Chinese developer TPP Studio decided to take a very different route with their side-scrolling, rogue-like survival game, Home Behind. Instead of just trying to outlast zombie hordes or take down enemy military units, players are thrust into a world where they’re desperately trying to survive as a refugee, while also looking for their missing daughter.

The game sees players assuming the role of a father, desperately trying to get through the war torn nation that he used to call home. He’s on a desperate quest to reunite with his family and get safely across the border into Europe.

It definitely puts a different spin on the refugee crisis that currently has the world by its neck, sending a lot of people into thick debates about accepting refugees into their own countries.

The game itself does not take the survival situations lightly. Players will have to maintain morale while scavenging for food and water, along with attempting to avoid disease, viruses and influenza. That’s not to mention that among the need to stay alive and scavenge what you can, you’ll have to fend off rabid attackers from various factions, including other survivors, soldiers, bandits and scavengers just like yourself. Nothing is off limits when survival is the only end game.

You can get a glimpse of the depressing, side-scrolling adventure in action with the trailer below.

The combat looks a little janky but the concept of the game is really something. Having to pull the cart full of supplies reminds me a little bit of survival movies like The Road and Shogun Assassin, only this time the main character is someone weak and frail, constantly trying to find ways to survive through seemingly simple ordeals.

A large part of the challenge will come from the rogue-like elements, especially dealing with random events, NPCs that will either be friendly or hostile toward you, situations involving other refugees that may not turn out how you expect, a complete day and night system with weather effects, along with a fully developed crafting setup with a character development tree.

Players will have to make food, fashion weapons out of supplies, try to stay healthy, hunt animals, fight animals, take on rebels, militia and other survivors, as well as battle through the forces of nature in a story that was designed to be realistic, mirroring the hardships and troubles of a refugee attempting to get across hostile borders.

The only major drawback for the game is that it’s not in English. In fact, the only way to play HomeBehind is through simplified Chinese, thus creating a very obvious language barrier between those who might be interested in the game but don’t speak Chinese.

On the upside, the developers did mention in a thread that due to the demand from players for an English translation, they would be working on one, writing in a Steam thread…

“Thank you for your attention! We are working on our English version and it may take us some time”

They already have a supple supply of gamers willing to lend a hand for translation purposes, so even if they get stuck the community appears to be willing to help.

HomeBehind is available right now for only $3.99, but for the first week of being on sale you can get it at a 21% off discount for only $3.15. You can learn more about HomeBehind by checking out the official Steam store page.