Summer is here… and what better way to celebrate than to leave the house? Or in this case… the home? A long-time project hatched from the creative minds of developers Squishy & Cameron Smith-Randick, Away From Home’s Steam Next Fest: June 2025 demo does exactly what it says on the tin and finally sends the protagonist Allie and her brother Michael… AWAY FROM HOME!

Let’s Go Away!

Away From Home hits the ground running: greeted by brilliant visuals, crisp pixel art cutscenes, and a charming soundtrack, Away From Home thrusts players into an impromptu sibling showdown… and the game’s unique combat system. Taking pages from games such as Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush and Brace Yourself Games’ Crypt of the Necrodancer, Away From Home takes classic RPG elements and rhythm game mechanics and stuffs them both into a blender like gameplay margaritas. 

Refreshingly unique, Away From Home challenges you to fight foes to the beat of the battle music. Do well and the game rewards your skill with special attacks and protection from damage. This system becomes hectic when you have to time item use, of course, but the end result is a game with a boatload of promise! The demo doesn’t delve too much into the story, but based on the teaser you can expect a globe-trotting adventure rife with colorful locales, kooky characters, and plenty of critters to wallop.

Home Improvements

Away From Home comes out swinging, but being a demo, it’s not without its few and very minor faults. The most glaring issue–and, admittedly, the most pedantic–I noticed was the control scheme. The combat interface is simple enough: your trusty arrow keys control your blocking, attacking, special moves, and items. Simple! Outside of combat, however, is a different beast: ‘S’ is to confirm menu choices and continue dialog, ‘F’ opens your menu, and ‘D’ takes you back. This tripped me up when I first booted things up, but I’m also mature enough to admit I’m not the brightest bulb in the drawer…

Another issue I found was in the gameplay itself: input detection during combat is smooth, but in some cases, such as the tutorial, I ran into trouble getting some of my ATTACK and DEFEND prompts to register. Being the tutorial this didn’t get me disemboweled, but since the game leans heavily on the rhythm mechanic, it couldn’t hurt to fine-tune a bit. Some ATTACK and DEFEND prompts seemed to overlap at times too. I respect Away From Home for what it’s trying to do, but I’m fighting a mushroom, not the final boss. Don’t be afraid to leave the more complicated prompts for tougher foes!

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Away From Home sets a promising scene and offers a welcome alternative to the usual RPG mechanics. Try it out for yourself or, if you’re patient, grab the game when it comes out on October 22nd, 2025!

Away From Home is part of Steam Next Fest: June 2025. The demo is available to play during the fest.