"Dear Katie, I'm sorry I can't be there to see you. I'm... I'm just sorry. But please, please, whatever you
might find... don't tell mom and dad."There's been a lot of controversy in the industry lately about what constitutes a game. About whether it needs combat, puzzles, or asinine button prompts mid-cutscene. Gone Home has none of these, but manages to so expertly tell a mysterious, eerie, and strangely heartwarming tale that I wasn't bothered by the lack of conventional "game-y-ness".
Gone Home has you take the role of Katie Greenbriar on the night on June 7th, 1995. After studying for a year abroad you return home to find it seemingly empty. What follows next are 2 hours of the most engaging storytelling in gaming. You'll explore the house from head to toe, opening every drawer, closet and letter you find to learn just what happened to everyone, what's up with all those creaking noises, and just what's waiting for you behind the next locked door. Upon discovery of anything plot relevant, you'll be treated to a reading of a journal entry from your younger sister Sam. The game is chock full of these, and as you progress through the game, you begin to realize that the plot is focused much more on her than anything else. However, Gone Home manages to give every character involved their share of depth. You might find a 20 year old box of unsold books written by your father, a pulp writer with a fixation on the JFK assassination of 1963, a torn page full of Street Fighter combo inputs, or a TV Guide with the X-Files slot highlighted. The game lures you in with an impeccable 90's charm, warmly transmitting pop cultural references into your brain in without making it feel like a cheap, biding its time for the main plot get into gear.. By the time things started to come together, I was already in love with the game. Not to mention that the experience is accompanied by an incredible ambient score courtesy of one Chris Remo. In addition to that, there are several of the era 'Riot grrrl' tracks that help to tell the story in some interesting ways.
One gripe most frequently brought up in regards to Gone Home is the price of admission. If you're picking this up without a sale it's $20 for a couple hours of gameplay. While this might seem outrageous at first, consider that instead of buying your next overpriced Blu-Ray and/or Laserdisc, you could just pick this up instead, and with a new developer commentary track available for any subsequent playthroughs, there's just as much incentive as a movie purchase. The game is so dripping with a deliciously spooky, touchy-feely atmosphere and the kind of absence that one'd feel after returning home from abroad is represented perfectly, and the lovingly drawn, written and voiced artifacts of the missing days of your family make this one of the most relatable experiences you'll ever find. All I've got to say is this- call it a game, call it a movie, call it a fucking radio drama, but put aside any preconceived notions you might have about the experience and just do it. I'd go as far as to say that if you ingest only game, hell, one piece of media this year, make it Gone Home. You'll be so profoundly stirred by this beautiful and personal tale that when the game fades to credits you'll never forget it. Gone Home shows us that even in the most cynical era of human history, something can subvert any expectations of its own identity and give us something that we'll keep in our hearts forever.
10/10
