Gone home (anyone?)

[György Dudas]

Did everyone go home or or did anyone checked out GONE HOME .... clearly a notgame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5KJzLsyfBI

[Albin Bernhardsson]

I saw it on Steam and dismissed it as one of those cheesy point-and-click adventures set in haunted mansions, but given the press it's been getting it seems like a bit more. So doesn't seem like it's done a great job at marketing itself.

[Michaël Samyn]

I've played an early alpha. Liked the experience but wasn't too impressed with the story, or it's delivery. Will try the full game as soon as people stop raving.

[György Dudas]

I am thinking of watching a walkthrough. Could this be the start of heresy?

[Jeroen D. Stout]

I concur with Michaël, mostly - it was interesting but beyond what the alpha showed not much happened. The story was 'about' something but nothing ever happened; there was little pathos, no involvement between characters (everybody was an island)... just at no point was the story ever alive. There were one or two moments where I was excited. If this had been a novel I would have thought it very poorly written. I was happy to see some who actually dealt with 'coming out' as homosexual criticized the story for being one of those 'white people walking in the part' type of affairs.

It also showed a strange difference with Dear Esther, where Esther's environment is so excellent it is a constant delight - in Gone Home, the environment is simplistic and jejune. At some point I was thoroughly tired of it all. Yes, yes, I can pick up items and turn them, but why? I found myself wishing they had a three room apartment where all the detail could have been focussed on the place, rather than padding it out in a needless way.

By the time I felt something was happening, the plot was moving along, more interesting things happened - the game ended.

Not quite worth the money I paid for it, quality-wise. Purchasing novels would have been a more sound investment.

EDIT: I think the concept is wonderful, though. I just think this execution was so flawed I became rather cynical hearing anybody speaking in praise of it. Perhaps I just did not really experience the 90's in such a way I am emotionally ticklish. At any rate, this is an ideal format for a 'explore the family space' concept. I for one would love to walk around the house of interesting people and overturn all the papers; it is something I do when-ever I am left to my own devices in a friend's home. But I would prefer people who are either interesting or meaningful, rather than just meagre parts of a thin narrative.

[Thomas]

I quite liked it. Most refreshing is to see a game with 100% focus on storytelling and with no real padding. Problem is that you as a player is not involved in the story. Apart from some notes directly addressing you + some extra knowledge, the player's character has no part in the narrative.

György:
I would suggest playing it as it does enough clever stuff to make it worthwhile. If you are really interested in learning anything design-wise, watching an LP is far from optimal.

[György Dudas]

it is something I do when-ever I am left to my own devices in a friend's home

I know who I am not inviting to stay at my house... 

I watched 30 min. of a let's play with no commentary by the player. I think I am not interested in the setting
and subject matter (US teenagers). Maybe there is a horror story going on with some hints at Poltergeist and the
pre-owner... it feels pretty mundane. Like boring neighbours.

Also I am not convinced by the writing.

I thought if the first 30 minutes would grab me, I would go and play the game, but there wasn't... Dear Esther
got me invested more (I think the narrator was great and the text was poetic, loved it).

I don't want to appear arrogant here. Congrats to the developers and I am glad they have success. Babysteps, but still
steps in the right direction ...

maybe it is a cultural difference between european audience and us audience. Maybe 90s nostalgia hits the nerve abroad and
sexual/teenage stories, too...

cheers

[Tyler Snell]

I enjoyed it. I thought it did an excellent job of storytelling, but the problem was the story itself kinda fell flat especially at the end. Having grown up in the US in the 90s definitely made me feel more involved. I wasn't quite a teenager yet in the 90s, but there was a lot that felt really familiar to me. They definitely nailed it in that area.
I wish it was just an open house though, without the locked door progression points. It seems like they felt the need to adhere somewhat to traditional storytelling (I read the locked doors as act breaks). I think it would have been more compelling to let the story unfold entirely on its own. The interesting thing about this type of storytelling is how new bits of information can change your understanding of previous things.

Maybe there is a horror story going on with some hints at Poltergeist and the
pre-owner... it feels pretty mundane. Like boring neighbours.

I think one of the best things about the game was the mundane nature of it. But yeah, if you don't feel involved then it really is just boring neighbors. But since I felt involved, I was pretty enthralled for a large amount of it. Its strength lies in the environment itself and the presentation rather than the story.

[Hugo Bille]

I find that the absence of the player character (or rather how they handle and motivate that absence) is one of the game's major strengths. Player character agency is always a messy subject and trying to equate the player with the character is always an enviable goal, but how to do it believably? That's a tougher nut. In Gone Home, very little is being told about Katie, and also very little is being told about anything that happened (to anyone in the family) before she left for Europe. This lets me fill in the blanks and assume that Katie is pretty much like me and her family history (up to that point) is pretty much like mine. The beautiful part is that Katie started traveling at the same time the family moved, so everything in the house is as new to her as it is to me. Nearly every artifact you find is from that past year, anything older than that is my responsibility to fill in. Because Katie has never lived in this house, I can easily empathize with everything that's new, and fill in the rest.

Personally I also fell in love with the ending. I was absolutely terrified for the last couple of minutes as I ascended to the attic, still half-expecting a horrible truth or a supernatural explanation or just the ghost of uncle Oscar suddenly jumping in front of me to capitalize on the ever-escalating tension that hadn't found any release for the entirety of the game. I was expecting to see Sam dead in every corner. And instead, the whole reason for the house being empty is that Sam finally got an opportunity to be with the one she loves. Nothing supernatural, nothing scary, in this horror game the whole explanation is simply - love. I found that endlessly refreshing. (Admittedly I still don't understand where the parents are, but I haven't been able to open their safe yet either).
This whole experience of course relies on the fact that I was invested in the Sam/Lonnie story. I found it to be naïvely written in a teenage sort of way that is difficult to pull off as an adult, and every audiolog took me back to the clumsy and wonderful loves of my teenage years.

Finally I'm thankful that the game, in stark contrast to Dear Esther, took place in a non-linear environment that allowed me as a player freedom to decide on a whim which rooms I was most interested in exploring rather than just being shown things in order. By re-utilising the same spaces it also started to convey a sense of space and familiarity with it that can simply never be achieved on a linear journey and is one of this medium's greatest, greatest strengths, but that is perhaps a separate crusade of mine.