Gone Home

I wasted my money on this game on steam when it had come out on steam. This game wants you to think it is a horror game with its initial presentation. What it really is some liberal arts student's creative writing assignment brought to life in a walking simulator. Here is the plot in one sentience: Your lesbian sister ran off with her lover, and everyone went to find them. Is that worth the price of admission to you? Personally, I still want my money back.

It's half-assed attempt at a deep story. For those of us who fell into this trap at the time of its release, under the false pretext that we were about to get a fantastic mystery full of surprises, twists and turns to rival a first rate thriller, I can only offer my condolences. Warning...if you dare hate this game you will be called every name in the book. YOU MUST LIKE THIS GAME...except you won't...trust me, even the most "open-minded" among us will find it a total bore at best and a complete rip-off at its worst. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND TIME...you have been warned.

If you have a specific urge for an LGBT-themed walking sim then Gone Home might be a good pick but otherwise I'd advice against it. Sure, the bigoted rants in other reviews might inspire to buy it just to spite that crowd but really, Gone Home is not much more than a a couple of hours walking through a house, pilfering collectibles and the occasional 90s-themed item such as a casette for a walkman. It's short and unimpressive in most regards - there are a ton of walking sims out there nowadays and there are simply so many other games that do the same thing as Gone Home but better and usually a lot cheaper as well.

Gone Home has come a long way since it was released. When it first came out it ran horribly on Linux and happily I can say that is no longer the case. It will be tough to talk a lot about the plot of Gone Home without spoiling it so I will simply say I enjoyed the story and liked how it was presented. You arrive home after catching a late flight to an empty house and trying to figure out where your sister is. Your parents are also not home but that is more of a side story. You have to explore the house trying to find clues. When you find certain ones it triggers a audio journal from your sister. You can also learn a lot about your parents lives and that of your late uncle if you dig around enough. I liked the form of many of the clues such as crumpled pieces of paper; diaries; letters; etc. You will have to find combinations to many locks as well as keys. It is a little convoluted at times as you will have to start finding wall panels to tear off and secret passages, I can’t imagine the cleanup after I was done searching. The game really nails the nostalgia of the 90’s well. It takes place in 1995 and I can say they hit on many things I remember doing back then. The music is also great for the time period. One thing I will also mention is that, while the game is not a horror game, it did a great job having some creepy horror vibes at times. There are times where between the rain storm going on outside; the creaky floor boards; and the music that I expected things to take a grim turn. The graphics are mediocre to decent. The object detail such as furniture; appliances; etc were decent to good. The shadows and lighting were a little sub par but not terrible. I played Gone Home on Linux. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any bugs or glitches. The games save system is to save on exit and there is just the one save slot.

It's not a scary game. It's an ideological LGBT-walking simulator of poor quality. If you like that, you may get a good shot on it when it's on sale, but I regret buying it (back then) on humble bundle. After that I didn't bought anything there anymore.