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My god, there’s so much garbage. Towering monoliths of dirt, plastic bottles, rubber ducks, carrier bags, and other disposables are almost the sole visual language of the Earth you land on in No Place Like Home. You play as Ellen, a young woman who’s returned to Earth from her spaceship home to try and find her grandfather. But, what she returns to is a ramshackle farmhouse that’s been basically flattened by a trash storm that’s left nothing but rubbish in its wake.
While that might sound like a nightmare – and a less than subtle commentary on the current state of the world and our pollutants – underneath the trash there are still some remnants of life. A house here, a fox den there, and even a few humans attempting to exist within the waste-filled barricades. And thankfully, you’ve got the tools to help.
Ellen is armed with what’s essentially a backpack containing a vacuum cleaner, a water hose, and a drill. While only video game logic will explain how that all fits together into a package that you can carry on your back, it’s everything she needs to start clearing all that detritus. I’m sure we can all agree that in real life, taking out the trash is a job we all put off, but there’s such a satisfying loop in clearing the debris in No Place Like Home that I actively look forward to it. Each new area you discover is chock full of the stuff, mountains of muck that’ll need to be drilled down into its parts, and then sucked up with your hoover. It’s exactly the sort of thing that anyone who likes House Flipper will enjoy, because it’s beautifully banal, meditative work, backed by a soothing soundtrack. And you’ve got to get every bit, otherwise, you’ll just make the animals sad.
Here little piggy
Because it’s not all about trash. Underneath (quite literally) the garbage is a world that’s waiting for revitalization. Among the dirt, you’ll find seeds and animals desperate for a palace to call home. So using the things and critters you find, you’ll start to turn the land around your grandfather’s house into your own farm, with just crops at first, but then chickens, pigs, and even cute little robots and mechanical llamas that’ll bring you building materials and other useful items. There are lovely little touches for your home base too, like the option to give your critters names and tiny little hats, which range from bunny ears and sombreros to propeller caps and flower crowns.
The further afield you explore, you’ll also meet up with other humans – residents who decided to stay behind when the rest of the world evacuated to Mars. It’s pretty hilarious when you’re sucking up trash to suddenly come across an architect trapped by a tree surrounded by trash mounds. He never acknowledges his predicament either, which somehow just makes it even more bizarre. These NPCs will give you other missions to take on alongside your quest to find your grandfather and build your farming idyll. They can range from ridding an area of toxic waste and building bizarre creations, to saving some foxes or making friends with ducks.
There’s combat too. Evil robots looking to poison you or ram your legs also lurk in the garbage. There’s not much nuance to it, beyond a few swipes of your drill and a little ducking and dodging, but there’s something pretty endearing about always feeling in control. A skill tree of sorts does let you get more powerful and underpins certain progress through the world too, and as you unlock new areas, the enemies get – slightly – tougher.
It’s a huge locale to explore too, with an incredible variety in its biomes. I’m some 20 hours in and feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what else there is between the trash piles.. There’s so much to see and do, and all geared towards that mentality of “oh just one more day” or “one more mysterious mushroom” that makes games like this and Stardew Valley so moreish.
I’ll admit, it’s not the most polished game. There are spelling mistakes in the text, awkward camera angles, and some patches of trash that just won’t disappear. It’s also often terrible at explaining how to make money or do some of the more basic things in-game. Still, anyone looking to scratch a very specific gaming itch will somehow find their play sessions turn from minutes to hours. I blame the trash.
No Place Like Home is out now on PC.
