Firstly, calling Gone Home an "interactive story" would be more than accurate, because it's not really a "game" at all, so if you're planning to buy Gone Home and are expecting a "game", you're going to be sorely disappointed... That said, Gone Home is still well worth the purchase, and I highly recommend it. Sure, you won't be running through this over and over - but there's plenty of atmosphere within the game, the story is touching and if you grew up in the 90's, you're in for a boatload of nostalgia - I've run through Gone Home dozens of times, and often I do so just to explore or for the nostalgia! Admittedly, Gone Home isn't for everyone, so have a read of the reviews here, watch the trailer, search for some videos online and see what you think before you make your purchase... I liked Gone Home so much so that I have purchased a copy in another PC game store, in the PlayStation Store, via the developer's web site (though that purchase was for the CD soundtrack) and here (so I can have a DRM-free copy) - but each to their own.
Surviving Mars is an interesting concept and will automatically appeal to city-building simulator fans - though some may find it a little more difficult than your "typical" city-building simulator, largely in part because of the design concepts unique to Mars... Thankfully, the developers have rolled-out an in-game tutorial, so this should overcome this issue for most players. At this time though, I still need to rate this "three stars" because at the time of writing, Surviving Mars does not "officially" support mods (as least on the GOG.com Linux version, anyway) and there's no "free build" option, to let players "just build" with most or all of the content unlocked and no money/resource restrictions... Sure, many people playing this will presumably love the strategy side of the game, but some players prefer to use city-building simulators as a Lego set of sorts, which is where a "free build" option comes in handy (side note - Cities: Skylines, which is by the same developer, has such an option). Lastly, I want to point out that many city-building simulators over the years have offered little to differentiate themselves from the competitors and/or previous games, so Surviving Mars brings a breath of fresh air to the genre... And this point alone makes this worthy of a purchase. Surviving Mars launched with a shipload of content ("shipload" - get it?) and all of the updates/upgrades to date have been free, so there's plenty of after-purchase on offer, for free thus far, too. Anyway, check it out... You won't be disappointed.
