Housemates -v1.01- -Huli- is a daily life simulation and visual novel game that follows a college student caught in the middle of a national crisis: a "lust virus" outbreak. Plot Overview
Let’s decode the nomenclature first. Housemates is the base title—a Ren’Py visual novel where you play as Alex, a broke university student who moves into a shared house with three strangers. The -v1.01- tag signifies the second public release, patched 48 hours after the disastrous v1.00 launch (which featured a game-breaking softlock in the kitchen scene). The -Huli- suffix is the anomaly. Housemates -v1.01- -Huli-
Then, the smart-fridge screen glowed: "I'll be back by dinner. Don't wait up. —Huli" Housemates -v1
In the developer’s notes (posted on a now-deleted Tumblr blog), Huli is a Tagalog word meaning "to turn around" or "to reverse." In the context of v1.01, it refers to a hidden mechanic: the ability to reverse dialogue trees by holding the right mouse button, effectively "turning back time" to avoid triggering the game’s hidden paranoia meter. The -v1
The "deep" aspect of the story—while primarily serving as a backdrop for a daily life simulation—revolves around the survival and evolving relationships of three people trapped together during a national crisis.