4.5/5 ★ – TNGLiam's review of Gone Home.

Platform: PC Time Played: 2.4 hours Status: Beaten Gone Home is another game I had to play for my Game Studies class this semester, but was one I was looking forward to trying out, and hearing the opinions of my classmates helped bolster that interest, and when I finally sat down and played it all the way through, it easily met my expectations and then some, with this title definitely being the first "visual storytelling" game to really grab my attention and reel me in. Majority of the review from here on out is spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled for the story I suggest you stop reading now and please pick up this game. One thing I love about this game's overall journey, is that you share the experience that the protagonist, Katie, is experiencing, but on a level I've never quite seen before. Katie has been a year abroad in Europe, and her family has moved into a new house belonging to their great uncle since then, a house Katie, like the player, is unfamiliar with. So when you arrive at this creepy mansion-like house in the middle of the night during a large weather storm with flickering lights and creaking doors and floor boards, you feel exactly how Katie does, and I really appreciate that. You spend the whole first half of the game (specifically the left side of the first floor) creeping around every doorway, wondering if something will come out to get you, with creepy TV weather alerts being heard in the distance, pitch black corridors and more. You're just left feeling uneasy for a very long time. But soon you start to hear journal entries from your sister Sam, as you have spent the entire game thus far trying to find out what happened to her and why she left a note telling you not to look for the reason she left. Eventually the game begins to feel more and more warm and comfortable, as you make it to Sam's bedroom and realize that nothing bad has happened to her or Katie's parents. And while the creepy and eerie feeling somewhat lingers with dark hallways and secret passages, it never again feels like it did at the beginning, because you know everything is safe to a certain degree. I like the paranormal undertone the secondary story with the uncle has. He sold his pharmaceutical company for unknown reasons, his will and newsletters about him are scattered throughout the first floor, secret passages can be hidden throughout the house that he built, Sam's friends labeling the large house as the "psycho house," a letter from who was either his mother or wife being tucked away in a super secret safe, and a hidden sacrificial shrine made by Sam and her friend dedicated to him. It allowed a little undertone to remain present, and it was welcomed. I also really like the secondary stories for Katie's mom and dad, which allowed the player to see just how broken these people really were. Katie's dad tried to be a successful writer with a series of JFK books, which ended up failing miserably. You even find a letter from his father in the basement that tells him "he can do better" when writing his books, and you see those very same words written in big bold letters on his idea board. But when you get to the other side of the house an hour later into the game, you realize a new publisher wanted to pickup the series and have given her dad a new jive to create a new entry in his series. You see short tidbits about Katie's mom working in forestry, organizing a controlled burn, and her also thinking that one of her new coworkers might be taking a liking to her, and by reading letters from her friend, you think she might be coming closer and closer to pulling the trigger on having an affair. But eventually you see that she decided not to use the concert ticket that her coworker gave to her for a date, and that she decided not to go through with seeing him, deciding to (what I believe) is attempt couple's relationship and sex counselling with her husband, as you find out they went on a personal camping trip for a week, which is why they're gone. Lastly, the main story about Sam and her growing relationship with her friend Lonnie is a heartfelt, heartwarming and cozy story, especially for a game that started out feeling like a horror. You slowly begin to realize throughout the game that Sam was never in any danger, or that her friend Daniel wasn't dangerous and neither was Lonnie. Despite being red blood-looking stains on the bathtub, it was just red hair-dye from when Sam dyed Lonnie's hair. You see the incredibly spooky red lights attached to the attic door is just there to deter her parents from entering when her and Lonnie are up there. You see how welcomed and appreciated Sam felt when meeting Lonnie, as you hear from her journal entries how she realized who she was and where she belonged in the world because of Lonnie, as they begin to love each other and start a secret relationship. Because you see near the start of the game a couple of books gifted to Sam by her parents on how to gain friends, showing that she had a rough start with doing such. Of course this all comes crashing down when Sam and Katie's parents discover that Sam is a lesbian and is involved with Lonnie, and being parents in the mid 1990's, shun her for it, telling her it's just a phase and that Lonnie has done this to her. This leads to Sam's decision to run away with Lonnie while her parents are on their camping trip, after Lonnie decides to not go to the military (as she has her entire life) and decides to be with Sam instead, a heartfelt ending, despite the two characters being teenagers, that really put a good feeling in my soul. If you've read this far and haven't played the game, what the shit. Now you know everything. But still, please play this game. It's great. I implore you to.