Posted on: August 20, 2014
paorta
Games: 477 Reviews: 3
Gone Home is Great
While there aren't really many traditional "puzzles" in "Gone Home" I found that I didn't miss them. It is a real achievement that the Fullbright Company was able to create a game that feels engaging without a traditional mechanic outside of exploration. Honestly, as someone who was fascinated by the world of "Myst" as a kid, but who never had the patience for the sometimes arbitrary-seeming puzzles, I think there should be more games like this. If gaming is really about becoming other people and exploring what that's like, or going places you could never go in reality, I don't see why it should be any harder to imagine yourself as a young woman coming home to an empty home than it is to imagine yourself as a "chosen one" running across walls in Ancient Egypt, or whatever. There's a lot that is really valuable in "Gone Home," if you give it half a chance. In contrast to most games that I play, which can sometimes feel like they are sapping my life (like Civ 5, or TF2), I actually felt refreshed after playing. There was a moment that made me jump out of my chair and turn my computer off—and while its memory "charges" the rest of the playthrough, "Gone Home" isn't a game about jump scares. It's a simple game about family drama, very elegantly executed. If you're a bit of a voyeur and you like snooping through people's houses (and if you love nineties girl/garage punk), you will love "Gone Home."
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