Breeder Homegrown LadiesGamers.com

Breeder: Homegrown Directors Cut Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Breeder Homegrown Directors Cut
Genre: Adventure | Horror
System: Nintendo Switch ( also on PS4 and Vita)
Developer| Publisher: SomeTimes You
Age Rating: EU 12|USA T|AUS M
Price: £4.49| €4.24|US $4.99|AU $6.37| CA $5.60
Release Date: 6th March 2020

Review code used many thanks Sometimes You 

Breeder Homegrown Director’s cut is the second game in the Breeder series, the previous game is available as freeware on PC.

Grandads Great Escape

Breeder Homegrown is a short horror game. The whole game takes roughly 40 to 90 minutes to complete depending on how much exploration you do. I played it twice as I wasn’t sure I had explored enough on the first play through as it was over so quickly. As it turned out I had in fact seen everything, it’s just a very short game.

First though, what is Breeder Homegrown about?

Grandad makes a daring escape from the nursing home he lives in. The game opens with a care worker reporting Grandad missing from the home to the police.

The scene then switches to Grandad with walking stick in hand shuffling through the front door of his abandoned, graffiti filled childhood home.

Reminiscing with Grandad

The story revolves around Grandad David’s memories from long ago, when he was a little boy of 9 years of age and his memories from that time of his parents and a strange creature.

You take the role of David as an old man and as a boy as the story segments swap between the two David’s and revolve around his unusual childhood memories. There are four different locations for Grandad David to investigate within the house and garden, you can interact with items in these locations in any order to trigger a memory as young David. Each memory segment varies in length and as I’ve mentioned can be played in any order. You would think that having a choice in what order to recall the memory would lead to a disjointed plot but it all somehow gels together in the end.

Young and Old

As Grandad David you will shuffle slowly through his childhood house, which is now in a state of disrepair and the walls are covered in graffiti. Not exactly a safe place for an old man who is unsteady on his feet to be.

When Grandad interacts with objects you’re asked do you want to “Remember” and you then take control of young David. Young David’s house is graffiti free and on a visit to his bedroom you will find a few 80’s era items to interact with such as a NES and a toy robot. You also chat to young David’s Stepmother Josephine and his Father as you explore between the few rooms there are in the house and vist the garden. A little bit of background on David’s real Mother and what exactly happened to her is revealed to you as you play through the game.

Scary Shocks or Not

Breeder Homegrown is a horror story, though not in the scare the pants of you sense, as there are no big scary monsters jumping out if wardrobes. It’s the story that leaves you feeling unsettled and wondering what you have just witnessed as the games ends.

The narrative by Grandad David left me in doubt as to how sane he was and made me wonder did the house and memories exist at all or was it just a figment of an old man imagination.

Young David has a very mysterious friend and in his pocket he carries some stones, there is a simple puzzle in the game that uses these stones, however I can’t go into any great detail about the stones as I would be giving away the plot. Though David carries said stones in his pocket, Breeder Homegrown isn’t a puzzle game as there are very few puzzles in the game it’s a horror story as opposed to a puzzle game.

Pink Toadstools

You will visit the garden a lot in Breeder Homegrown. It’s not a normal garden in the sense of being bright and colourful and full of flowers. Instead, in the garden you will find loads of pink toadstools and lots of dark scenery. The dark scenery I wasn’t to keen on as I spent a bit of time stumbling around blindly in the dark: it’s so dark I couldn’t find my way around at times. I expect this is added for effect and yes, it does work. It’s a good effect to make the garden a spooky place to be, maybe the developer could supply David with a torch for a little bit of extra lighting!

The game controls use the joy-con and all works as expected. The game drips in a dark foreboding atmosphere in its graphic art but more so in the soundtrack that accompanies the game. Breeder Homegrown in itself is extremely spooky, with odd noises and sounds as David, young and old, wanders around the house and garden.

Conclusion

Breeder Homegrown Directors Cut is a weird and strange game, and let’s not forget short as well. Though in saying that, it doesn’t make it a bad game, I did enjoy the story even if I was a bit mystified after it had finished as to what I had seen during the game play.

If the point of the developers when making Breeder Homegrown was to leave the player with a unsettled feeling and a sense of bewilderment after having completed the game, I have to say they have succeeded in that for sure.

Maybe you should give Breeder Homegrown a try and see what you think, as it is, my score is…

Final Verdict: I Like It I like it

 

 

 

 

 

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