I’ll just say it: Gone Home is my favourite game so far of 2013.
When the game starts, you’ve just arrived at your parent’s home with your bags from the airport. It’s 1AM but no one’s there. There’s a note on the door. Where is everyone?
You find out the answer to that as you explore this home in this game. It plays a bit like a real-time rendered adventure game of a decade ago, but there are no real puzzles to speak of. There are no monsters. It’s really just a process of discovery.
In the two hours it took me to explore this house, I learned the answer. There was a story delivered here, in the newspaper clippings, in the crumpled pieces of paper, in the photos… and part of it was narrated cued by my discoveries.
What I really appreciate of this game is that it makes an adventure out of the more or less ordinary. There is no supernatural here, no guns, no need for an entirely different world. It’s just a story about a family. I really like that.
This game reminded me a bit of Journey in how it let you deliver the story to yourself, and Dear Esther in terms of the general gameplay. I’m careful not to say too much, because I really want you to discover this house for yourself.
I highly recommend this game.
Comments
One response to “Gone Home”
*THIS COMMENT CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN’T PLAYED ‘GONE HOME’ YET*
Thanks for making me aware of this game. I’ve been thinking about my playthrough all day, reliving it in my head…it’s like my internal calender flipped back to the summer of 2001, and I was watching my family fall apart all over again, just as powerless now to stop it as I was then. That sounds like a negative, but I don’t mean it to be. On the contrary, I think it’s great that a video game can evoke such powerful emotions. The game was stirring in a way that (as far as I recall) only two other games have managed to be: Journey and Unfinished Swan. And the fact that these three games were all released within 18 months of each other bodes very well for the future of gaming. It was cathartic; it was nostalgic; it was incredible.
Thanks.