Gone Home Takes Me Back to My Teenage Years
One of my favorite things to do in games is explore, and since that is the focal point, or potentially the entire point, of Gone Home, I quite enjoyed it. As someone who was a teenager during the time Gone Home takes place, a lot of this game resonated with me. Many of the bands Sam had posters for, I listened to; I watched most of the shows and had VHS copies of those movies, complete with badly hand written labels. Not many games can get me to place myself in a characters shoes, but the attention to detail in this game is top notch, and because of the similarities between myself and Sam, I felt fully immersed in Gone Home. I'm sad to admit that cynicism and age have gotten the better of me and I don't have that passion for creative writing anymore.
Anyway, back on subject, I can't help but compare Gone Home to Myst, in both you are tasked with exploring an area and discovering what happened. The main difference is that while Myst has numerous puzzles and is pretty nonlinear, in Gone Home there are very few puzzles and the trip is rather linear, but it is forgivable in that the story it tells is very engaging. Another game it reminds me of is Scratches, because while Gone Home isn't a horror game, exploring that empty house during a storm is creepy as hell and very atmospheric.
I recognize the fact that this game is not for everyone, but I feel that if you are like me and enjoy exploring game worlds more than fighting enemies or solving puzzles, you will probably like this game.
