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Gone Home's Getting the Console Treatment

The emotional first-person walking simulator is coming later this year.

Mar. 10 2014

Posted by: Patrick

In This Episode:

Gone Home

96 Comments

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mra138

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TDot

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Edited By TDot
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Edited By Hazelnuttz
@peritus said:

@d4rksh33p said:

I got really scared by the ghost when it jumps out at you at the end of the game!

That i could handle, it was the cellar that got me.

The part where you find the head of their uncle in that box gave me the willies.

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Edited By Hazelnuttz

YAY!! This game stuck with me for a while after finishing it. It was so wonderful. It made me want to go on an adventure.

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A_Cute_Squirtle

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Man, the amount of vitriolic individuals in this comment section is really dispiriting. I would have thought better of this community.

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woocifer

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Edited By woocifer

Weird...a lot of people liked this title. I found it was a boring diatribe wrapped up in a pseudo "chase the carrot" maze. Just because it deals with a certain subject I think more credit is given to it due to said subject matter. It wasn't all that good or fulfilling to me...

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@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

Well Gone Home is more like a tour of an interactive museum, which I wouldn't call a game. Sure Gone Home has a story, but besides that it isn't much different to walking in a 3D space and looking at objects, may they have a story tie in or are just exhibits with flavour text. That said, I have no quail with Gone Home except that in my head it is robbery what they demand for it, when put in perspective to other games out there.

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marc

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So buying Ground Zeroes is disrespectful to the wallet, but spending $20 on this is totally fine? Okay.

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LackingSaint

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@xpgamer7 said:

I feel if people decided to separate games and these story driven "Experiences" into two separate categories people would be less argumentative over definitions that have been deliberately shaken, and more so with products that are clearly commercially viable.

I think some people get upset when the limits of the game/experience aren't defined and they buy a product that they thought would be more interactive than it ended up being while others just want to fight over the definition. Plus I think many of the people who enjoy these kind of games don't care about the definition so much as their existence. Or it doesn't matter because the internet will argue anyway.

Eh, we've had Visual Novels for decades now (which is what The Walking Dead Games pretty clearly draw from); just find a good sub-genre name and be done with it. No need to limit video-games as a medium by having the equivalent of "Art films aren't REAL movies! They don't even have plots!"

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@tdot said:

@lackingsaint said:

@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

They just listed Football and Monopoly as examples of games, and then you made up how they defined a game in a way that neither of those would fit the parameters.

I'd call Gone Home as much a game as any point-and-click adventure game. My only complaint on that end is that some people act as if it's a revelation to have a game where most of what you do is finding keys to unlock doors and getting four-number codes to open chests. And finding scrawled notes that happen to tell the story in a completely linear fashion (which always seemed like a really disappointing lack of use of video-games as a storytelling medium, considering it's one of the only mediums that's inherently non-linear).

Then they were bad examples and I have no idea what they're talking about.

I'm not saying you have to like the game. I just get pretty pissed when kids, who have zero idea of what they're talking about and who can't form a cogent argument to save their life, dismiss something they don't like as "not really being a game" as if they're the arbiters of something. It's this ignorant group think mentality.

I think the person's guidelines to what constitutes a game was pretty clear (requires ruleset and goal), it's just that Gone Home actually fits that guideline; Ruleset- Player controls movement, player cannot progress until they find objects to open areas or figure out how to open areas. Goal- To search entire house.

I'm with you on the group-think; there are much more effective ways to criticize Gone Home than just to say it isn't a game.

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Edited By TDot

@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

They just listed Football and Monopoly as examples of games, and then you made up how they defined a game in a way that neither of those would fit the parameters.

I'd call Gone Home as much a game as any point-and-click adventure game. My only complaint on that end is that some people act as if it's a revelation to have a game where most of what you do is finding keys to unlock doors and getting four-number codes to open chests. And finding scrawled notes that happen to tell the story in a completely linear fashion (which always seemed like a really disappointing lack of use of video-games as a storytelling medium, considering it's one of the only mediums that's inherently non-linear).

Then they were bad examples and I have no idea what they're talking about.

I'm not saying you have to like the game. I just get pretty pissed when kids, who have zero idea of what they're talking about and who can't form a cogent argument to save their life, dismiss something they don't like as "not really being a game" as if they're the arbiters of something. It's this ignorant group think mentality.

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insanejedi

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I think this was a poor use of my money when I finished it.

I couldn't help but to think that the story couldn't hold up on its own so it required the use of "pretending to be a horror game" and mid 90s nostalgia that specifically targets the Caucasian audience who had a Christian family and watched TV shows during that time like the x-files on VHS tapes. What some reviewers and people like Patrick don't realize is that Gone Home only really works for a specific kind of audience, which is the late 20s, Caucasian with Christian parents born in the US, that has a current liberal positions. Basically people like Patrick.

Now, I'm not saying that there isn't anything wrong with that, it's just facts about who he is and it's fine that this game specifically panders to that kind of audience who really are most game reviewers. I just wish they would realize that the reasons why they enjoy it, are just not applicable to people that don't have those personal origins.

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Edited By xpgamer7

I feel if people decided to separate games and these story driven "Experiences" into two separate categories people would be less argumentative over definitions that have been deliberately shaken, and more so with products that are clearly commercially viable.

I think some people get upset when the limits of the game/experience aren't defined and they buy a product that they thought would be more interactive than it ended up being while others just want to fight over the definition. Plus I think many of the people who enjoy these kind of games don't care about the definition so much as their existence. Or it doesn't matter because the internet will argue anyway.

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Why would I pay money to go home when I am already home?

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I quite enjoyed this game, playing it on a stormy night, headphones on, leaning in to a computer screen.

Not sure how that experience will translate to a living room/television. I felt like the game was paced like a choose-your-own adventure book... I'm not sure I'd want that slow pacing and all that reading on my TV screen.

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@jaymii said:

@nightriff said:

Too bad I played it once and that's all someone needs to play it.

Hmm. I've played it more than once, and I think it's just as good each time. Do you only watch films once, too? Just curious. I don't necessarily need a different experience every time I rewatch/replay something.

...I liked Gone Home but don't think it was good enough to warrant additional playthroughs. Its not like I'll play it again and find (and then read) a document that will make the experience better. I see it was a really good movie that I see it once and that's all I need from it. Generalizing that everyone should only play it once was my mistake.

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Edited By BBQBram

@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

They just listed Football and Monopoly as examples of games, and then you made up how they defined a game in a way that neither of those would fit the parameters.

I'd call Gone Home as much a game as any point-and-click adventure game. My only complaint on that end is that some people act as if it's a revelation to have a game where most of what you do is finding keys to unlock doors and getting four-number codes to open chests. And finding scrawled notes that happen to tell the story in a completely linear fashion (which always seemed like a really disappointing lack of use of video-games as a storytelling medium, considering it's one of the only mediums that's inherently non-linear).

I agree, and the story isn't a revelation either. It's trite. More interesting things have already been done in this form but industry nepotism wins out again. Look into the connections between The Fulbright Company, RPS and Polygon. The only thing Gone Home really had going for it was the ambiance and ambiguity.

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Too bad I played it once and that's all someone needs to play it.

Hmm. I've played it more than once, and I think it's just as good each time. Do you only watch films once, too? Just curious. I don't necessarily need a different experience every time I rewatch/replay something.

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Edited By LackingSaint

@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

They just listed Football and Monopoly as examples of games, and then you made up how they defined a game in a way that neither of those would fit the parameters.

I'd call Gone Home as much a game as any point-and-click adventure game. My only complaint on that end is that some people act as if it's a revelation to have a game where most of what you do is finding keys to unlock doors and getting four-number codes to open chests. And finding scrawled notes that happen to tell the story in a completely linear fashion (which always seemed like a really disappointing lack of use of video-games as a storytelling medium, considering it's one of the only mediums that's inherently non-linear).

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Edited By bunnymud

It's a nice little story that might be worth $10.00 for anyone that hasn't played it. Look at it as paying to see a movie.

BUT THAT RED HERRING WAS TOTAL FUCKING BULLSHIT TO THE Nth DEGREE!!!!

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And will cost 40$ because yey.

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A worthless game on PC to a worthless game on consoles. Not much more to say...

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I don't think it really matters whether you consider this a "game" or not, but by how effective it is at delivering a compelling experience. Like Journey, or Flower. It's entirely subjective.

I personally don't think it did. It didn't deliver on what I was hoping for, so I regretted my impulse purchase of $20 based on the Quick Look. Lesson learned, and I'll be more careful about my purchases in the future.

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Gone Home is a video game and Pluto is a dwarf planet. Hope that helps. Later.

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@somejerk said:

..what's a WiiU? D:

It's the one with exclusive games worth playing.

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@flacracker: most of the people at polygon are gaming hipsters.

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@tdot:

@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

I don't think @landon wants all games to consist of collecting gold coins or increasing your score (and how many such games aside from Mario have there been lately anyway?). The point is that for some people, there's not enough in Gone Home for them consider it a game, and honestly, I can see where they're coming from.

Personally, it doesn't interest me, and if I decide to get it, I'll probably wait until it's on sale because I don't think $20 is worth an interactive experience that lasts about 3 hours and has little (if any) re-playability.

So "game" is a completely subjective thing? Like I can come away from a movie and say "That's not a film, that's an art moving picture!" because it didn't contain enough giant monsters in it or some arbitrary subjective thing?

So that means the entire genre of like adventure games is not a game? There's nly two reasons I can think of that someone would say "this sin't a game" The first is that they're young and don't know about this genre. Like Myst, a game that was a game before many of these kids were even born is not a game? Sorry children, you don't get to decide the terminology just because it's something you're not interested in or have seen before.

The next is that they're somehow afraid that their favourite genre might go away or that they believe that "gamers" are a tribe of people they belong to and that expanding that might take away things they like.

Either way, you're not the ones to decide what category belongs to what. that's up to the people who make this stuff. To quote one Billy Joel "we didn't start the fire"

(P.S is reputability a thing people give a shit about any more? Like that was only an issue when you had like two games to play a year because you were a poor ass kid.)

(P.P.S I've played Gone home three times because I miss stuff so yeah, it totally does.)

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@tdot:

@tdot said:

@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

I don't think @landon wants all games to consist of collecting gold coins or increasing your score (and how many such games aside from Mario have there been lately anyway?). The point is that for some people, there's not enough in Gone Home for them consider it a game, and honestly, I can see where they're coming from.

Personally, it doesn't interest me, and if I decide to get it, I'll probably wait until it's on sale because I don't think $20 is worth an interactive experience that lasts about 3 hours and has little (if any) re-playability.

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@atwa said:

@flacracker said:

Wait Polygon actually gave Gone Home GOTY? It is a good game, but GOTY?

Well to be fair its Polygon.

Hahaha. Exactly.

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Hallmark Presents: Gone Home: Reloaded (Xbox 360 Edition)

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@hyst: Why does there need to be a line, and why can't that line differ among different people? "If you're not interested, don't play it," am I right? =p

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Edited By Sooty

@nation764 said:

I'm impressed with that description of the game by Patrick, it made me chuckle.

He just stole it off what people call the DayZ Alpha, but it's less funny because Gone Home has a defined objective and ending.

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@landon: I don't want to say 100% it is or isn't a game. All I want to say is that we do have to draw the line somewhere, and I think where should always be open for discussion.

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Ducks real big! 'Zines real big! Gone Home Console everythang's real big!

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Edited By garnsr

Cool, I'm a consoler, without much need for a gaming PC, but this is one of the handful of PC games I'd like to play. I hope Jazzpunk comes someday to PS4, too.

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@landon said:

@deadpanjazman said:

@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

So for something to be considered gameplay you have to have gold coins popping up or for a score to increase? That's an incredibly limited definition of an entire medium, one that falls apart when you look at games from the last two decades.

Maybe Gone Home isn't a game but then it turns out neither are almost all of the games.

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In IGN interview from today it's stated that they're still deciding so it's not for certain yet that it that it will come on other machines than the PS4 (and that's mostly due to the way Microsoft does things)

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@oasisbeyond: I mean if you don't know what the word 'gameplay' is then sure.

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landon

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@oasisbeyond: I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Any act of you having to input commands in order for things to happen is gameplay

Ehhh, I don't think so. Is dialing your phone gameplay? Is playing with the radio in your car gameplay?

For something to be a game it has to have rules and goals. Football is a game. Monopoly is a game. Super Mario Bros. is a game. Gone Home is interactive art.

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Odd that they don't say which consoles it's coming to.

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Will totally buy it again on PS4. Cos it kinda ran like crap on my shitty old laptop.