Tom_omb says, "From the start I didn`t like Sam because of how she treated Daniel"

That is one reason I did like Gone Home, among a number of reasons, really. They did not sugarcoat it. Sam was an asshole to him, and he in turn was a good and understanding guy about it. Daniel, even though he perhaps didn't even have the immediate wherewithal of his full role in the situation, was the designated loser. I felt sorry for the guy, and I kind of think you were supposed to. Sam was not perfect, aspiring lesbian or not. But it was a human story, that is what was important. I did not see Gone Home as agenda pushing, but rather a description of a life event.

I thought this was absolutely fantastic, I enjoyed it more than just about everything else this year.

Now go make me a version of BioShock Infinite where the amazing world building and art direction isn't ruined by forced padded out combat sequences.

@roadshell: I kind of agree though I don't think its a game at all. Hearing praise for this kind of ticks me off at all the people who weren't joking when they say games like Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain "aren't games".

At first, that's what I thought of it, but the comparison resulted in a bad visual novel with one good storyline and ending. Very little player interaction.

@roadshell: It's 100% the LGBT stuff. If this was about a boy and a girl, few people would actually give a crap.

And y'know what else? The last bit about Daniel where he just kind of says "all right, I get it" and moves on with his life, or at least according to what we know about that storyline. That was one of the stronger throughlines in the game - especially all the parents' prodding to go visit/talk to/whatever Daniel.

Enjoyed my time with the game, but I had the exact "Emperor has no clothes" feeling as well when I finished it.

@roadshell: I totally agree with you.

Gone Home was one of the worst games I have played in a long time. Here I am, playing the game, thinking some ghost is going to pop out in the basement, or Sam's body is going to be in the attic, but no. This is a story about how you come home after a year and your whole family is gone. You find clues, many of them talking about the whole "paranormal" situation, not to mention the whole spooky vibe you get when you look around the house. Like, explain all of those secret entrances within the house? So Sam and Lonnie do the whole investigation thing for nothing? You can't tell me there is no explanation for all of that. I was so disappointed when I entered the attic to find a bunch of red lights, and the last entry Sam wrote saying she left with her lover.

Uh, what?

And her parents? Apparently they went on some couple's counseling trip..so why is everything a mess? Most likely, they planned the trip, so why is the TV on? Why are the drawers in their bedroom open, and clothes strewn all over? Why is a fort by the couch, and overall, the house is a complete mess.

So you're telling me that they just dropped everything and said, "Let's go on a trip!"

Again, what?

There are so many questions I have that will possibly continue to be unanswered. The story was great, up until the end. At least I only payed $4.

I liked the story but it just felt like a Judy Bloom story. And the baiting with the horror angle is total bullshit. And honestly, if it was about a guy and a girl instead of a girl with a girl would everyone be so in love with the game? I think not.

@masongilchrist:

"Here I am, playing the game, thinking some ghost is going to pop out in the basement, or Sam's body is going to be in the attic, but no. This is a story about how you come home after a year and your whole family is gone. You find clues, many of them talking about the whole "paranormal" situation, not to mention the whole spooky vibe you get when you look around the house. Like, explain all of those secret entrances within the house? So Sam and Lonnie do the whole investigation thing for nothing? You can't tell me there is no explanation for all of that. I was so disappointed when I entered the attic to find a bunch of red lights, and the last entry Sam wrote saying she left with her lover."

When you were a kid did you never have moments with your friends where you thought or wanted something to be spooky? That's all that was doing, it was capturing the wild mind and imagination of what some people were like as kids where they hoped and thought everything was haunted, a whole chunk of the game was just one big nostalgic rush, the SNES games, the ghost stories, the music, etc. Also the secret doors, while a tad on the extreme side, probably had something to do with the dads uncle who owned the house being a creepy son of a bitch (possible a child abuser?)

And her parents? Apparently they went on some couple's counseling trip..so why is everything a mess? Most likely, they planned the trip, so why is the TV on? Why are the drawers in their bedroom open, and clothes strewn all over? Why is a fort by the couch, and overall, the house is a complete mess."

And you completely missed that while yes the parents are gone, the sister was NOT gone until sometime before the player arrived, the parents would have obviously just gone on their trip and left the teenage girl at home, not expecting her to run away, everything was on because she was still home, she would have ran away *after* the parents left.

There are so many questions I have that will possibly continue to be unanswered. The story was great, up until the end. At least I only payed $4."


Not to be a dick, but it sounds like the answers were there, you just didn't grasp them or figure them out.

Sorry, I know this is a really old thread, but... are you joking? Are you really saying that criticizing the gameplay in a video-game is nitpicking? They could have designed it in a more interesting way, making it feel more like you're really revisiting your house, but instead they decided to take all the same cliches that have been in adventure games for decades; "Oh, you found the secret code on the note, now you can open the secret passage!" "Oh, you found the key to unlock the next area!" i'm not the game's designer so I can't say exactly how they could have changed it up, but the fact is that they forced that story to be told in an extremely linear, unnatural fashion.