Home sweet home?

There’s no place like it, or so the saying goes. It’s where the heart is – although being cooped up there for the past 12 months or so have tested that theory for some of us. Whether or not you’ve grown tired of your four walls lately, there’s no denying a virtual home can feel as comforting as a real-world abode. We still have fond memories of the rustic residence in which we settled down in Fable II’s Oakfield. And over the past year, our

Animal Crossing island has become a home from – and within – home.

Harold Halibut examines both sides of the coin. In this extraordinary claymation adventure, the inhabitants of a city-sized spaceship trapped underwater are split into two very relatable factions: some are happy to stay, cocooned in glorious high-tech isolation, while the rest are desperate to leave their submerged home and venture farther afield. Strategy adventure Gord, meanwhile, warns of the perils that lie outside your tiny settlement – the farther you stray beyond its fortified boundaries, the more likely you are to be emotionally scarred from the horrors you encounter. Even when you’re back, huddled around the warmth of a campfire, your safe place may no longer feel that way.

That’s certainly true of top-down thriller Twelve Minutes, which traps married couple James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley in a terrifying time loop, involving the most unsettling home invasion since the underrated Project Zero 3. Except here it’s not ghosts attempting to disturb your domestic harmony, but Willem Dafoe (and we know who we’d rather have knocking on our door). It’s up to Moonglow Bay, then, to remind us that homes can be genuinely happy places. True, the titular hamlet holds some poignant memories for its widowed protagonist. But as this voxel town is restored to its former glory, you’ll find yourself reconnecting with old friends – a reminder that it’s not a house that truly makes a home, but being with the people you care about most.