by Jin Lovelace, HSM team writer & filmmaker

Home has been an exercise in re-immersion as of late. While having my fun with my trophy acquisitions from other games like Dead of Alive 5 Ultimate and DmC: Devil May Cry has reconnected me with my gaming collection, Home truly gave me back what was missing in me: my reason for loving this virtual world.

All of a sudden I’m logging in for the sheer fun of enjoying the public spaces I have saved to my favorites list, embracing the LKWD Life, and tuning into the psychedelic hues in a public space that I hadn’t been back to in months.

Donning from my wardrobe what might possibly be my favorite casual attire to have ever been created, I embarked on my journey to collect my Grand Explorer trophy.

The Aurora public space

The Aurora space contains some of the defining moments in Home history for me. Noted for being one of the premiere free-to-play game spaces and offering you some pretty nifty rewards for its time — Aurora houses — the OrbRunner game is well worth rediscovering.

Traversing around the Aurora terrain also gave me some warm feelings about this space. What touches my artistic senses when I first learned of this space is the sheer appreciation of the color schemes played wonderfully well. It draws so much attention to detail that one can become deeply involved in this interesting world that nDreams created — for hours. Something I look for when it comes to public spaces is accessibility and connectivity; Aurora does that, for me at least.

Look, a Selfie!

Another public space that caught my attention (but suddenly became a fad) is Juggernaut Games’ Serenity Plaza. I’m one of the (not so) few that misses Central Plaza. It’s been repeated several times over the years how the space was the pinnacle of socialization for Home, from the bench glitches, to the Saucer Pop game found over at the central location of the water fountain, to dancing, to the spamming of Animal House tunes…it was magic. Granted, the Plaza left a few scars — oftentimes, thanks to the abundant set of trolls and users that were plopped into the space without a clue in the world as to what Home was, it was a bit of a zoo — but neverthelesss Central Plaza summarized what Home signifies: social interaction.

Juggernaut’s take on the old classic gave it an uplifting design with brighter hues and the developer’s signature Mini-Bot avatars waltzing about (following with a greeting upon approaching the NPCs). There’s plenty of social activity available: the addicting Mini-Bots Arena allows you to pound and shoot any opponents that dare challenge your knowledge or proficiency, while rewarding you with cool furniture items and fashionable commodities. The dance floor area features five original tracks that you can groove to (Booty Shake is my personal fav…don’t ask) and there are other tasks that you can embark on that’ll net you more goodies for your personal space.

This may not be the bench glitching abode that you remember, but I’m extending my kudos to Juggernaut Games for at least attempting to appease fans who yearned for the space again. Granted, no one was here when I logged into the Plaza — possibly since its appeal has since been superseded by VEEMEE’s superlative Acorn Meadows Park — but nevertheless the appreciation was (and still is) there. I have nothing but love for Serenity Plaza.

The final space that was responsible for adding the Grand Explorer trophy to my collection was one that is my second favorite space of all-time in Home: Pixel Junk.

The Pixel Junk public space has a weird story for me. You see, I haven’t played any of the games released. In fact, I know little to nothing about them or the developer. Nothing at all, if we’re honest. It’s not at all that I lack interest in playing them; in fact, Pixel Junk Shooter will probably be purchased sometime later this week (as of this article), to be added to my gaming collection. But what appeals to me about this space is this little section upon entrance, heading to your right and over to the goodness that is Pixel Junk Eden.

Note, however, I still haven’t played this game and already I love it because the music in that area always has me raving and bopping to the psychedelic tunes. And it doesn’t help that I now am a proud owner of the Pixel Junk universe soundtracks. Add the colorful display in this space and you have my reasons for my continued travels to this lovely corner of Home.

This, of course, was a great romp for me, and all it takes is just time to appreciate the littlest — heck, even the biggest –things that Home has to offer. The trophy feature revitalized my affection for Home and gave me the sole reason why I will continue to show support to the developers that continue to bring innovation to social interaction to Home. Like Lockwood’s new loyalty program, LKWD Life, it seems that developers are finally starting to make Home itself a game. It’s given me a reason to stick around.

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