RPGM - Completed - The Way Home [Final] [Travelling-Cat Camp]

Game is small but amazing! Every scenario is beautifully drawn, the eerie atmosphere and dark illustrations really pull you into the scary mood of the game, the characters are well drawn and the variation in expressions and clothing is noticeable, there are many hidden things and interactions to discover and the parts with challenges and mechanics are fairly well balanced, although there are no explicit scenes the nudity in it is well done. Really worth it.

Please check the spoiler directly below this to understand the review.
AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE: I've 100% the game.

STORY:

Spoiler: yap+spoilers for the whole game

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I think the story is quite interesting. Not a lot of H-games utilize paranormal activities in their game, usually when they introduce something that isn't real it's some specially-made sex machine. The ending has closure and there are ways that you can re-direct the story, which isn't too common, especially for games that aren't RPGs. I'll give it a high-quality 0.6 stars. There are some sections of the story that are a tad forced, clearly for sexual reasons and there could've been one or two more choices in select scenes but overall, it's great!
ORIGINALITY: Supernatural activities and hentai are usually quite separated from each other, which makes it quite unique that the game manages to combine them both well enough without just outright adding ghost sex. I also haven't seen most events that happen in this game that happen in any other game, which makes this a separate experience from any other game, originality-wise. That's why I think this deserves a high 0.25 stars.

DIFFICULTY: The game is actually quite simple to understand. If you're a pea-brained toddler then even you will find the controls given to you quite easy to grasp, and the tutorials for them aren't confusing. The areas where you use these mechanics are really easy though once you work out what to do, but that's expected for a puzzle game. That also means that there's no replay value. And that's the thing though, there is a skill ceiling and it's not that high. The puzzles aren't too difficult is what I mean. The Way Home would benefit way more, if they for some reason go back and add more levels, if they decided to implement a more challenging process in beating the game. Still, I wasn't even expecting too much difficulty to start with since the game focuses on atmosphere so I'll chuck the rating in the middle. 0.12 stars.
ENGAGEMENT: As stated before in the difficulty section, this game uses puzzles as it's main form of engagement. This is slightly unique compared to other forms of engagement commonly used, so I'll give the devs that. There are a couple of mechanics, introduced as the days go by and some of these puzzles have no explanation, forcing you to figure out on your own which is nice. The elephant in the room though is the fact there is only a few mechanics as stated before, making these puzzles feel bland. A more accurate description is that you're forced into a perspective, rather than being able to analyze it your own way. This reason is what makes me give it a 0.05 star rating. It's somewhat special and has it's moments, but it's not enjoyable in any particular way that strikes out. Maybe I just don't like puzzle games, I'm not too sure myself.
OVERWORLD: There are NPCs, landmarks and stuff of the like in the overworld while you walk to the bathhouse and back. This slight interactability made it easier for me to absorb the atmosphere and setting of the game. There are also some small little nifty easter eggs and interactions that might seem negligible, but really helped the playability of the game and gave me a closer look at the protags personality. Overall, I like the overworld a lot, especially since it's visually different than most other RPGM games. 0.25 stars.
LENGTH: The Way Home plays pretty short, about one and a half hours of playtime to get an ending, and two hours or more to get the other one and unlock all the scenes. IMO, the scene-image ratio is very balanced, which makes the quite short length of the game actually great! It didn't feel like the scenes and CG were cramped in, nor did it feel like I was gonna sleep waiting for the next scene. I think that's because the scenes aren't too intense and the protag keeps her cool for the entirety of the game. This makes me give it a great 0.25 stars.
PERFORMANCE: The game is surprisingly mid storage for an RPGM, especially for a non-traditional one. Also, there were no errors with general performance, which was shocking, especially for using the RPGM engine. Bug-wise though, sometimes you can get stuck when you're running next to the wall, even though nothing is blocking you. This fact forced me to reset a couple times. Other than that I see no wrong, and the bug is avoidable, so 0.25 stars.

ART QUALITY: The quality of the art on this game is high. There is good blending, shading, highlights, detail and texture while conforming to the traditional 2dcg anime artstyle. And by good, I don't mean great. The ceiling definitely hasn't been touched yet, but even still it's high quality art. Also, I have to give just a little bit of extra props for the way how the grotesque visions and even the human-like background characters are drawn. I think what's scary about those background characters is that they reach the uncanny valley, except the anime version, which only makes it harder to achieve. I think the art being able to strike fear gives this category the push for a full rating. 0.75 stars.
SCENE QUALITY: The quality of the scenes, if you put it all together is average. The amount of scenes is great, the amount of images within the scenes though balances it out. There are no animations whatsoever, and there are a minor amount of sound effects and great ambience which brings it back up a bit. There was definitely room for more use of sfx and images, and though animation I'd say isn't too needed, it would still 100% be appreciated if they were in the game. Based on what we have though, I think it's not far-fetched to say this is a 0.25 star rating.
VARIETY: This game is extremely closed off when it comes to fetishes. The major kink we have nudity and exhibitionism, both voluntary and involuntary. It's not explored though, it's more like it happens. Then it kinda descends to the minor stuff like sexual assault/groping and sexual harassment. Because of the game having these quite shallow kinks, if you did a bit of tweaking you could pass it off as a completely normal, non-sexual game. I know the game has a main focus on gameplay and atmosphere instead of sexual activities, I can't help but dislike it. 0.1 stars. It would 100% be lower if the game's focus was on ero instead, but it isn't so I'm gonna be a bit lenient.

DIALOGUE: The characters in this game are easily distinguishable from their dialogue and way of speaking, which is 100% a great thing. There are a relatively wide range of archetypes, instead of everyone just acting robotic. The dialogue doesn't go too deep though, and while there were one or two of those moments where you're invested, the game mainly focuses on atmosphere so the dialogue is kinda forced to be somewhat shallow. 0.15 stars.
TRANSLATION: The sinister nights version (official translation) is fully understandable, and even stuff like sighs, groans and gasps are translated properly into the game. Maybe there were like one or two lines that were off, but no-one is expecting someone to just pop out with a high-quality publisher/native-like translation. Since it's an official translation, every single word in the UI is translated properly as well, which is a rarity in the sad world of shitty MTLs. 0.25 stars.
VOICE ACTING: All I really have to say is that the voice acting is really minor. You have some grunts, gasps, sighs and screams, but there is no voice acting for words or anything of the like. I believe that this was only added for atmospheric purposes once again. I'll be generous and say it's a 0.05 star rating. Something is better than nothing, right?

I don't usually leave remarks so don't expect them. The game has genuinely amazing use of horror, the ambience is really great, same with the art, sfx and lack of cheap jumpscares. I was honestly expecting something to come out and chase me during the walks. I wish I could give it more, but I don't want to be biased and there are too many noticeable flaws gameplay-wise and lewd-wise. The only thing I feel that could upscale the horror would be full VA, which if used correctly can make people feel more paranoia.

This game is great, I was looking for paranormal type of game and it's kinda rare, I mean there is so many horror paranormal game but to find a good one is quite difficult.
for me, this game is the best Horror paranormal game I've ever played

Genuinely, great game. Not an amazing porn game, however. There is nudity, exhibitionism, and some sex, but less than you may want. I am rating this 5/5 because it is A good porn game and a GREAT horror game. The Sexual scenes are awesome by the way, its not like the are half assed or bad, they are genuinely great. Give this a try if you at all like horror.

Although I personally don't like horror. but this one must be one of the greatest game tbh. The art alone make it worth playing. I would recommend everyone to give it a try. Would love to play other games like this. Too short unfortunately.

The Way Home is pretty much a horror walking simulator where you have to walk back you your apartment from the bathhouse every night. Along the road you'll see creepy (and sometimes sexy) monsters that may stop you.

Some of the non-sexy monster designs are genuinely creepy, like it's straight out of a normal horror game. Even some of the humans can look really creepy, too. The main thing in this game that I enjoyed was the artwork down for it, not just the sexy ladies you see in the previews, but the real monsters, too.
Image of monster

Gameplay wise, it's really simple. Just walk from point A to point B every night with different events happening. The some very simple puzzle solving as well as multiple endings, but the whole game can be beat in 2 hours with little difficulty.

Visually pleasing, fails story, horror and other than walking at gameplay.

You are given single chances to either do it right or choose an option, the other outcomes don't appear in gallery view and potential results become episodic and hardly if at all connected (besides a few characters).
I feel no motivation to try it all again, since I have no idea if anything else really does happen, could have really used a save and load feature instead of an obscure mystery story.

1 (+ 1 for art)/5.
If not the art, this mess of a story based game would just be awful.

Excellent game! I'm kind of a "pussy" when it comes to horror so I was a bit worried when I first started given the pretty uneasy atmosphere the game throws you in but it never really evolves past that and that was a relief for me ahah.
The horror is done pretty well actually, it's creepy, uneasy but it's never in your face and I extremely enjoy the lack of cheap jumpscares!
The lewd part of the game actually does not contain any sex scenes so to speak but plenty of nude stuff and it is drawn extremely well!
I'd give it a 4.5/5 due to the short runtime, inability to fasten the text and the lack of save for CG collectors who do not wish to restart the game everytime. But as a game on its own, despite its short run time blends uneasy horror with sexy lewd shots pretty nicely and would love to see more of that in the future!
Gameplay: 3/5 It's not revolutionary but it's not upsetting either to play, some minigames here and there but I didn't feel it was detrimental to the game.
Art: 5/5 Beautifully drawn
Sound: 4.5/5 not everything is voiced but the ambiance is fantastic.

That's incredible. I usually don't like the horror game, despite that i found this game really fascinating. the story it's quite thrilling and makes you wanna investigate to discover the secrets.
On the other hand that is not a porn game as it is stated in the info, so for anyone who want to play a simple porn game that's not the game for you.
For everyone else that's really good, and on top of that if you are a fan of soft exhibitionism you're gonna enjoi.

Getting on the score i'd give it :
5/5 for the creativity and the interesting plot
4.5/5 for the graphics
the only real bad flaw is that you cant make different saves so you gotta replay fro the begining to get the other ending (that's if im not dumb and didnt see how to save on more slot )
overall i rate it 5/5 and i highly raccomand you to try it out

The game concept and arts are without doubt, very good, lots of people talk about it, so I will not dwell in any further.
While the game has no H scence, at most nudity, with good art work, they don't be much of a bother. Even though some ugly bastard scenes are quite unsettle for me.
Now is the biggest, most painful thing for me about the game... AUTO SAVE. I can't see the reason why manually save is not a thing when a perticular point in the game, a single mistake means bad end, having no manual save to back up is such a scummy thing. Also the dialogue is so slow, text can't be fast forward or skip even when you fully know what it is. This combine is such a frustrated experience

This game is brilliant just sadly a bit short.
This doesnt even need the horror element and It would still be amazing just beeing a "Living a Life" kinda game.

Have not played the newest version of the game but I bet its just as good. Hope the Dev keeps making these style kinda games.

Honestly, the only problem of this game is being too short.
The art is fantastic, the mini games are actually very interesting.
Gameplay, storywise could be slightly better, but when you have something else to focus, this stop being a issue
I really wish the game had "something more" to sploit, more content and new ways to spend the day...

This game is amazing!

The creepy atmosphere works really well and the art is absolute top-tier.
The translation is perfectly fine; the only thing not translated are the on-screen prompts but there's only two notable ones in the game and they're pretty self-explanatory from the context.

I really wish there were more games like this / made by Travelling-Cat Camp.

Excellent game with no sex scenes. Ambiance is expertly crafted and has nice horror elements. The lack of jump scares is also good. The casual nudity that gets ramped up more and more is very much to my liking, as an exhibitionism enthusiast. I played the censured version.

It's very rare to see Hentai games able to create games where the pacing is done well, since usually they rely on gameplay elements or genres to skip that, unfortunately horror games require you to have good pacing and this game delivers in spade!

And the fact that there are some humor + small choices you can make it makes for a very entertaining yet mildly spooky adventure!

Please buy the game if you can!

Erotic horror. Very tasteful and very high quality art and no explicit scenes.
Gameplay is mostly VN style, with some minor puzzles and is somewhat short (1 hour 15 min gameplay time for me for a playthrough).

I still strongly recommend this game, as it is among the most professionally done adult games I've seen here. It would be good even w/o the erotica, but the erotica takes it over the edge to be great.

English.
The Way Home is a simple horror game with some puzzles, usual combination. Having just moved into a small flat with no showers, the protagonist has to go to a public toilet every day if she wants to bathe, and it is on the way home, as the title says, that strange things start to happen.
What makes this game stand out is its tone and pace, it is a slow horror, of being watched in the distance and hearing a strange noise behind you. This escalates using as many Japanese horror clichés as possible, but mostly maintains this tone. This, of course, is not that uncommon in horror, more like commonplace. The key is that this element where it is maintained is in the erotic section, mainly existing in the everyday (the bathroom) and in the bodies of the monsters, it is a purely passive work, exhibitionist even, never going for sex or anything really sexual. So much so that despite showing, which it does, it's somehow categorised as R-15 on Dlsite.

How it achieves this is another point to talk about.

The game uses simulation elements to enrich its simple and short gameplay, every day starts in the protagonist's room and we can interact with various things that build up her life and build up the atmosphere. Also when going to the public toilet we will be given a small area where we can move around and interact with some objects, perhaps seeing that something strange is going on with some of them. The tone is slow and silent, again I repeat real, usual, the contrast of that something strange, that shadow. These interactions can give us anything from information that simply builds a bit of context and character of the protagonist, to some CG, it is rewarded and the game would feel strange without them. In the end the experience becomes a more guided one in terms of narrative and tone and feels more like a walking simulator than a horror game (not excluding, but different from a puzzle game I mean), which apart from the very simple puzzles it basically is.

Regarding the technical part, CGs of no small quantity and of great quantity, which also create a suitable tone in the horror section with its angles and realistic eroticism, (points for the beauty marks of the protagonist), the sound section is quiet and somewhat simple but functional.
The gameplay is basic, but the running mechanics, as simple as they are, add a lot to the experience. No complaints about the movement or anything else, it just works. The puzzles are the same, they're hardly puzzles at all, but they don't feel empty and have enough depth, though perhaps some of them are a bit heavy.

If there is a complaint from me, it is that it was a little more and the necessary inclusion of a gallery of images. Changing the format of these on some page ends up fixing it if you want to see them, but. The existing English translation is not perfect, but it works.

It is in conclusion a simple horror story, but well executed. With a softer erotic nature that is appreciated.


(Review translated with DeepL)
Original en español.
The Way Home es un simple juego de terror con algunos puzzles, usual combinación. Habiéndose recién mudado la protagonista a un pequeño apartamento sin duchas, todos los día tiene que ir a unos baños públicos si quiere bañarse, es en el camino acasa tal y como dice el título, donde cosas extraña empiezan a pasar.

En lo que destaca este juego es en su tono y ritmo, es una un horror lento, de ser observado en la distancia y oír un ruido extraño detrás tuya. Esto va escalando usando todo los clichés de terror japonés posibles, pero mayormente mantiene este tono. Esto, claro, no es tan raro en el horror, más bien hasta común. La clave es que este elemento donde si se mantiene es en el apartado erótico, principalmente existente en el día a día (el baño) y en los cuerpos de los monstruos, es una obra puramente pasiva, exhibicionista incluso, nunca yendo a sexo o nada realmente sexual. Tanto que pese a enseñar, que lo hace, está de alguna manera catalogado como R-15 en Dlsite.

El como consigue esto es otro de los puntos de los que hablar.

El juego usa elementos de simulación para enriquecer su simple y corto gameplay, todos los días empiezan en la habitación de la protagonista y podemos interactuar por varias cosas que nos construyen su vida y van construyendo la atmósfera. También al ir al baño público se nos dará una pequeña zona en la que nos podremos desplazarnos e interactuar con algunos objetos, quizás viendo que algo extraño pasa con algunos. El tono es lento y silencioso, de nuevo repito real, usual, la contraposición de ese algo extraño, de ese sombra. Estas interacciones nos pueden dar desde información que simplemente construye un poco el contexto y carácter de la protagonista a algún CG, es recompensado y el juego se sentiría extraño sin estas. Al final la experiencia pasa a ser una más guida en cuanto a narración y tono y se siente más un walking simulator que juego de terror (no excluyente, pero diferente a un juego de puzzles me refiero), que quitando los muy simples puzzles es básicamente.

Respecto la parte técnica, CGs de no poca cantidad y de gran cantidad, que crean además un tono adecuado en el apartado de terror con sus ángulos y un erotismo realista, (puntos por las marcas de belleza de la protagonista), el apartado sonoro es silencioso y algo simple pero funcional.
El gameplay es básico, pero la mecánica del correr, tan simple que és, acaba aportando mucho a la experiencia. Ninguna queja del movimiento ni nada, funciona. Los puzzles igual, casi ni puzzles son pero no se sienten vacíos y tienen la suficiente profundidad, aunque quizá alguno algo pesado.

Si hay queja de mi parte, es que fuera un poco más y la necesaria inclusión de una galería de imágenes. Cambiando el formato de estas en algún página lo acaba arreglando si quieres verlas, pero. La traducción existente al inglés no es perfecta, pero sirve.

Es en conclusión una historia sencilla de terror, pero bien ejecutada. Con una naturaleza erótica más suave que se agradece.

I liked the game a lot, it gave me something new, totally out of the ordinary both the type of gameplay and the context, however for me the game would be excellent with dozens of "sex" since it only showed nudity which was not bad at all , but ... remember what page we are on, in 1 to 5 I leave it 3.5 the very good context, but I lack the scenes of sex

I'll be honest, I was hesitant about playing this game after seeing the tag: No sex, but my curiosity had to be sated.

From the get-go, the graphics and presentation instantly reminded me of Death Mark, another horror visual novel I've played a year or two ago. And lord, this game does not disappoint. The atmosphere is creepy, the creatures (also reminiscent of Death Mark's creature designs) were visually viscerally disturbing to look at, and strangely, the nudity and sexual elements of the game blended very well into the whole scenario. I was both aroused and creeped out all at the same time, something that I did not think possible in a horror-themed game.

The graphics are fabulous, the music/SFX were appropriately creepy though somewhat derived from common assets used in many Japanese horror games, and I absolutely loved the blended mix of 2D art and 3D pre-rendered backgrounds. While the lore of the game is somewhat non-existent, I do enjoy the many ghostly references to other famous Japanese horror icons. It's interesting to see the author's artistic take on what these ghosts would look like and how their lore ties into this world, but primarily they are there for the cameos.

Obviously, I'm kinda sad there isn't any sex aside from implied molestation and nudity, but I cannot complain considering how tastefully the nude scenes were applied here. The 2D scroller style of gameplay worked well enough, and there were no bugs I faced that affected my time spent here.

TLDR; Great atmosphere, tasteful nudity, incredible art and graphics, decent SFX, BUT lacking a good/suspenseful story (and lore), the game is too short, no actual sex scenes. Still, a solid endeavor that I would gladly recommend and I definitely plan to follow the author for their next project. Best of luck~!

Love the art and the atmosphere. Proof that horror game can be creepy without jumpscare. The only minus here is the lack of sexual content, only nudity. Would love to see something like this but with more H stuff