Gone Home

Made me cry/5.

You'll love this or loathe it. There is negligible challenge here; beating the game is not the point. This is a "journey, not destination" kind of deal. If you're introspective, progressive and able to feel empathy for people you have no relation to simply because they're people (or you're good at roleplaying someone who does have a direct relation to them, which is very nearly the exact same thought process anyway), there's a good chance you'll connect with this game; you'll especially connect with it if you know anyone who has experienced, or have experienced yourself, some of the still all-too-common issues raised therein. Sure it's cliché, but life is cliché. Countless people all over the world go through the exact same experiences, over and over. The game's very ordinariness is its entire point. One does not have to pick an extraordinary subject to produce extraordinary art. If you're looking for fantastical escapism, look elsewhere. If you're the sort of person to dismiss the ordinary and commonplace as inherently disinteresting, DEFINITELY look elsewhere. If you're the sort to find interest in a heartfelt rendition of just the everyday, ordinary human experience, give it a try.

Gone Home is another entry into the unfortunate modern trend of critics praising awful indie "art" games. There is ONE puzzle in the game. The rest is walking around reading notes. The game is built entirely on false dread. There is no sign of your family in the house. You find a cryptic note on the door. A cryptic, distressing message on the answering machine. There is a thunderstorm. And...that's it. One-third the way through the game you find out the horror is a smokescreen for a very special episode "twist". Take away the thunderstorm and nobody would have even bothered playing more than 5 minutes. The end is one big "LOL just kidding!" *spoiler* Your sister is a lesbian with an unhealthy relationship and ran off with her highschool girlfriend of 8 months, ruining both their futures by going AWOL from the army and throwing away a scholarship. But since this game was made by social justice warrior hipsters from Portland, it's presented as a BEAUTIFUL LIFE EXPERIENCE where lesbians are perfect magical pixies. The lesbian angle doesn't even factor into the story. The girls face no prejudice or social exclusion. Would have been the exact same story with a straight couple, then people would rightfully call the kids out for being idiots. The one and ONLY thing the game does well is recreate a 1990s household. $5 and 2 hours of your time is still stretching it. $20 is insane.

That's my sixth time, trying to write a review about Gone Home. Usually I'm not writing such things, but the fact that the game has three stars rating and the top reviews are negative ones made me to do it. However, the fact, that I'm unable to properly explain why the game is great is a certain indication that it's not an easy nut to crack. Therefore I cannot really blame people for giving debunking reviews. Let me put it this way... Gone Home is a unique experience. It's more of an interactive storytelling, rather than a classic "game", what you could categorize like TBS, FPS, etc. If I would want to strip it down, I would say that Gone Home is a first person exploration game, whereas you revisit your old home to find everyone missing. Then you have to explore the house room by room to figure out what happened via notes, visual signs and audio diaries. However, the game is much more than that and alas, it's impossible to give you an idea about the brilliance of the game without including major spoilers. Basically if you are fine with a game which is not revolving around saving the world and epic battles AND you are ready to be open minded toward a new gameplay experience, then buy it and enjoy. I'm sure you will do. However, if you think that games should be games (fighting in trenches, chasing orcs, upgrading your character, whatever) and no excuse for leaving the beaten track, then just ignore this one.

I have seen widely contrasting reviews of this game, more so than for other games. My opinion, as you can guess from the five stars, is that Gone Home is a truly remarkable achievement. I loved the intimate storytelling, so perfectly compounded by the thunderstorm soundscape surrounding the big, empty house. I loved the great care put in modelling every object you could find, from books to breakfast cereal boxes. Above all, I loved the idea of discovering the story of a family, bit by bit, from scraps of paper, letters, diary entries. The story is one of friendship and love, revolving around a teenage girl. While not particularly original, it was brought to life by excellent voice acting, right until the emotional conclusion. I guess another reason I liked this game so much is that it's set in the mid-Nineties. As an old relic who was a teenager back then, I appreciated the accurate reconstruction of the last years of the Analogue Age, an era of manuscript notes, audio cassettes and VHS tapes. Younger gamers may see these as just quaint curiosities, but to me they brought back powerful memories. Replayability is obviously limited, so my advice is not to rush it. Take your time, and pause to savour every little detail. You'll be rewarded with a much more satisfying experience. If you like a good gentle story without explosions, adrenaline rushes and enemies jumping at your throat, then give Gone Home a try.