A coming of age tale…
When finishing Gone Home, I immediately knew that it would be an incredibly difficult game to review. The reason for this being that I absolutely loved the game, but can’t tell you practically anything about it without ruining the experience. Because essentially that’s what Gone Home is; it’s an experience. That might just seem like a buzz word to some and it might even be a turn off to others, but for me, two to three hour experiences such as Gone Home and Journey are hitting the sweet spot for me lately.
First, I want to set the scene for you. Since my freshman year of college approximately seven and a half years ago, I was suffering through assignments with an old Dell laptop. It was in no way a gaming laptop. After a motherboard replacement, two keyboard replacements, and some carefully placed duct tape to keep the screen bezel attached, I finally decided to cough up the cash and buy a brand new Asus gaming laptop. It’s not the best out there, but it can play pretty much aKat on high settings. That’s not why I bought the laptop, but a week or so ago during my holiday vacation it was about two in the morning when I realized that I could finally step back into PC gaming. I created a Steam account and started browsing through the holiday sales when I saw Gone Home for ten bucks. The name instantly stuck out at me being that it has been on many Game of the Year lists recently. It was bought and at the start screen by 3:00 AM.
Now I don’t have a gaming controller or even a mouse for the laptop so I was stuck with keyboard and trackpad. Fortunately, Gone Home does not require much in regards to reflexes or quick movement. It is essentially a point and click title in the veins of ‘Myst’ or ‘Seventh Guest.’ I sat on the couch with my fiance asleep beside me. The only light in the room was the glow of the monitor. In complete silence, I stared at the start screen - eerie artwork of a seemingly haunted looking house. Knowing next to nothing about the game, I assumed it would be a horror title. It is and it isn’t, but I don’t want to give too much information about that. Here’s what I will tell you:
It is 1995 and you are Kaitlin, a 20-year old daughter in a family of four that went away on a trip to Europe a year or so prior to the events of the game. Shortly after your leave, your parents and little sister Sam move to a house an hour away from home. The house was originally owned by your father’s Uncle, a hermit who for some reason most of the town considered a psycho. This is one source of eeriness in the massive house. When returning home, Kaitlin finds a note left on the front door. It is from your little sister and tells you not to go looking for her, not to tell anyone what happened, and that she is sorry. After entering the front door, it does not take long to see that no one is home; your parents are gone as well. There are a few messages on the answering machine from a crying girl looking for your little sister. Going through the rooms, it seems the house has been somewhat torn apart; cabinets and drawers left open everywhere. You are left to find out what happened. Where is your little sister? Where are your parents? What has happened to everyone since your departure? Does the mystery surrounding your Uncle’s past have any connections to what happened here?
It is up to you to tell the story in Gone Home. You will only get out of it as much as you put in. You could fly through the game in thirty minutes if you chose to, but you would miss so much of what makes Gone Home special and unique. Most of the story is told through a few dozen of Sam’s journal entries that can be activated throughout the playthrough. They are not journal pages that can be found in the game environment. Rather, the journal audio will start to play when you inspect a certain object related to that entry. Many times they are notes hidden in drawers, but sometimes it’s a magazine or a bottle of red hair dye. Listening to your little sister detail the events of her teenage life after your left is the driving force behind Gone Home. You are controlling Katelyn, but Sam is the main character. This is her coming of age tale, and like a good book you will become invested in her story as she deals with family, friends, school, love, and Street Fighter 2.
However, Sam is not the only great character. In fact, the father and mother’s stories are also very moving and intriguing. They are not told through journal entries like Sam’s story, but they contain just as much content told through details you can find throughout the meticulously created house. The Fullbright Company filled every room to the brim with little details. Even though the Greenbriar’s have not yet fully moved into their new house on Arbor Hill it feels lived in. As you open drawers and cabinets picking through notes and personal belongings, it almost seems as if you are violating this family’s privacy; sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. The experiences of a teenage girl are very personal; as are the intimate details of a marriage. There is just so much to uncover in this family’s life, and that doesn’t even include the story behind the uncle which I won’t go into at all. All I will say is that Uncle Oscar’s modifications to his home provide some very tense and uncomfortable moments.
The music also does a wonderful job of setting the mood throughout. It is subtle and simplistic for the most part, but then there are rooms where you find a casette tape lying around. Locate a casette player and you’ll be rewarded with some grungy 90’s punk rock. It contrasts heavily with the otherwise soft score of the game, but works well to create some tension. The music is loud and sometimes abrasive which made me feel uneasy at moments. It also does well in establishing the setting as a pre-cell phone era filled with tube TV’s, VCR’s, and Super Nintendo’s.
Verdict:
There really isn’t much more I want to say about Gone Home. I would feel like I took something away from you. I wish you all could play it exactly as I did, with absolutely no knowledge of the game’s story or motivations. No matter what, Gone Home is a game worth experiencing. It will only last you a few hours, but soak up every bit of it. Silence the room, turn down the lights, throw on some headphones, and take in everything that this masterfully crafted title has to offer.
SCORE CARD
Wonderful coming of age tale told through environmental details/journal audio +5
A meticulously detailed house leaving plenty of secrets to find +3
Musical score/soundtrack are fitting and do well in establishing an eerie mood +2
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