Breeder Homegrown: Director’s Cut review for PS4, PS Vita, Switch

Platform: PS Vita
Also on: PS4, Switch
Publisher: Sometimes You
Developer: Outlands
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: M

A couple of months ago, I reviewed a dreadful 2D point & click horror game called Just Ignore Them. It was bad in pretty much every way imaginable: the story jumped from plot point to plot point with no development in between, the puzzles were neither challenging nor interesting, and it wasn?t even remotely scary.

I mention this as a prelude to writing about Breeder Homegrown: Director?s Cut because the two games are very similar, and a lot of the criticisms I had about Just Ignore Them could just as easily be applied here. Breeder, too, has a nonsensical storyline. Likewise, it?s not really scary, per se, though I get the sense it?s trying to be. Admittedly there aren?t any puzzles, but apart from that, the games basically exist in the same general space of dull, non-scary 2D horror.

Mind you, Breeder also has the same small positive in its favour that elevated Just Ignore Them ever so slightly: it?s very short. In fact, it?s even shorter than Just Ignore Them. If you skip through the next without even bothering to read, you could probably finish Breeder in well under half an hour, compared to the 45-60 minutes Just Ignore Them would?ve taken you. I leave it to you to decide whether an easy Platinum is worth a half hour of your time.

And let?s be honest: it doesn?t really matter if you read the text in Breeder or not, it?s not going to make much sense. There?s an old man wandering around a house with writing on the walls and bloodstains, there are detours into his past, there?s a murder, and, spoiler alert, it all ends with a giant snail. I?d say it makes sense if you follow the story from the beginning, but that would be a lie. It totally doesn?t.

The weirdest thing about Breeder Homegrown is that it could?ve easily turned into a semi-decent horror game if there?d been even a little bit of attention paid to developing a cohesive story. It has a somewhat creepy atmosphere that, in better hands, could have been used to great effect. As it stands, though, there?s nothing really here to make the game worth recommending — unless, of course, you have $5 bucks to spend and a half hour to kill, and you want one of the easiest Platinums you?ll ever find.

Sometimes You provided us with a Breeder Homegrown: Director’s Cut PS Vita code for review purposes.

Grade: D+