Gone Home; proof that games can still be intelligent, moving experiences.
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Jon Evans
Format - PC |
I'm reluctant to call this a review, but more of a recount of my personal experience. The game will be different for anyone who plays it, hence its placement in The Comment section.
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I have the luxury to play more games than is generally healthy and have always been seduced by the glitz and glamour of the triple AAA games since moving over to consoles. More recently that glamour has taken a tarnished edge as the more popular sector of the games industry has fallen prey to the same issues faced by Hollywood. Times are hard, people are being more careful with their game choices and sometimes, brilliant, thought provoking, wonderful, weird games are being overlooked for the more ‘safe’ sequels and established franchises. £45/$70 is a lot to invest on a product that you will be spending some time playing, so choosing the next ‘Call of Battle’ Shooter is the safe option.
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Whether this is the fault of the gamer or the developer/publisher of the game (and that is a discussion for another time), I hope there will be a change in the mood of the games industry very soon. Sony have recognised the sea change is coming; in fact it has always gambled on the popularity of unusual games and proved there is a market out there. If you are looking to have your mind changed, try Gone Home, a new PC game from The Fullbright Company.
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Gone Home comes from a team with a worthy vintage. Having worked on F.E.A.R , Bioshock 2 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, the various members of the Fullbright Company (named after the house they share together in Portland) decided to branch out on their own. Working and playing together, they have proved that creative freedom and an enabling work ethic can produce great results.
You are the oldest daughter of a family who have recently moved to Portland. You have been travelling abroad for a year and return to this new, unfamiliar and eerily unoccupied house in the year 1995. The game has no combat, or puzzles but that’s the whole point. The core of the game is the unfolding story, which is imparted by the means of artefacts around the house. The emphasis here is on discovery and piecing together the events of the past year as well as working out where the rest of your family have gone.
You are the oldest daughter of a family who have recently moved to Portland. You have been travelling abroad for a year and return to this new, unfamiliar and eerily unoccupied house in the year 1995. The game has no combat, or puzzles but that’s the whole point. The core of the game is the unfolding story, which is imparted by the means of artefacts around the house. The emphasis here is on discovery and piecing together the events of the past year as well as working out where the rest of your family have gone.
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The essence here is story, not gameplay, which involves wandering around the house, listening, looking and understanding. You arrive after midnight, with the rain clattering against the windows and the lights out in the house. Drawers can be opened, lights can (thankfully) be turned on and all the expected appliances in the house can be fiddled with. Photographs, flyers and letters can be read, books can be turned over, notes and secret drawings are hidden away and all are threads of a larger tapestry of events that have been going on in your absence.
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Fullbright have taken the familiar tropes in video games and turned them against you. Be warned, you will be both surprised and affected by this game, especially the ending. The lack of NPCs, the sounds of the weather, the quiet susurration of household noises all contribute to an impactful build up of atmosphere and eeriness that becomes palpable. The ongoing journals of one member of the family you uncover are both well written and very well voiced and show good evidence of personal experience from the developers.
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Setting the game in the 90’s was an interesting choice. As the old saying goes, ‘write about what you know,' which is what Fullbright have done. For me there were so many familiar hooks; this was the era of punk rock resurgence, The Riot Grrrl movement, SNES cartridges, magic eye pictures, the X-Files and Winona Ryder (before she went mental). As I discovered more about Kate’s family, I travelled on a journey of nostalgia but also experienced the ‘stuff’ of a real person’s life, the biomass of a year living in the house. It was both heart-warming, tender and painful, to peek into the secret conversations and letters of people close to Kate, but who have become so distant in the year Kate has been away. Fulbright do not insult your intelligence. There are plenty of clever links to events that force you to draw your own conclusions about why your family are not in the house, with a tense build up to the conclusion of the game. As an older male gamer, some themes in this game were not, obviously, aimed directly at me, but they were still illuminating, tender and powerful enough to bring a lump to my throat as a father. It is so gratifying to see a game that reaches out to a completely different demographic without fear of being ostracised or compartmentalised.
If you are considering a buy, it is not a long game, depending on how you play it, but every second in the house is worth a thousand Call of Duties. This genre needs a new name; First Person Catharsis. Don't wait for the Steam sale, get this game now at full price. We need to ensure more games are made like this, we need to support these wonderful quirky pieces of work to ensure we build the respect games like this deserve from the popular media. And, oh my god, the ending, the ending...
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Writing good and bad points for this game would be like writing a secret pros and cons list about your lover; highly inappropriate. Play the game and discover your own way.
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5/5 |
Game purchased by reviewer
Images and screen grabs reproduced by permission of The Fullbright Company.
Images and screen grabs reproduced by permission of The Fullbright Company.
