Can Video Games Tell a New Kind of Story? - Gone Home

Minor Spoilers For Gone Home

Videogames are still a burgeoning medium. In the grand scheme of things, when compared to other forms of auditory and visual stimulation, the medium is still in it's infancy. The idea that videogames could be considered a valid form of storytelling "art" would have been laughable 30 years ago. But as time has worn on and the people who grew up playing Tetris and Super Mario Bros. have matured, so too has the idea of what constitutes a "story" in gaming. Where once the idea of a "plot" in a videogame would be a text dump at the beginning and a few words in the manual, now the games have become more complex, with intricate cutscenes and dialogue from top voice talent to shape a story that is interactive.

But even in this emerging field, most videogame stories are little more than gameplay concepts and ideas molded around a very Hollywood-esque story. And while thats not always a bad thing (The Last of Us crafts an amazing story that melds gameplay with an oscar-caliber Hollywood movie, but more on that game at a later date), the video game industry holds the potential for so much more than that. For the longest time, I was completely content with the stories that videogames were telling. I had never dreamed that there was a compeletely different style of story that the medium could tell. One that could use the abilities of the medium to push the boundaries of storytelling that Hollywood could never hope to accomplish. Then, along came Gone Home.

Gone Home is a not really a "videogame" in the classic idea of what a "videogame" is. There are no enemies, there is no antagonist, no bad guys whatsoever. It is more of an adventure game of the old Myst style, but even that sort of puzzle-solving is beyond this game. What it does have in common with it's 1993 brother is a sense of exploration: The idea of learning something new by yourself, without the game holding your hand to do so.

It is entirely possible to beat Gone Home in the span of an hour, but it's the act of exploration and learning about this big house you're exploring and the people in it that will push you deeper into this world, and realize that there is more under the surface. The main story is well crafted and a great achievement in gaming for it's own reasons, but by going through each of the rooms, looking at all the details lovingly crafted by The Fullbright Company, you begin to get a sense for each of the characters in the game. From the sister secretly learning Street Fighter 2 moves in the hopes of impressing a crush, to the father whose novel was a moderate success, but who struggles to write a decently marketable followup, each of these discoveries lend voices and personalities to people who you never meet, and by building this foundation on these characters, the main story grows roots as you realize the consequences of the actions of each of the family members.

The Fullbright Company have crafted something truly special with Gone Home. By using abilities and features that can only be done in videogames, they have managed to create a story that becomes more involved, more pervasive, and more emotional each time it is viewed. I personally cannot wait to see what they do next.

(Originally written 07/02/2014)

I think a lot of people don't realize how importat Gone Home is for video games narrative.

It seems that more recently a few of the games that were influenced by Gone Home have started to show up, I just hope they are at least half as good!

I agree! Gone Home is a story that can ONLY be told by video games, and I love it for that.

I feel like fellow fans of this game are in short supply, so I was compelled to tell you how much I agree. I would go off on a tangent about the ire against minimalism in game design, but I know it's been going on a lot longer than just this game. Gone Home was just the one where I realized it. As Jeff pointed out, people had this reaction to the aforementioned Myst just the same. "This isn't a video game, there's no conflict" and so on.

But I think if we're going to move out of the scope of a lot of people's narrow perception of games, we have to accept all video games of all types, from the most video game-y creations like Metal Gear, to the film-inspired Last of Us, to minimalistic games like Gone Home.

When I think of what something like Gone Home brings to video games, here's what I come up with. The Last of Us is awesome. Like, I love it a lot, and wouldn't want it as anything other than a game. But when I think about it's strengths: impactful combat and great storytelling, both those can be transferred to film easily (and evidently ARE). Just change the usually long fights/stealth sequences to something digestible by an audience and you're pretty much done. None of the intense action would be lost because you didn't watch Joel hide behind a couch for a full 40 seconds, sussing out patrols. Obviously, the story needs no help being applied to film, either.

Same with Metal Gear: the game practically IS an action movie already, so the delivery on that front is covered. Then, change the weird instances of game control references to drastic snaps back to reality about how Snake has a "stomach ache" or how he's worried he'll be found if guards smell his farts. Change 4th wall breaking in game format to apply to a general audience and bam! Metal Gear the movie, directed by McG *shudder*

However, turn the gaze on Gone Home, and things seem to change. I know there is probably a million ways you could apply GH's storytelling to film and I'm not saying one could not. But to keep its strength intact, I think it needs to be a game. The best part of Gone Home is the player's freedom to explore. To take their time combing every inch of the house, finding Street Fighter references, an X-Files TV Guide listing circled in red, or that note Kate refuses to read. I think this is one of those things that "only video games can do." The visual representation of film with the welcoming patience of a book. It's up to you, not some editor/writer/director, how fast or slow you explore this house full of so many notes it puts every minor Resident Evil character to shame. There is so much to find here, and I think it's to the player's advantage to be as slow as they can possibly stand. It's how you'll discover the little things in the game, which is really what makes Gone Home so great. What's up with Sam? Are her grade-school stories inferring more than the obvious? What about the parents? More than meets the eye, perhaps? Why are some characters present if only as one-off red herrings? Maybe they're actually not... This is how you craft "your" story of Gone Home. You find and apply significance to some things others didn't and this all gets rolled up and made into what you think happened at this house. Film can do this, too, but I feel the process of discovering and connecting it all yourself adds a new dimension to the experience. You are roleplaying as Kate exploring this house (which is just as new and mysterious to her as you), not simply putting yourself in her shoes while watching. God, I'm getting preachy, let's move on.

This kind of plodding and discovery just wouldn't be possible in film. For one, the slow pace which would be needed to set the creepy, unsettling tone and give each note the proper weight would be painfully slow to the general viewing audience. Plus, the little things like finding VHS recordings of early nineties movies or could-of-been SNES cartridges just aren't that interesting when YOU don't uncover them yourself. At the same time, I guarantee no matter how slow you make it, no matter how generalized it is, someone will be falling behind, still trying to understand the significance of a Forestry Administration promotion letter as the film moves onto a heartfelt note written by Sam. Finally and maybe most importantly: given the choice, who wants to watch someone else explore a creep-ass house and uncover all its secrets? Who wouldn't want to be in that place themselves? I know there are some who simply don't like video games obviously, but considering where we are, I'll ignore those people.

So, while a subset of players insist Gone Home and its brethren are not worthy of being called "games", I would argue that Gone Home is probably one of the best examples of a video game. Of showing exactly what a video game, and only a video game, can do because its audience is an active player with intention and a want for discovery and their own pace, rather than simply a comparatively detached viewer.

That was fun! Thanks, Kenori!

Disclaimer: I love Metal Gear and The Last of Us. I'm not saying they'd be better as movies or should be movies or anything of the like. Quite the opposite. I just thought their easily transferrable formats contrasted well against Gone Home. That's all.

Man if you liked the Last of Us do I have a blog post coming up in a week or so for you!

The Last of Us is near and dear to my heart in ways that only the Ocarina of Time has ever managed to attain. There are moments in that game that, after completing them, I had to just put the controller down, turn the system off, and walk away. And they aren't even cutscenes. There are just heart-wrenching moments in that game that DEFY even the most jaded of gamer to not become emotionally invested.

UGH! I could talk about The Last of Us for the rest of my life and not dig HALF into how much that game has affected me as a game player and a storyteller.

I'm generally not a fan of the idea that something is only achievable in a singular format. If you're creative enough you can tell any story in any medium it's just that if you took something like Gone Home and made it into a movie, it would be a short experimental film that no one would see outside of film festivals. Video games are just a young enough medium that people who are still experimenting with the format won't be as easily ignored as experimental movies are.

I think video games are capable of enhancing a good story. I don't, necessarily, think Tell Tale's The Walking Dead is better than the comic or TV show but it's definitely more impactful when i'm the one making the decisions.

in the same vein, i would argue that "games" like Gone Home will have much more of an impact in VR but i don't think it would mean the stories from those perspectives are improved, but the way we experience the stories are improved.

I suppose you could potentially be right, but I think that certain KINDS of stories are just better for certain kinds of media. Breaking Bad could have been done as a series of movies, but comes off better and is able to evolve better as a 5 season TV series. Conversly, The Lord of The Rings could have been an HBO miniseries, but the scope and scale of that movie I feel could only have been done justice on a big screen as a theatrical movie with a theatrical movie's budget.

That being said, MAN would Gone Home be amazing with Oculus Rift support!