This is essentially a spoiler free review.
I don't think I have ever written a review, but never has a game driven me to want to write one so badly. If you're expecting some mindless bashing as this game seems to attract, you're better off going elsewhere.
For those who don't don't know, Gone home is a story driven game about returning home and your family is no where to be found. What you then have to do is search the house looking for clues as to what happened.
The first area I want to address is the gameplay. At a glance it's solid, however there are some fundamental flaws that seem to go against what the game is trying to achieve. The game makes it very clear that you're supposed to come to a conclusion yourself about what happened, however you are often greeted with monologue presented by your family that you can't get from interacting with the house. An example would be your sister saying a story that you would not have insight in. In short, the game is filling in blanks and details with dialogue because they don't put in a way for you to figure out.
The second area is the story. To say I was disappointed with the story would be accurate. It felt cheesy, and within 20 minutes of playing you can already figure out what happened to your sister. It was very apparent they were trying to show off the "unique" gameplay and kind of skipped on the story, this is a shame because the mechanics ultimately make the story the game. It isn't like Super Meat Boy where the story could be about a walking fart, no one cares they want to play it because of the solid and brutal platformer mechanics. In the same way, these types of games are played for their story.
Now to address what was done right.
The tone of the game felt spot on. It didn't feel like it was trying to cheese you into thinking one way with a dumb bait and switch. Until the faults of the story kick in, it does a good job making you feel unknowing and clueless and leaves you guessing. The way stuff was initially introduced made me feel like I was really stepping into someones house and life, and not some generic NPC house.
The music was also spot on, along with the sound. However I do feel like storm going on in the background was a little too cliche, and was used to try to get some cheap scares from the player like when the lights went out briefly.
Mechanically the game was sound, I never once felt annoyed or frustrated interacting. In fact you could really tell this was their focus, they thought the uniqueness of the game was enough to carry them to the finish line.
I'm not going give a score, because I feel like the story that I won't spoil, can relate to some people better than others, and they would probably like the game because it would feel close to home. However, for the typical player, and even from someone who adores the adventure/visual novel genre and has no problem with story driven games, the story is bland. It's just not very good writing.
My final thoughts are that this game felt like Home, a game that shares a name. In it you wake up and don't remember what happened and go through your neighborhood making your way back home, interacting in a 2D environment. While that game did have a cliche ending, the ending truly was what you believed it to be based on what you found. In that regard I feel it did a better job at being what Gone home tried to be
Thanks for reading what is probably a horrible review.
I don't think I have ever written a review, but never has a game driven me to want to write one so badly. If you're expecting some mindless bashing as this game seems to attract, you're better off going elsewhere.
For those who don't don't know, Gone home is a story driven game about returning home and your family is no where to be found. What you then have to do is search the house looking for clues as to what happened.
The first area I want to address is the gameplay. At a glance it's solid, however there are some fundamental flaws that seem to go against what the game is trying to achieve. The game makes it very clear that you're supposed to come to a conclusion yourself about what happened, however you are often greeted with monologue presented by your family that you can't get from interacting with the house. An example would be your sister saying a story that you would not have insight in. In short, the game is filling in blanks and details with dialogue because they don't put in a way for you to figure out.
The second area is the story. To say I was disappointed with the story would be accurate. It felt cheesy, and within 20 minutes of playing you can already figure out what happened to your sister. It was very apparent they were trying to show off the "unique" gameplay and kind of skipped on the story, this is a shame because the mechanics ultimately make the story the game. It isn't like Super Meat Boy where the story could be about a walking fart, no one cares they want to play it because of the solid and brutal platformer mechanics. In the same way, these types of games are played for their story.
Now to address what was done right.
The tone of the game felt spot on. It didn't feel like it was trying to cheese you into thinking one way with a dumb bait and switch. Until the faults of the story kick in, it does a good job making you feel unknowing and clueless and leaves you guessing. The way stuff was initially introduced made me feel like I was really stepping into someones house and life, and not some generic NPC house.
The music was also spot on, along with the sound. However I do feel like storm going on in the background was a little too cliche, and was used to try to get some cheap scares from the player like when the lights went out briefly.
Mechanically the game was sound, I never once felt annoyed or frustrated interacting. In fact you could really tell this was their focus, they thought the uniqueness of the game was enough to carry them to the finish line.
I'm not going give a score, because I feel like the story that I won't spoil, can relate to some people better than others, and they would probably like the game because it would feel close to home. However, for the typical player, and even from someone who adores the adventure/visual novel genre and has no problem with story driven games, the story is bland. It's just not very good writing.
My final thoughts are that this game felt like Home, a game that shares a name. In it you wake up and don't remember what happened and go through your neighborhood making your way back home, interacting in a 2D environment. While that game did have a cliche ending, the ending truly was what you believed it to be based on what you found. In that regard I feel it did a better job at being what Gone home tried to be
Thanks for reading what is probably a horrible review.