A memorable, relatable and believable story that would have never worked in a book or movie
It's June 7th, 1995. Kaitlin has come home after a year long trip in Europe. There's no one to greet her other than a note taped on the front door. The note is from Sam and tells Kaitlin not to go digging around to find out where he or she or it has gone. As you enter the house, the lights flicker on. The house appears to be deserted. Welcome to Gone Home.
Gone Home is an exploration adventure game that tasks the player to wander around a house piecing together clues of what happened to its' occupants. There are hundreds of objects littered throughout the game that could be picked up and viewed in greater detail. The in-game objects are rendered with such high fidelity that the words on a piece of paper can be read. In fact, every object in the game was crafted and placed in deliberate areas so it feels like an actual home in the 90's. As you pick up certain items, Sam will narrate how that item is relevant to him/her/it and as the game goes along reveal to the player Sam's innermost secrets.
The game is fairly simple. There are no points to gain, achievements to unlock or things to shoot. All the player can do is walk around and look at objects. The setting is mundane and grounded in reality which is incredibly refreshing. There are too many games nowadays that aim to be bombastic and epic with over-the-top special effects, cut scenes and FMVs to tell the story. Gone Home plays it straight and respects the player's intelligence to be able to piece the story together without blatantly telling it to the player.
Gone Home is still “gamey” at times. The player is corralled into taking a certain route with other rooms being locked or inaccessible until the player finds the right key or code. Gone Home lacks a navigation marker or main objective which makes it frustrating to know where to go next once all the rooms have been unlocked. Miss an object and you'll end up wandering throughout the house looking at every crevice, picking up everything just hoping that it will contain some kind of clue of where to go next.
The game has some technical hiccups. The in-game engine feels horribly unoptimized with frame rate issues even on lower settings. My PC rig can run triple A titles like Mass Effect and Batman fine on high settings but seems to struggle with Gone Home even though it isn't as graphically impressive. Objects have a tendency to glitch out or clip through other objects if they are placed somewhere else. The music can also mask Sam's narration especially when the thunder strikes or when near certain environmental objects like a refrigerator.
This game is not worth the $20. It takes around 2 hours to finish the game but as of October 2013, a commentary mode has been added, similar to how Valve does its' commentary modes which doubles the game's length to 4 hours. My suggestion is to wait for a Steam sale or Humble Bundle Sale to knock it down to $5 or less.
Gone Home is still a game that should be played when you get the chance to. It's approach to story telling respects the player's intelligence in that it doesn't explicitly tell the player what's going on. It's a game that doesn't feel overly pretentious and hip or trying to show a point just because it's an indie game. It's a game with a memorable, relatable and believable story that would have never worked in a book or movie. I give it 3 stars out of 5.
