Gone Home

Gone Home tells an intriguing, interesting and sad story given to you bit by bit from journal entries you collect throughout the game. I absolutely enjoyed my time with this game and wish I played it sooner, the 100% is also fun to do especially the speedrun achievements. I loved how you can interact with basically everything you think you can interact with so you are free to explore as much as you want. The game looks great for what it is and replaying with the dev commentaries is a must imo you will understand the whole concept better and their commentaries are just wholesome. I had this unnerving feeling through my first playthrough which I liked, the atmosphere is great. Solid 8/10 this was a short, fun and captivating game, must play for anyone who likes story-driven games.

Great game

dumb

The first time I saw Gone Home was in a Let's Play sometime in 2016. At the time, I was too young to fully understand the story and its deeper themes. Now, about 10 years later, I finally bought and played it for myself.

The story is absolutely beautiful—no matter how many times I replay it, it always hits just as hard. I’ve played other story-driven games before, but this one remains my favorite. The game’s atmosphere is also incredible; the combination of an eerie yet oddly comforting empty house keeps me on edge. I constantly find myself glancing at corners, convinced I saw something in the shadows.

The audio design is another great aspect. The random creaks of the house, the sound of a drawer opening in another room (or did it?), all contribute to an immersive experience that enhances the mystery.

I truly love this game and know I’ll replay it many more times. And if the unimaginable happens—a sequel—I’ll definitely be there to play it. <3

🌟 "A Beautifully Told Story That Feels Personal" 🌟

Gone Home is an unforgettable experience that proves video games can be powerful storytelling tools. Instead of combat or puzzles, this game invites you to explore an empty house filled with memories, unraveling a deeply emotional and heartfelt story.

The atmosphere is immersive, with every detail in the environment contributing to the story. The 90s nostalgia, the handwritten notes, and the incredible voice acting make the characters feel real—even though you never see them. The pacing is perfect, encouraging exploration without ever feeling frustrating.

If you love narrative-driven games with strong emotional depth, Gone Home is a must-play. It's a short, intimate journey, but one that will stay with you long after you finish. Recommended! 💜

Beautiful experience.

Great storytelling mechanism... one of few instances, in which the title makes sense & feels deserved as you reach the ending.

Pretty good narration, that's about all it is. Wouldn't recommend picking it up if you're not into that kind of thing.

Pretty cozy way to spend three hours. I think it's far too short to justify its full price but I got it on a good sale and I'd say if you like snooping through people's stuff and unlocking a story bit by bit it's enjoyable, just maybe wait to get it at a discount. Had a rough start when my Xbox controller wasn't working with the interface (the "look around" function wasn't working and I couldn't even enter the house), had to switch to a PS4 controller to get it to work right despite it saying it would be compatible with the Xbox one. So keep in mind your controller of choice may not work.

The frame rate and clamping problems are ruining the gameplay experience. Having a mouse control between either too smooth that my focus could barely stay in the middle, or too quickly that makes me feel dizzy. I could barely finish the game with that problem.

This game is not one you want to rush through. Instead it rewards you for digging diligently into every corner and detail, in order to piece together the events of the main story. All the specific details, from the writing and voice acting to the soundtrack and the physical objects, help ground the story in a specific time and place and make it easy to get immersed in the emotional weight of the lives of these characters.
An absolutely phenomenal experience. I'll probably be thinking about this one for a while.
10/10

I have play this game some times now and made my friend play it. It is an amazing story that if you understand or have lived something similar you will fall in love with.

dumb game just walk around a house nothing happens...

15 pounds for this game seems a lot. I finished the game in one hour . You just walk around a house , looking for things to interact with and before you know it the story is finished. Not recommended!

that ending made me bawl like a baby. this game is absolutely amazing

It's so special and beautiful 🫠

LETS GO LESBIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a beautiful and touching game. Makes me nostalgic for my childhood and coming home from the mall to watch cartoons or seeing my cousins room and her fun 90's/2000s decor. Beautiful story, slow pace

Good story and something about the storm in the background made it super calming

It was ok, I wasn't blown away, but I also wasn't bored while playing it. It's a walking simulator, no jumpscares, no puzzles, just walking, reading and listening. There's quite a few things scattered throughout the house with clues to explain what happened and where everybody is. If you don't like exploring, picking up stuff, reading notes, and looking around a lot, I wouldn't recommend it. If you're looking for a chill house exploration with a story to uncover it might be a game for you.

I found this very immersive. I loved the creepy atmosphere (which thankfully never became scary) and exploring to uncover the story - there was a good sense of onward momentum and new discoveries that changed my perspective on the story up until the end. There were lots of enjoyable details and the 90s nostalgia was a big bonus for me.

I love a story-rich, walking sim and this game has it in spades! The story is so touching and timely, the voice acting is amazing, the graphics are beautiful, and the music is fantastic. Chris Remo knocks it out of the park as usual with his scoring, and the added riot grrrl songs are such a nice touch. There is so much to see and explore, so many little notes and things that are easily concealed, so be sure to look EVERYWHERE. You know what, just get this game. You won't regret it! One of my fave walking sims of all time!

Find this when is on sale cause its worth whatever a movie ticket would be. Story is excellent. Audio excellent. Play it in the dark.

Slow and gentle exploration of a childhood home and a story of one sister sharing her truth

bought this game during a sale thinking it was a horror game. i won't complain about surprise lesbians.

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

Good walking simulator, however the Spanish localization is terrible.

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.

It's a walking simulator, not a horror game in the slightest despite how it may seem. Some of artwork is nice, but the game is generally just pointless. You'd think it'd have some elaborate, creative story to tell, but it's just a love story from an idiot 18-year-old. There's a hook that probably made an impact when the game was released, but it's been used to death in that time and no longer carries any creative weight. You work through the uninteresting main plot via audio recordings and notes, and the game is finished. Nothing interesting happens and you're left with a sense that you just wasted three hours of your life.

A better love story between two girls than what I see on TV. Utterly magnificent art and storyline. Finding love in life won't always be easy for sure, you'll definitely have a few bumps and drops up and down, but keep going and maybe it'll be worth it in the end, or maybe even more than what you deserve.

I loved this. Thank you, Fullbright. And keep doing what you do best: pull heartstrings.

(note: WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE SHORT GAMES THAT PULL ME BY THE HEARTSTRINGS SO EASILY-)

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.

Highly recommend this game. Everyone should play it at least once. I wish I could erase my memory and play it again.

I came in expecting a spooky horror experience. Thank you for completely sidelining my expectations and instead giving us something ahead of its time and sorely needed, before, and now.

Gone Home isn't a long game but worth playing multiple times. Made me cry on many occasions. Be prepared for that. Lovely Game but it does have a morbid tone.
Highly recommend.

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.