From the Publisher (Fellow Traveller) – Bo and Ao are graduating from university and preparing to leave the flat they’ve lived in together for a year. Thanks to visa limitations, Ao is forced to return to Japan, leaving Bo in England. Disillusioned by post-educational life and shoved aside by a government that doesn’t want them there, both are trying to come to terms with their uncertain futures. And deep under their South London flat, something grows…
I was eager to get into No Longer Home. Its promise to explore two queer non-binary students and the troubles they faced intrigued me, and with this game based in London and on true events that the developers faced themselves, this game already felt unique before I’d even opened it.
And you do feel like you are a part of their life through the game. From exploring their little flat to having deep conversations about the reasons they have to split up, it must have been difficult for the developers to recreate certain moments. The story can touch on sensitive subjects, covering depression, suicide, and dissociation, but I always felt the game respected these subjects, shining a light on these important matters.
You will also receive a better understanding of life as a student and the many hurdles you have to jump over, not only from the debt you get into but also what to do with yourself afterwards. I have seen this with my nephew, who spent x amount of years at university, just not knowing what to do with himself afterwards. This is explored here, and when you mix in the issues with the government-led procedures for foreign students, it can show how emotionally draining it can be, especially when you mix in a relationship like Bo and Ao are in, having to face these issues but also having to say goodbye to each other as Ao has to go back to Japan. You start to get a bigger picture of the stress young adults can struggle through.
There are brighter sections of the game, though, where Bo and Ao reminisce about happier times and throw one last BBQ for all the friends they made while at university. It took me back to when I was that age too, and I started to reminisce and connect to what I was seeing in the game. There is also a very cool section when you all decide to play a video game, but I’ll leave that there as I do not want to spoil anything.
With the gameplay itself needing to be treated as a simple point-and-click or visual novel, it’s a very simple game to control. Most of the time, you are exploring the flat and selecting items that you can interact with. A written explanation can follow, with sometimes an interesting story or fact from the lives of Bo and Ao, which I appreciated and helped me connect more to the two main leads. It’s here that the writing stands out from other similar games and helps to flesh out not only the main leads but also the smaller characters that we may only meet once.
I do really have to mention the accessibility menu, as it appeared before the main start screen, giving the people who needed it the chance to set the settings they needed without having to go digging into the settings. A very small touch, but one that all developers should take notice of.
The game depicts everything in a cool, isometric way, which you can spin with the shoulder buttons. In certain circumstances, the camera will zoom right in, which was a nice touch. Also, when changing areas, the walls and floors start moving to reveal a new area behind them, which I found to be a nice feature, making it feel like everything was connected and not disjointed. It was almost like a stage show, where they needed to move on to the next act and all the props and backgrounds had to be changed. The only negative of the game for me does come from these transitions, though, as sometimes it seems like the camera is taking a long time to settle, so it can take longer than it should to start exploring again, but this isn’t a drastic issue and one that you can easily work around.
In the two hours I spent with No Longer Home, I gained a much better understanding of the struggles of not only being a student but also when in a relationship where one is being deported back to their country, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a work of strength that this was recreated into a video game, one that shows that gaming isn’t always about jumping and killing, but where we can explore these issues with society and governmental policies. Of course, if you are sensitive to the areas that the story touches on, then it would be wise to give it a miss, but for others, please consider giving this your time, as it may just shine some light on what some call normal life.
No Longer Home
Release Date: 7th October 2021
Platforms: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series S/X
Price: £11.99