Quarantine! Social distancing! Working and studying from home! Neighbors who love and hate each other! COVID-19 has changed our lives, perhaps forever. Some things are better, others (much) worse, but our first line of defense remains isolation. Naturally, entertainment is responding to those changes, and that's how we get to "Stay Home", a little "quarantine simulator" in which we must accompany a young woman and her cat for two weeks, working, eating, and keeping morale as good as possible.
Some countries try to leave quarantine behind. Others have no choice but to extend its duration. At the end of the day, it's not easy for anyone. Many things we took for granted went into an indefinite pause, and it remains to be seen if they'll fully recover. At the same time, each human being is a universe, and responses to this mandatory distancing have been very varied, from disobedience to the pursuit of productivity, through rest, and of course, entertainment.
Speaking of entertainment, today we have a proposal: instead of continuing to struggle with your quarantine, why not live it through someone else? A young woman with her cat, for example. That's the idea behind "Stay Home", a small game published by "danylarge" on Itch.io. All we have to do is accompany this young woman through her two weeks of quarantine, and maintain a minimum balance between health, hunger, and mood.
As days go by, the young woman receives messages from her boyfriend, her sister, friends, and her mother, who seems to be in a little financial trouble. Working, eating, showering, playing with the cat and on the computer, using the smartphone, and shopping online are some of the available actions. The game is at version 0.7, and we estimate it will keep incorporating features, but we shouldn't expect major changes. After all, each playthrough is 14 days, with the option to change its speed (5x, 10x, 15x).
Now, about the game itself... I admit it's quite broken in some points. If hunger and mood reach zero, there don't seem to be consequences, showers have too much restoration power, and food seems especially expensive. Aside from that, I have no doubt you'll reach the end of this "mini quarantine Sims" without a hitch. Enjoy!
Official site and download: Click here
