Gone Home

A short but fascinating game. It has a fantastic story and world building, with the environment drawing you into the narrative. Do your best to avoid spoilers, since it's best played with no prior knowledge.

Don't listen to the negative reviews. People love to bash this game for being short, or lacking replay value, or not being what they expected, what have you. It is a short game, indeed, but the experience you'll take from it is unforgettable, told in the most expert way, with an ending so perfect it made my spine tingle and eyes tear up. The immersion in this game is incredible. There is no hand-holding throughout, no exposition-heavy cinematics crammed down your throat -- you learn the story as you explore, and the mansion is so packed with detail you'll want to explore every bit of it to understand exactly what's going on, and who these characters are. It truly is a brilliant experience, and deserves all the praise from critics it has received, and none of the negativity from users. If this isn't your cup o' tea, then move on. Don't ruin the game for others who might appreciate all the many things it has to offer.

First of all, for those who are arguing this is supposed to be a horror game, it's not. The basic storyline is 'you come home and nobody is there, find out why' and not 'zombies have taken over the house and lurk in the basement'. Yes, "Gone Home" is short, once you know where to find the information and the keys, you can play it in a little over 10 minutes ... but that means only going through the house and triggering the ending sequence, that kind of playing will not give you the complete story. The story, however, is not just about Sam (the sister). You can also find out about your father's troubles with writing, about his weird uncle, who owned the house before the family moved in, and other stuff. Basically, the game lets you catch up with the family history during the time you were in Europe. It's an everyday story, not something great or heroic or scary. It's just the unease everyone would feel alone in a house they've never been in before, at after 1 a.m. on a night with a thunderstorm, not atmospheric horror like in "Amnesia." $20 might indeed be a little much for the game ... and 'game' a little too much of a word for "Gone Home," but it does not deserve all the bad reviews it has gotten. If you want an FPS or an action game, this is not for you ... but that should be obvious from the description. If you like uncovering a story for yourself, you might want to give the game a chance.

I loved this game. I understand that many didn't, and I get why people didn't like it, but this game was incredible to me. I went into it knowing nothing with the exception that you've returned home and the place was empty. The whole time, I expected it to be a horror game and up until the last few seconds did I finally learn it wasn't. That ticked a ton of people off, but the fact that I had that feeling of dread the whole time, I loved it. This game is not for everyone, but if you are looking for something different and a neat way to uncover a story, then I would highly recommend it. I love the house layout, the constant storm, the 90's Nostalgia, the score, and the premise of going home again. It's just a beautiful experience. Walrus Approved.

If you're the kind of person who hated "Boyhood" because "nothing happens, it's just a normal kid walking around", or who liked the James Bond movies before Daniel Craig showed up with his blonde hair and feelings; in short, if you have the emotional capacity of a styrofoam cup, "Gone Home" isn't for you. Maybe that's me being a little unfair. I loved this game, but I'm knocking off a star anyway because, yeah, they really could have put in a few puzzles. It's less "interactive story" and more "a story you interact with" Once you've played through the thing once, you don't actually need to play it again - hence the "oh so clever" Let's Play where someone points out that you can blow through the thing in about 2 minutes if you know where you're going. But let's be honest: that's the video game equivalent of walking in on someone watching "The Sixth Sense" for the first time and shouting "BRUCE WILLIS IS DEAD." You're only doing it to show how clever you are, and it's ruining someone else's fun. I'd say you missed the point, but I don't think you did. I think you like showing off that you missed the point, because you think it makes you look cool. "It's not a game." OK. Your definition of "game" is really, really limited. I'm not saying all the negative reviewers are all being "grr why there no shooting?" Nor am I calling you all homophobic. However, let's just say that this game gets a lot of haters all saying pretty much the same thing. You'd think, at some point, they'd figure out "hey, maybe this ain't my thing, but that's ok, maybe it's someone else's thing." But nope. Look: if you think of it less like a "game" and more like a kind of "YA novel you get to walk around in," you'll love it. If you grew up in the '90s, you'll dig how they got the feel of the era right. If that doesn't sound like your kind of thing, don't download it. Not everything has to be tailor made just for you - there are plenty of games where you get to blow stuff up. Go play those.