Gone Home is story of acceptance, self discovery and growth. Within a few short hours you learn about a how the lives of your family has changed since you went on a year long trip to Europe.
You are Kaitlin Greenbrair and as mentioned before, you have just returned home from a trip to find the home completely empty. You are met with only a note from your sister telling you not to go snooping around for answers. This of course means you need to do the opposite and find out what has happened to everyone.
The story for the most part has you finding out about your sister, Sam, and her friend, Lorrie, she met when moving to this new town. I won’t dance around the plot but it becomes apparent pretty quick that your sister has a ‘thing’ for this girl and it only gets stronger as the story progresses.
Most of the plot is told through left over notes and monologues done by Sam after finding certain things. This is how you learn about Sam and Lorrie’s relationship and how it grows is both touching and sad. It feels very real and that is what caught me off guard. It’s well written and you can sense how they become closer over time. When you finally hear Sam talk about their first kiss, I felt genuinely excited for her.
This is why the ending disappointed me.
I will spoil nothing but it seems very out of place for a story set up to be very realistic. Maybe it is the idea of young love leaving you blind to the consequences of your actions but it just felt off base with the rest of the writing and how the characters are built up. All in all, this did not ruin the complete package.
As far as the gameplay goes, there is not much to say. It is simple and for good reason. All you need is to be able to pick up things and closely examine other objects as well.
Also, despite the game starting you with little guidance, you never feel lost. Even though you are sort of mindlessly wandering around the house in the beginning you get your bearings because of a good sense of progression that flows really eloquently with the way the story unfolds. Lightbulb moments happen a bunch where previous things you read suddenly make more sense or finding something right under your nose you had missed earlier. Never once did I find myself wandering around randomly clicking and trying to find out where to go next.
Over all the game has an amazingly touching story to tell and it does it excellently. The gameplay is there to only service the story and letting you find out only as much as you want to know. What you get from this game experience is as much as you put into it.
I would highly recommend this game to anyone with a few hours that wants to hear a well told story about young love and how it can change lives. There is not much replay value but it is to be expected for a story heavy game. But like any great book, sometimes coming back to re-read it will treat you to new rewards.
