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Reviews VideoGame / Gone Home

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Valiona Since: Mar, 2011
04/14/2018 12:17:27 •••

Unique and enjoyable, if not for everyone

Gone Home is not very much like other games, being a story-driven game story that's far less ambitious in scope but more personal in nature, and is told in a non-traditional manner. Its uniqueness works to its advantage, but it isn't for everyone.

The game involves Katie Greenbriar, a college student, returning after a year abroad to find no one home. She lets herself into the house and investigates what happened while she was away, which ends up leading her to uncover her family's darkest secrets in the process.

The game is primarily told through various items you find throughout the house, each of which says a surprising amount about the various members of the family without doing so overtly. Instead telling you that Katie's father has a drinking problem, it shows you a letter from a publishe rejecting his manuscript, next to a bottle of alcohol. The Greenbriar house was created with great attention to detail, and it shows in every subtle touch that makes it feel like home (albeit a highly dysfunctional one).

The characters are well fleshed out and interesting people with a variety of issues, personality flaws and bad decisions. By viewing their personal effects, you see them in their more unguarded and vulnerable moments, which helps them come across as real people.

Of course, it's worth noting that Gone Home isn't for everyone. A game that's all about the story and its small details isn't for people who skip through every cutscene and eschew sidequests and exploration. Since it can be finished in about an hour on a first playthrough, or a minute if one is fast and does everything right, it also isn't for those who want a long game. It also isn't a game for those who read political subtext in works where there isn't any, and thus conclude that those works are thinly-veiled propaganda. If you're in any of these groups, you should probably look elsewhere for your entertainment.

You may have heard about the ending, but if you haven't, I won't spoil it here. It comes off as a natural result of everything that happened, if not the best possible one, and the game itself wisely refrains from judging the characters or their actions- that's purely up to you, the player. It's also fairly open-ended, as while Katie has learned much about her family in one night, there's no telling how their various issues will play out in the near future, thus leaving room for personal interpretation and theories.

All in all, if you know what you're getting into and can appreciate it for what it is, you'll probably enjoy Gone Home.


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