Neko Secret Homecoming: Light Review – The Secrets Of the Anime Factory

There will inevitably be a lot of people who won’t give the Neko series much attention. It’s a sister-series to the quirky Anime/Hentai Vs Evil series and so shares the same origins. We have a hefty amount of asset flipping going on, and base games originally released on Steam with hentai origins; nude mods which the console world will never see.

Recent entry Neko Secret Homecoming falls into this category of short, ecchi spin-off games. However, like Anime Vs Evil: Apocalypse, the game’s recycled assets have been converted into an engine which offers far more visual detail compared to some rival pretty anime girl games, once again showcasing a bold HD evolution for the series.

Introduction

After some digging around to accurately work out who was the developer and who was the publisher since the usual works of both parties tend to overlap, the conclusion is the console edition of Neko Secret Homecoming was developed by Axyos Games and published by EastAsiaSoft on 23rd June, 2023.

As mentioned previously, there are essentially two different versions of the game: the base Steam version which is centred around accessing a ‘Hentai Factory’ to unlock the erotic art within, whereas the censored console edition, known as Neko Secret Homecoming: Light, downplays this scenario by having the player enter an Anime Factory instead, gaining access to cute anime girl artwork.

Story

Centred around a race of cute cat-people living among regular humans, this chapter of the ‘Neko’ story finds our protagonist, an unnamed college-age cat-girl, arriving in Neko Town after a lengthy bus journey, hoping to make a new home here. Neko Town is in the midst of economic growth and urban expansion, all thanks to their famous yet equally mysterious new Anime Factory, which manufactures anime-girl artwork for media outlets.

Possessing an obsession for all things anime and learning that most of the townsfolk are either regular clients or employees of the Anime Factory, and discovering that untold wonders and opportunities await those who find their way inside the building, our protagonist wanders the town in order to find a way to gain access to the Anime Factory and uncover its delicious anime secrets within.

Gameplay

Neko Secret Homecoming mixes the third-person 3D exploration of Neko Town with 2D puzzles and other mini-games to create a short, light-hearted adventure game. ‘Hacking’ the Anime Factory’s terminals will require picture puzzles to be solved which also unlock beautiful images of anime girls, while other mini-games are located throughout the town for expanded casual gameplay.

Your heroine can be fully customised from head to toe too, from accessories and outfits to body shape and hairstyle. It’s a customisable and experimental title that encourages exploration to find additional secrets. Mini-games include playing a game of darts, picking locks, or even trying your hand at a little safe-cracking.

Graphics/Sound

Homecoming can be a pretty game when it applies itself. As a project comprised of recycled elements used elsewhere, we get a mixture of components of varying quality. The protagonist, for example, looks pretty good, with vibrant customisable features and detailed textures, particularly with hair and clothing.

Neko Town itself is surprisingly gorgeous. The detail on show in most buildings is superb, from empty new houses cluttered with move-in boxes, to modern, multi-floor homes with accessible bedrooms and bathrooms. You’ll also find busy cafés to be explored and an assortment of expensive-looking cars parked around town.

There are, of course, components which aren’t so optimised that still managed to make the cut. Trees, for example, are often overly green to the point they’re almost luminous, and also lacking in basic textures. Dust clouds have an ugly polygonal look to them, like a series of blurry hexagons stuck together, while human NPCs have been borrowed straight from the Freddy Spaghetti games and look like blocky abominations. Fortunately, most surfaces are highlighted by an outstanding use of light and shade that’s actually quite impressive.

Music consists of a series of serene ambient tracks which are cycled through a playlist. These aren’t standout tracks yet each suits the calm mood well. We also have a few lines of voiced dialogue from a handful of characters which helps raise the bar a little. These are AI voice samples, yet I didn’t notice any reading errors to make me question the quality.

Replayability/Trophies

It’s a very short experience, and so one might assume the trophies would require you to try each feature and see everything there is to see, however, simply playing a game of darts, entering the Anime Factory, and completing the 12 available puzzles which are located within the two folders of the Anime Factory’s computer terminal are all you need to do to grab the platinum trophy. Speed-runners could have this boxed off in as little as 30 minutes.

Conclusion

Neko Secret Homecoming is a highly experimental title that throws a lot of elements together in the hopes that we get a solid game at the end, and it very nearly works. Having a vibrantly detailed town is a nice feature, though the activities we can actually do here and within the Anime Factory itself will only take up a few minutes of your time.

With a completionist mindset, you can see and do everything in under 2 hours, and even with the game’s budget price tag, this will likely leave you feeling short-changed. With the goal of the game being accessing the Anime Factory, doing so feels like an anticlimax when the big reveal is little more than a tiny, boxroom art gallery.

As fun as this quirky yet brief journey is, the game is missing that grand finish to complete the adventure, and it’s here that we realise just how important the hentai aspect of the original version is, being the main selling point of the game and our real main objective. Without it, we’re left with an odd little adventure that feels rather unfinished.