Dot's Home
Casual
Ratings
Age
4+
Category
Casual
Languages
English
Thu Dec 04 2025
- Updated to a patched version of Unity to address the recent Unity security vulnerability.
Dot's Home is a single-player, 2D narrative-driven video game that follows a young Black woman in Detroit living in her grandmother’s beloved home. Dot travels through time to key moments in her family's history, where she witnesses the difficult choices her ancestors had to make regarding housing and race. It is a poignant exploration of the systems that affect where we live.
Dinsun Expert Review
Our Expert Score
Dot's Home is an incredibly powerful piece of narrative art. It’s rare for a game to tackle topics like redlining and systemic housing discrimination, but Dot's Home does it with such a personal, human touch that it never feels like a lecture. Traveling through Dot's family history in Detroit is both fascinating and heartbreaking, as you see how the 'choices' her ancestors made were often between two impossible options.
The hand-drawn art style is beautiful and evokes a strong sense of place and time. While the gameplay is simple—mostly walking and choosing dialogue—the weight of those choices is immense. It forces you to look at the world around you and ask why things are the way they are. It’s a short experience, but one that will stay with you long after you've finished it. This is a must-play for anyone interested in storytelling or social history.
Features
Compelling narrative
Educational historical context
Beautiful hand-drawn art
Meaningful player choices
Completely free to play
Featured In
Tips & Walkthrough
As Dot, you will interact with family members in different decades. The choices you make in conversations will reflect the real-world pressures of those eras and influence the ending of the story.
Gameplays
Move through 2D environments, interacting with objects to learn more about the setting and the political climate of the time, such as redlining and urban renewal.
Screenshot
Q&A
Yes, it is designed to highlight the history of housing inequality in America through a personal story.
Ratings & Reviews
Great game!
Mon Jun 27 2022 mskittykatz63I really liked this game, it was interesting but challenging to play. You have to really think about the best choices to make, when often both choices are undesirable. It really taught me a lot about the difficulties faced by POC (People of Color), immigrants, and lower-income people in the US in concerns to housing. I had learned about things like redlining and gentrification at school, but this game gave me more insight to how those things actually play out in the day-to-day lives of some Americans. I would definitely recommend this game, and I think it would be a great tool to teach kids about systemic housing discrimination against POC, immigrants, and lower-income people in America. And despite covering societal issues that can be depressing to think about, it was still fun and enjoyable to play. Also, the art and graphics are beautifully designed!
Highlights housing discrimination
Sat Feb 25 2023 FujchfftIt does a really good job of showing how housing discrimination works throughout the years esp in America. The transitions from time periods were clear cut and engrossing. The past has a slight dreamlike quality to it just in the same way as the mc is affected by it, and we get to kinda feel how it is for her too. The asthma thing really got me thinking. The art was top notch and I could play through it all in an hour or so. The story was interesting. Reading the paper and how it changed through generations but also stayed the same, showed how things don’t just end. History does repeat itself and we can have a hand in making sure that doesn’t happen. Why would there be a need to flip a home if the neighborhood was invested in properly so that everything was functioning and beautiful for its residents? But well that doesn’t turn a profit, does it? It really highlighted things to show the guy, real estate agent? Murphy dude. How the grandfather was basically exactly like him, zero change. Spoilers *** I’m confused how if the home was sold, in the ending I chose, how did the grandma get to keep living there?? As that’s what it said happened afaik
TL;DR Never Take You Grandma's Financial Advice
Fri Dec 02 2022 General memeOk I'm playing, but an aspect of this game that I think this game nails on the head is that the pursuit of constantly getting richer can separate you from the people that matter in your life... and leave you open to manipulation. If you wanna speedrun the good ending, rent, stick with Amos, and rent to the Tawfiqs. It's not money that makes a good life, it's people. Oh, and having grown up in "well-to-do" environments. the neutral and bad endings about the kids being too well behaved and the police notices of noise complaints, of people keeping to themselves... it's horrible and depressing. Having a strong community and an environment where you can actually walk outside and greet neighbors... that's what really matters in life.
Somewhat scattered in informational content
Fri Feb 03 2023 PierogandischWhy doesn’t Georgia bring in contractors to fix Grandma’s house if she’s apparently well off, works in real estate, and her kid is sitting in the basement in ankle deep water having a daily mold-induced asthma fit? Why doesn’t Grandma’s son visit from Florida where he’s enjoying his retirement property? He could at least send money to fix up the house. How does the time-traveling white man make money from anything besides predatory interest rates? How does bringing down the neighborhood’s housing prices permanently make him any money, as the newspaper claims? Why does Dot move immediately to the suburbs after you select “stay” at the end, and after incurring the speech about sticking around and building up the community? I don’t think I learned anything from this disorganized presentation of Wikipedia blurbs, I can’t imagine my children would either. For example, during the subprime mortgage crisis, it wasn’t particularly small, white-run real estate lenders preying on the poor (like we see in this story)- it was almost every nationwide bank in the country, with the help of the federal government itself. Stick with books on these issues and this history. Apple suggests me the game, I give a review. I like 70s movies and the time-traveling white man in this app was something out of Dolemite. Can’t tell if he or Georgia is the real villain of this story. Which of the two is Carlos’ mother? Many questions. Why make a story about the decline of the housing market, and civil society, in Detroit and not talk at all about the automotive industry crash? Why put that on the time traveling Dolemite white man? He’s essentially Satan. Lol.
Excellent for using gaming as an educational tool
Thu Jan 06 2022 BlackBanditShoDot’s Home is a journey that forces players to ask tough questions. The game challenges you with real devil’s choices, illustrating the everyday decisions that disenfranchised people in America have have suffered for decades. The game resonates most as it tours through the dream of home ownership, trotting through time and racial history until we arrive at place that doesn’t look too different from the headlines we see today. Think of it as a playing a Telltale Game distilled to its essence. No zombies or gimmick IP. Just life. And unfair human decisions. Choose well. The game will remember that.
More of a story than a game. Choices are limited.
Wed Jun 22 2022 joanypantsThis game was a bit disappointing to me. The artwork is great but other than that, the gameplay is very much on tracks. The most you can do is walk back and forth, interact with 3-4 objects and talk to a handful of NPCs. I’m not even sure it did a good job of communicating the story — I have family in Detroit and I’m black — I still didn’t feel very invested in the characters. I’m not sure how the choices I made lead to the ending I got — I watched the other ones after and that did not clear things up very much. I’m disappointed because I wanted to like this game. It would have been better as an interactive picture book. There’s just not actual game play. Finally it’s pretty clear what the developers think of the available choices — I.e. judgement is passed on you based on your decisions and it’s obvious whether that judgement is positive or negative. Further by making these choices into binaries (rent or buy for example) it really oversimplifies the message that I think this game is trying to send about race, place and community. Overall it’s a reasonable effort for a sociological intervention but as a game it’s a long way off from success.
AMAZING!
Sun Feb 02 2025 nisirr m.“Dot’s Home” is a deeply impactful and thought-provoking mobile game that masterfully blends storytelling, history, and social awareness. Developed by the Detroit-based Rise-Home Stories Project, this narrative-driven game follows Dot, a young Black woman who embarks on a time-traveling journey to uncover the history of housing discrimination, racial inequity, and systemic injustices that have shaped her family’s past and present. With its rich storytelling, engaging gameplay, and educational significance, Dot’s Home is a must-play for those who appreciate history, social justice, and immersive storytelling.
Not for me
Fri Feb 03 2023 ChrisErizo1As a person of color I don’t think this game is for me. It’s about showing people “white folk” was bad, is bad and will always be bad… Games should be about having fun, not having a history lesson through the eyes of people who want to instill feelings of oppression, racial angst and animosity towards the “white folk” or any other race. This game should’ve been called BLM or Progressive views on race or Social Justice Warriors. I’m tired of being told things will be made easier for my people because they don’t think we can compete at the same level as everyone else and thus the system has to be dumbed down for me and my people so that we can succeed. If you are all about progressive activism then this game is for you.
Some Youtube Videos found!
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Dot's Home Gameplay Walkthrough / [No Commentary] - YouTube
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Dot's Home Gameplay | Beutiful Music The Truth about it - YouTube
Dot's Home - To stay or to sell? - YouTube
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