Gone Home

Pretty good but very predictable by the midpoint. You can tell this was one of the first walking sims because Firewatch, the beginner's guide and Edith Finch went on to blow it out of the water

Bought on deep 90% discount for around $1 and was gripped by the moving love story, exploration, 90’s nostalgia, soundtrack, voice acting and atmosphere. I will definitely replay but is not meant for everyone. At the time of release I could see the price being too high but after ten years any story lover should check it out.

Pretty enjoyable experience for a walking simulator. Graphics on max settings at 4K look surprisingly great for a 2013 indie title, everything is super crisp and textures/lighting look nice while performance is completely stable, with no hitching issues like modern games.

Gameplay is basic, yet enjoyable and engaging enough to keep you interested. The only downside is the games length is disappointing. Just when the game starts to pick up, it just suddenly ends and leaves you craving more.

Worth it on sale though for a short and chill gaming experience.

I originally bought this game because I thought it was another short horror game. I was then in a 2 hour long story about the ups and downs of a family, specifically their teenage daughter Sam and her relationship with a girl named Lonnie.

I have never cared about the relationships of fictional characters before I had played this game, its perfect use of letters, diary entries voiced by Sam and environmental story-telling gripped me from start to finish.

A beloved "interactive movie" game. Not much in the way of gameplay, pretty much just quiet exploration, but that's not why you play. The story is immersive and very compelling, and the emotions it leaves you with will stick with you for a long time.

The graphics are a bit dated by modern standards and there's at least one spot where I couldn't figure out how to progress and had to look up a walkthrough, but overall an absolutely excellent game if you're into "walking simulator" narrative-driven games.

Incredibly good story. The game is very very short but holds a story I find myself thinking of weeks later. I cannot recommend it enough, this game has to be played fairly blind to have its full effect. But there was parts that got me more emotional than a lot of other games I have played.

Gone Home is a great evolution in the history of immersive storytelling and imsims. If you like the parts in Deus Ex and similar games where you rummage around people's personal emails, letters, etc. and enjoy extremely detailed and lovingly designed environmental storytelling, I'm happy to tell you that this game is the very best of that experience distilled down into an emotional and engaging 2 hour experience

I find there is too little guidance in this game, and often i would be standing around wondering what on earth to do even after searching what feels like everything.

This game had a great atmosphere and visuals, with great voice acting. Really loved that and getting to know the characters involved. Unfortunately there was so little guidance and as i'm not super experienced with this genre yet, i decided to call it off for now as i was really struggling to understand where to go or what to do.

I will recommend this as i feel the people that have a keen eye will have no issues with this, and i definitely want to head back to this in a later date when i'm more experienced as i'm loving this genre, and honestly have loved the relationships i've learnt of within this game, im just stuck for now.

A sweet, touching story from a slice of the 90s. Love the score, design and voice acting - another beautifully built Fullbright world.

There are a number of people who started to play Gone Home under the assumption that the game was a horror game. As they played, they'd learn that this was not quite the case. That it was a love story after all.

But love stories and ghost stories are often the same thing, speaking the same language, speaking a language of ephemeral connection. In its own way, Gone Home is built up of a lot of little horrors; the horror of feeling your heart plummet into your gut as you learn something that cannot be unlearned; that you are different. That you feel differently, that you love differently from the other "normal" people in the world, that your heart aches for different things from those at home, at school, at parties.

The horror that something is waking in you that you will never truly put to sleep again; a quiet liminal horror that dances through your living nights like memories flickering through the dark hallways of a place you once called home. The horror that maybe you will never see the one you love most again. It's all little horrors in the end. It's a mosaic of time and memory; a kaleidoscope of queer temporality, where the revisitation of your life makes it ache all the more. And instead of centering the bigotry of parents or the intolerance of queerness, that othering is explored as obliquely as any good ghost story explores its own transience. Don't ask, don't tell; people will look at you funny, maybe, perhaps they'll say strange things about you and your family. Maybe there is simply a crushing apathy wherein the roses cannot bloom for their soil is arid and can find no purchase.

But maybe you can still build a garden here somehow. Perhaps you can rewrite this story from a ghost story to a fairy tale, to a happily ever after... or even just a "happily." Perhaps these ghosts don't have to haunt us.

Maybe we can still go home, even if it's not the place we grew up in.

Boring. The game gives you no direction and you just walk around a house picking up junk which is 99% meaningless. I closed it after 15 minutes. If you want an actually good game of this type go play "What Remains of Eidth and Finch".

Quaint walking sim with a banger soundtrack to go with it.

Don't play unless you like walking sims.

Man cool game and all, but mega disappointing. Best way to describe it is, you have a very good premise, an interesting mid point, and a shit conclusion. Half the side stories just end like that. Best way I can describe the game is when you were a kid and thought your mom died when she was 10 minutes late from grocery shopping. All that to say good luck with the future games I am interested in what this studio can provide with story telling as they improve

Wish there was a "mid" thumb.

Really liked the story and the idea of searching a mansion. However, you are clearly led through each "wing" of the home which cuts down the exploration and dilutes the "reward" of finding hidden objects.

While the story is very different than what you may be led to believe, I did personally enjoy it, and I also enjoyed how each room hinted to each character's personalities (the parents room... yuck).

Decent game but I don't exactly understand the high praise behind it. Very simple in both storytelling and gameplay. However I still found myself caring about the characters due to the believable storyline.

Really good narrative game. I was intrigued from beginning to end with the story, I don't wanna spoil too much, overall super recommended game.

Great story, recommend to anyone wanting a good story exploration game

The story really through me for a loop as it was making me think one thing was going to happen then swapped on me lol, but I liked that as it wasn't as predictable as I thought! I also appreciated the creepiness factor without it being actually scary. I kept expecting a jump scare but never got one.

I definitely thought it was going to be a bit more mysterious and possibly supernatural, but it wasn't at all. That is the only somewhat disappointing part of it as my expectations were not correct.

VERY quick game but overall, a good one

This game is just okay. It's relatively slow moving, as you wander around an empty house and try to figure out what happened to your family, who have mysteriously vanished. The story takes time to develop, but once it does, it's very involving. If you're looking for a game with a lot of tension and excitement, this won't do it. But if you enjoy slow building family dramas with a heavy dose of 1990s nostalgia, then this may strike a chord with you. It took me around 4-5 hours to finish, and I thought it was well worth the two dollars I paid for it. Rating 6/10.

*some very slight spoilers*

“We agreed our last night together would be our happiest ever, and we'd forget tomorrow was going to come at all.”

In 2010, Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, Karla Zimonja and other developers were tasked with creating a DLC campaign for Bioshock 2. Under the direction of Gaynor, the team was able to concoct an intimate story about a man dealing with loss and the lengths he’d go through to fill his heart’s empty void. Thus, Bioshock 2: Minerva’s Den was born and it received critical acclaim upon release. Many critics praised the smaller and more personal narrative of the DLC, delivered in a compact way. In a franchise that often dealt with big philosophical and political ideas, Minerva’s Den stood out as the most emotional of the bunch.

After developing Minerva’s Den, Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, and Karla Zimonja assembled a new game studio called Fullbright. It was from Minerva’s Den where a more budget friendly and character oriented storytelling philosophy emerged, which became the basis of Fullbright’s modus operandi moving forward. In the pursuit of this development philosophy, Gone Home was released as their first production, a game simply about a woman returning to her empty abode after a one year absence from the eyes of her oddly missing family.

As expected from Fullbright, what Gone Home contains is a short narrative video game that can easily last for an hour or two. It's the perfect length of this kind of game, a walking simulator which relies heavily on a series of delicately written notes and fantastic voice acting. Such a premise can easily become boring, but Gone Home’s intentional game design and intriguing story gives it the punch the game requires.

The gameplay loop of Gone Home is simple. You play as Katie Greenbriar, who searches her large two story house for clues on the whereabouts of her missing family. The mystery is compelling and the delivery of the context is a page turning affair. There are 23 letters written by Katie’s sister, Sam, that the player must find. Each letter gives the player a concise and voice acted narration of these missives. Oftentimes, they are accompanied by context appropriate music that can tug at your heart strings. Granted, this experimental kind of narrative isn’t for everyone, but when Gone Home hits, it hits good.

However, the heart of Gone Home is its narrative of teenage angst and love. It almost feels nostalgic, all the longing and heartbreak contained in this story. The game gives a strong empathetic perspective at the struggles of LGBT people. All the familiar spasms of rebellion and lost love are delivered in spades. There’s nothing quite like it.

In a way, Gone Home made me reminisce on days gone by. It reminds me of my youthful years, my first relationship, my first crush, my own rebellious streak, and all the hiding we had to do. They were fun and tough times but it had a lackluster ending. Gone Home gave me a window to peer back into the past, to relive these familiar feelings all while giving an ending that made me smile. It's not as good as the first time I felt them, but it reminds me of the endless and unknown possibilities that were on the horizon in my younger days. Hell, Gone Home reminded me of my dream of escaping into the open road once again.

8/10.

The game is overall not well executed
>the story is bland and not interesting at all
>unnecessary slow movement that was probably implemented in order to artificially increase playtime
>the writers might have thought that gay relationships have a 2x lore multiplier or smth
>definitely not worth the price teeth brushing simulator was better than this

really good story, found my self really invested, would recommend even if it is short.

Things i want to say though.
1. if this was sold for $5-10 dollars instead of $15 i would say its price is fine, otherwise wait for a sale.

2. a bit of a spoiler but it helped me enjoy the story more. This is not a horror game and i wish they didn't have sound effects that are trying to scare you because the house and storm itself can be scary and even a big house can be spooky but the sound effects making it sound like there's another person does make it feel a bit like a lie when you get to the end.

I wanted to love this one, but it was too boring. The story was not good...don't spend $15 on this.

Good story. I recommend if you're in for all the written texts. It's not mandatory to read them all, but they certainly enrich the experience.
There's an issue though, midway through the game, my interaction broke. As a result, I can't progress through rooms anymore. Specifically, the greenhouse door doesn't open. Also, I can't interact with certain objects in the same room.

The house is interesting to explore, and the game has a good setup, but the story is simply not good or enjoyable. Wouldn't recommend at all.

Gone Home is a nice short walking simulator game where you're come back to your parent's house after a long trip. It's empty and gradually as you search the house, you will learn more about what happened to your family. The ambiant is very good with a touch of mystery and the designs are great. I recommend it!!! 💜

Gone Home starts with your character, Katie, arriving back at her family’s house after being away in Europe for a year. But then you realize the house is completely empty and there’s this ominous note from your younger sister, Sam, stuck to the door. That’s it. That’s your setup. From there, you’re on your own to figure out what’s going on.

What I loved is how the game just throws you into this massive quiet house with no map, no objectives, nothing but your curiosity to guide you. You poke around, pick up objects, open drawers, and slowly piece together the story.

One thing to consider is that there’s not a lot of gameplay. You’re basically walking, looking at stuff, and sometimes reading notes or listening to Sam’s monologues. The lack of puzzles or challenges actually made it more immersive for me. Everything you find naturally leads you to the next clue. It’s paced so well that you’re always moving forward, but it never feels like the game is holding your hand.

The house itself it’s practically a character. Every room, every little detail tells you something about the family. It’s a bit of a scavenger hunt but without the stress. You’re not being chased, there’s no timer, just you, the house, and the story.

The real heart of the game, though, is Sam. Through these little journal entries she’s left behind you start to unravel her story, her experiences and her emotions. The way she grows throughout the game felt so real, so personal. And it’s not just about Sam. You also get these little glimpses into the lives of your parents and even your uncle. It’s like a whole family history packed into one night.

TL;DR; If you’re into games that prioritize story and atmosphere definitely try it. 6/10

It's hard to know whether I should recommend it or not, it depends on what you are looking for from this game?

If you're looking for a walking simulator game that is eerie, but not a horror walking simulator and you don't care about the conclusion of the story, then I suppose you can get this game, on a sale. I do not recommend this at its full price, unfortunately!

If you're looking for a walking simulator game that have a story, and a build up, and the execution, then this is NOT for you.

I hate horror games, so I avoid horror walking simulator games, this one have the suspense and the unsettling, making you feel like something is about to happen, but this is NOT a horror game, I liked the idea, the build up, as you discover more and more, to try to solve the plot of the story, but the execution and the conclusion, have completely fell flat, to the point it stunned me and I was like "is that it? What is the story? What happened to everyone?" Due to the build up, you had two expectations, it could go this way or another way, but it's neither way, it just completely fell flat. So I was very disappointed with the conclusion and execution of the game, I got this on 90% off sale, and refunded it. I feel like the ending could have gone MUCH better than this.

I'm sorry to the developers for this review. Great work on the house structure and modelling, and the story. If only the ending could have gone much better. Thank you for reading.

Do not buy this game at full price if you're interested. It's very boring. Basically it's a walking simulator (and you're very, very slow), you interact with stuff in a big ass empty house, protagonist sometimes starts yapping about it when interacting with stuff and very uninteresting story about idk about a girl she fell in love with. I only recommend this game because how easily you can get the achievements. I guess 2 points for voice acting and graphic.

This must be the most boring game I've ever played -- if it's even a game, since there's no mechanics, no puzzles, no skill involved. Just walking around an emtpy house and listening to a sad story about some teenagers that we're supposed to care about despite never meeting them. This is the first time in my life where I got frustrated out of sheer boredom. The developer commentary is not only boring and goes on forever, but it's also unbelievably obnoxious and self-indulgent, and very rarely has anything to do with the "game" itself.

Some achievements didn't pop up for me despite doing everything right, but I'm not gonna try again -- I seriously can't uninstall this quickly enough.

a great narrative storytelling walking game simulator.
good story, and a little bit of spice of horror but with no horror

Overall to me, it's 7.5/10 game
recommend if you like some walking story :))

Like probably everyone in the world, I thought this was a horror game. It's not. That's a bit disappointing, but it's still a good story, and it's still a nice, mysterious experience. There's a lot of attention to detail in all the notes, magazines, etc. that you find lying all over the house, which are genuinely handwritten instead of using some generic handwriting font, so that makes the experience even more immersive. Also, you can pick up virtually all objects in the house and throw them around wantonly. Excellent. House ain't gonna haunt itself.

It's a game of the genre "Walking Simulator", which ofen is used as a derogatory term. So you need to have an interest in an interactive experience, where the only interaction is looking at things, opening doors and chosing, which rooms you want to visit in which order. But it is a well crafted experience, with a heartfelt, mature and engaging story, which you can only unravel by being obsevant.

What really affected me a lot is that this game is set in the 90s, where I was at the exact same age as the person, this game is about and the setting is filled with so many genuine references to that era, it was almost like time-travel. It won't probably affect you the same, if you don't have the specific age to have had your formative years during the mid-ninetys but DAMN did nostalgia hit hard for me.

While technically not really spectacular, a lot of love and care went into this game.

Is it worth 15€? For 3-5 hours? Probably not. But if on sale, absolutely get it if you like interactive art like that.

Short and sweet. Love the story and the general vibe. One of my favourite games.

There's much depth in this slice of life game. Makes you feel for the characters like few other games do, so I can't rate it any lower than 10/10. It's one of those games you wish you could forget to play again.

very good narrative based game, though it gave me the heebie jeebies at times with the sound effects. i loved playing this and would recommend anyone try this game out.

This game was 4 hours of fun and I remember every bit of it even though its been 11 years.

IMO they should have made a AA sequel or something. At least that is what I expected.

10/10

This was a lovely adventure. It was immersive and interesting without being overwhelming (which was quite a feat, considering the size of the house). I only wish that there had been more of an exploration of some of the other plot points, like the uncle or "ranger rick", but I understand that they were not the point of the story. I feel like I missed some parts, like a trunk or a safe I never figured out the combination for, but to be honest I don't really feel inclined to go back in to finish everything. Would recommend

I can't remember the last time I was so immersed in a game. Every detail had a way of telling more of the story, clues everywhere, and the narrative, the voice acting, is exquisite. If you haven't already tried this, I have to recommend doing so emphatically. I've played a few walking simulators, but never really got into them, yet with every new part of the house I explored, with every room, with every piece of writing and everything that shows through in even the minute details, the game sucked me in. What a wonderful game, what a bittersweet story.

This must be one of the most beautiful and bittersweet videogames I've ever played. It brought me to the verge of tears, and I mean it.

You return from a trip only to find your family's house empty. Why is it like that? Where's everybody? And by reading through all the notes your little sister left you in different corners of the house, you not only uncover that but also learn about everything that's being going on while you were away. And it's all heartbreaking, because it feels real - too much real.

Yes, this game is "just" a walking simulator with a tad of exploration, but the storytelling is so good it makes you forget that. Never felt so immersed on a videogame with such simple mechanics. The atmosphere is really well-constructed, and although a bit spooky - you find yourself alone in an empty mansion at night after all - there're no ghosts or anything similar. Actually, there're ghosts, yes, but not the kind you're thinking - just everyday unresolved issues we have with those close to us. And those are a lot scarier, if I should say so.

If you're a fan of walking simulator games with a fantastic narrative, then this is a must for you. Buy it on a sale if you're short on budget, but don't skip it. This is a 10/10 for me.

9/10. would be a 10 if it didnt ruin my eyeliner.
in all seriousness, its a beautiful short story that made me forget the entire premise of having returned home and finding no one there, keeping me completely focused on it for the duration of the game.

I loved the atmosphere, the slow pace and how you can discover things in whatever order you choose. There's so much hidden information and lore here you could probably play it a couple times and not get everything, especially about the history of the house. I also really liked the queer focused storyline, it felt realistic to how a gay teen in the 90s would experience the world (I think, I wasn't alive then lol).

The only thing that I didn't really get was the ending. It's almost set up to be happy, with the music and everything, but surely a teenager running away with someone who is, in the kindest way possible, a bad influence, isn't something you'd want? Learning my own underage sister had run away with someone with no money, no plan, just dreams of "beating the patriarchy" and being ghost hunters.. I would be extremely concerned. For a lot of the game I thought Sam might've killed herself, so it's better than that, but still, how is this a good ending?

Either way, I would say it's completely worth playing if you enjoy unraveling stories and mysteries at your own pace. I also enjoyed Fullbright's other game, Tacoma, so if you liked this you should definitely check that out as well.

This is an unforgettable game that I think about at least once per month. It is a game that stays with you in the best way. The atmosphere, the story....take your time with this game. Enjoy the small details. It's a very short game, I spent 3 hours on it, but it's SO GOOD.

Hard to explain. It came off quite like a horror game which I do not like horror at all. It was mystery like and in no way did I think it would be mainly focused on just narrations of a girl liking another girl. It seemed like it should've been more focused on why there wasn't a family in the home and the mystery behind the uncle that passed. It was okay. Maybe a 4/10,

There are two key things to know about this game:
- The puzzles are almost non-existent. You really are just walking through the house and clicking on random things to uncover the story. It is a story that fits in perfectly with modern day tropes, so there wasn't really anything surprising about it. It plays out exactly as you'd expect it to.
- The walking speed is fairly slow. Even when you know where you want to go, it takes longer than it should.

Overall, this was disappointing.

On the plus side, the audio quality was excellent and there were some nice musical touches.

such a great story and such an elegant way of giving the player control over how they want to take it in. soo inspiring too, eternally grateful i decided to play it for myself instead of watching a playthrough

Clever, wistful, and well plotted as it lets you discover the story.

Moving and atmospheric experience.
A tale about finding your own path in life.
Ended up playing from start to finish in a single afternoon!

An eerie and engrossing mystery with heart. Clues are breadcrumbed in all kinds of clever ways, feeding curiosity that tugs you through the game spaces and story. It's short but compelling - I'd recommend playing in one go, in the dark, with as little context as possible.

The physical environment of the game is engaging and it is well put together from a technical perspective, but the overly meladramtic "whinging" of the missing character Sam, spoils the game.

I don't want to spoil it for others who may play it so I won't go in to specific storyline details but the excessive feminist naval contemplating with regard to dealing with issues that young men HAVE to face every day without choice, and representing them as something we should all have sympathy for because a girl has CHOSEN to do it, is grating to say the least....

- Mothers are wonderful (despite the married mother in the story getting "cosy" with a co-worker, whilst still married)
- Everyone "nice" in the story is female.
- The few males referred to are a mix of insignificant and unpleasant, and in one case are even physically objectified in descriptions (imagine that the other way around!).

Way too much woke, feminist, female biased tripe.

A good game ruined. Well done coders. Sack the script writer.

Still beautiful, still holds up a decade later.