Gone Home Review

Gone Home is more of an interactive story than an actual game, but this shouldn’t stop you from enjoying this unique and refreshing experience. The opening of the game sets an unsettling mood; you are in control of Kaitlin Greenbriar who arrives home at night, in the middle of a thunderstorm. There is a note from your sister Sam on the door, who says she has gone away and that we are not to worry (which of course, has the opposite effect).

If you go into the game looking for an ‘Amnesia’ like experience, then you are going to be disappointed. Upon entering the gloomy house, my first steps were quite timid as I was rather expecting a sudden jump scare – but my fears were senseless. No matter what dark secrets I uncovered, or hidden passageways I descended down, the house remained silent.

But this sense of fear soon fades and you are then immersed into this unknown family’s world, with fragments of their lives scattered around like pieces of a jigsaw, just begging to be exposed. The house itself is a pleasure to explore, with so many interactive items you can inspect; although not all of them serve any actual purpose. However, there are some real gems amongst the dispersed objects, such as a piece of paper with Chun Li’s Street Fighter moves written on it.

While these items seem like junk at first, they do create the feeling that you are in a real house, occupied by real people with typical yet troubled lives. They also help to create a sense of the characters personalities, which is critical as they are physically absent for the duration of gameplay. This can be as subtle as a cinema ticket stubb, or as glaringly obvious as a hotel matchbox with a time on it.

The real backbone of the story comes in the form of snippets from Sam’s journal, which are played to you when you pick up a particular ‘trigger’ item. The voice acting of Sam’s character really brings her to life and creates a deeper understanding of her motives for leaving. The unraveling story does leave you feeling slightly dejected, but this is just part of the experience.

There is no right or wrong way to make your way through the main story, although if you plough right through it, the game is rather short. Your experience of the story is really what you make it, and even once you have come to ‘the end’ you can still continue to explore the house and perhaps uncover something which you missed earlier on. Although truthfully I did feel slightly empty at the abrupt ‘ending’ of the game, perhaps because I was hoping for something more sinister.

The £15.00 price tag is fair considering the attention to detail and the interactive-ness of the game, but those who want something a bit more fast-paced should stay clear. Overall, I would recommend Gone Home to more patient players who really enjoy sinking their teeth into a gripping story.