Haaahh.... oof. I just finished the game, I'll be honest, I didn't expect to be at my computer for nearly six or some odd hours with this game on only one playthrough. I downloaded Our Home a week or so ago while just collecting any yuri games that I hadn't already played (or had lost when my drive reformatted). I went through my downloads today and after two short other games (one of which I had played before) I unzipped and opened Our Home.
And holy catline I didn't expect what the game beheld... like... wow. I began with little expectation from the fact that some of the games I downloaded there mediocre looking if not just straight up boring. I was immediately surprised with the voice acting, personally I've never liked many VN voicing and this game isn't different but I left it on and the voicing kinda grew on me.
I played an entire playthrough and unexpectedly got a "Very Good End" (iirc). I love how the ending allowed me to make decicions that aren't good in nature, but are things I'd actually do if I was in the situation, but didn't punish me heavily for each and every one. I honestly expected the game to be over all the time, but it only actually concluded after most of the plots had been followed through. And I really should say that the whole story is fantastically written, I didn't expect to be as enraptured as I was.
The art is very meh and sometimes straight up bad but the thing that I most didn't like at first became something that fit so well by the end; that being the weird eyes, which now hold a lot better after seeing the story's themeing. There are little things everywhere: Lauren's sprites are out of place tonally, she shows her navel and in general wears a weird outfit seeing as her narrative purpose, the main character's—Emily's—sprites are all over the place and I feel like her design isn't even entirely complete (the ending CGs confused me seeing as the drawing had who I thought to be Emily holding Maria's hand but instead Maria was on the whole other end of the page). But that's of less matter, the art did its purpose and the artist should be happy with their work because even with what I said, I do like the art; Maria's sprites are especially adorable.
Music seemed fitting and worked well, I don't think any tracks got too played out or overused afir. The voice acting was fine for the most part though there are miscellaneous lines missing (such as Maria's reaction to the gift) all-throughout the game which, while don't detract massively from the game, are certainly jarring and unfortunate. One note I have if whoever Alex's actor is has a very interesting accent to the point where I was constantly trying to figure out if he was hiding an Australian accent or just had a more obscure one that was a tad more subtle.
[Possible spoilers past this point]
Our Home is definitely a new favourite of mine even if it didn't live up to what I thought would come of the reason I came. Which is to say, the yuri kinda sucked... it was good, well developed and I was really backing it and enticipating more... but remember when I said "most of the plots followed through"? Yeah, there's one big one that only really got very far after what equated to the end; Emily and Lauren don't have the best romantic plot. Maybe this game isn't supposed to be a romance VN and I'm missing the point, and I'm not saying that's what it is but I did think that the romance plot was a lot larger than mild flirting and loads of fruitless foreshadowing. The set up was really large with the dreams and everything but when it came down to the conclusion, it came out short. I thought there was going to be a little time focusing on the two between Alex's larger conclusion and Elizabeth's.
After the lead up, the sudden end was disappointing. Though perhaps I'm the only one who expected there to at least be a more solid Innate Imperfections date scene-esque scene wherein the character have a little banter beyond their--... y'know, I'm bad at explaining my idea as much as I am coming up with it. My point is that the Emily/Lauren subplot fell short of what it was seeming to lead up to. Whilst Our Home seems to have supposed to be emulating a very reality feel to it, and maybe a romance subplot doesn't fit well or something like that, but it feels like that's the one thing missing from the "Very Good End".
In the end: Our Home is a really great but long experience. The choices feel like they're well picked for being just that, choices. And the game, despite its downfalls, is really really well written. All the character are well made and feel real. I laughed and cried with Maria and Emily and the gang more than I'd like to admit and I've really grown attached to them. Thank you to Watercress and everyone who worked on this game, it really turned out well and I've thoroughly enjoyed just this first playthrough. I may not get all the endings since I doubt I'll play again until I come around and replay it like I sometimes do with my favourite games but I'm glad I got all the laughs and tears I did from this one.
Now then, I'm writing this on my phone for lack of internet connection on my desktop, thus I didn't write it as fast or as well as I would've hoped. My opinions here are a little... unorganised and thrown about but thank you for reading. If you have any doubts on whether to play Our Home, I'd say go for it, it's a ride you light just enjoy a lot.
Cheers~