express themselves. No Place Like Home by Chicken Launcher takes this formula and mixes it up with some post-apocalyptic charm.
The denizens of Earth have left for Mars and you are among the few left behind. Unfortunately, the planet you’ve inherited is full of garbage. To build a thriving home just like the previous residents of earth, you’ll need to knock it all down in order to build it back up again. While loose rubble can be picked up and used immediately, some towering monuments of sturdy junk require you to knock them over and suck them up into your backpack Luigi’s Mansion style. Your vacuum pack stores everything from debris to, to fruits and veggies, to water, so make sure you’re sucking up everything you can.
That isn’t the only thing left behind, however. You’ll also need to find the various livestock animals left behind by Earth’s former residents in order to build up your own farm. After befriending new animals, you’ll be able to nickname them and even dress them up with funny hats that you can find with the animal. This makes discovering animals within the debris fun and engaging, as there are a ton of items you can find to liven up your livestock. Animals and other fun items aren’t the only things lurking within the landfill that is Earth, however.
Lurking in the piles of refuse are killer maintenance bots, left behind just as you were. Without their original creators or directives, they’ve become less helpful and more like psychotic WALL-E clones. While some show themselves quicker than others, they can always end up surprising you while you’re foraging for items. The fact that they hide in the very trash piles you’re meant to break open gives the world a dangerous quality. Once you’re done with a foraging session, you’ll be able to put everything you’ve found together back at your base.
Base-building is free form and natural-feeling in No Place Like Home. The 3rd person camera is immersive as you explore and then build your settlement up with the junk you’ve found. Creating structures and corralling livestock is a simple and streamlined experience that can be done with just a few button presses. Instead of putting it all together piece-by-piece, you place the required items into a device that makes a ready-made deployable structure, which you’re able to place anywhere on your land.
While building up your structures is important, you’ll also need to cultivate the land for farming. Using your handy backpack tool, some seeds and water from the various lakes and streams you’ll find, you’ll soon have a small farmstead you can call your home. You’re also able to decorate the interior of your house, which can be filled with all sorts of craft-able furniture. New rooms will also unlock in your house as you complete missions given to you by a few NPC’s who were left behind like you. This all adds to the charm of the experience of No Place Like Home, which leaves Early Access on March 17th.
Preview code given by PR. Check out the Early Access for No Place Like Home on Steam today!
