Gone Home

When I was 9 years old I watched a play through of Gone Home. I cried so hard and thought about it for months. Unfortunately, after some time- I'd forgot it's name. For years, I asked everyone I knew if they had ever heard of this game I could only loosely recall. Then finally, 11 years later I found it again. This short, sweet, almost ominous game had impacted me so greatly and to finally play it at 20 yrs old has healed me sm. I love this game sooo deeply.

Little mysterious. Had me looking over my own shoulder, but it is in fact not a horror game.

A single character walking sim where you explore your own family’s house after returning home from a trip to Amsterdam.
You are stuck inside this girl’s head while walking around trying to find out where your family went. It takes place in 1995, so just calling people to ask rarely was an option.
This game felt very horror like when I first started playing and whenever I heard that horrible thunder sound that sounds a bit like someone kicked open a door, I immediately had to look over my shoulder in fear something was following me. Thankfully it is not a horror game and it is just the ambient sounds that are made to give you this eerie feeling.
The story is alright, not gonna spoil anything important, but it does require patience and attention, since you will have to read a lot and listen to what her thoughts are telling you.
I played it on the Steam Deck, runs perfectly on it.
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Help me out by following my Curator, I’d really appreciate it!!

It's a short game, a simple walking sim that tells the story of a family broken. And if anyone was expecting jumpscares or spooks, none here (to my relief lol) as someone who is able to relate to Sam in some way -keeping spoilers free - i found this game very touching. would recommend for those who have an hour or two to kill to just explore and immerse yourself in the story.

For a game that took me just under an hour and a half to beat, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's a walking simulator so if you aren't into those you won't end up liking this game, but for those who do like walking sims, this one definitely is worth playing. Although, I'd get it on sale as $15 for under 1.5 hours of game play is kind of silly.
Gone Home does beautifully at making this seem like a real family and you get to see all the struggles each character deals with despite not actually meeting any of them. The way you start piecing together more about who these people really are is beautifully done in my opinion.
It's a lovely one-time experience.

Though the game was short, I enjoyed Gone Home.
I liked the general atmosphere: the music, the creaking wood, dimly lit hallways. It took a bit of brainpower, but I did enjoy piecing together who was who, and uncovering the family dynamic. I also enjoyed learning about Katie and her relationship with Lonnie. The progressive unfolding of the narrative was logical to me and made sense as you explored the house. By the end, it all came together nicely. I did find that taking a couple of breaks was helpful, as it was a lot of reading.
Based on some of the reviews of this game I read, it seems like some folks fixated on the LGBTQ themes. To be honest with you, I didn't personally have an issue with it. The narrative felt convincing/compelling enough to me, and I enjoyed learning about Sam's/Lonnie's relationship. I personally dislike it when stuff like identity is shoehorned into movies/games and beats you over the head with it. I much prefer when a game treats its characters as real life people, with flaws, interests, and compelling backgrounds. Their identity is only one small part of them, not the whole story. This makes them relatable. Being a lesbian is besides the point here - it's about the Ouija board, the punk zines and music, the sleepovers, ghost-hunting, and much more. I thought the game did a good job of communicating this without needing to make some grand statement. In the end, Sam pursued love, which is perhaps not compelling in some big sexy finale kind of way, but I don't think it needed some huge payoff, either. It's a nuanced ending, and I was fine with that.
Other things I enjoyed: the level of detail all over the house. There are labels, books, playing cards, all which are not really integral to the story, but it is such a pleasure to just see high texture items, and to be able to read labels on the fridge. I know it's besides the point, I just enjoyed that attention to detail. It made the story feel more real, like everything was focused and clear instead of inaccessible and blurry. Most games shy away from too much detail, but this game is all about it.
My only criticism of the game is that it sets up a pretty spooky atmosphere, which is fundamentally misaligned with the ending of the game. You arrive in a house, on a rainy day, and the first thing you see is a note from Sam saying, "don't look for me." I fully expected a suicide story, that Sam offed herself due to heartbreak. Without going into detail, that is not what happened, but I did have to save and quit, and look up whether this was a horror game.
All in all, Gone Home is a neat little narrative experience. It's not perfect, but it has heart and it's clear the developers are human beings with emotions and feelings.

I played this game more then 10 years ago for the first time and it left me very impressed. Recently when I got my steam deck I went back and played this game again since I was in a mood for a good but short story based game and I saw that they had added achievements. It was nostalgic to return and I knew the story was memorable and interesting, but after 10 years I had forgotten a lot of the details.
Gome Home is a story exploration game with some light puzzles. You play as a young girl (20-ish) coming home after a year abroad. You mostly follow your little sisters journey through recordings and try to find out what her life has been like when you were gone and also about your parents situation, worklife and relationship. You snoop around and find a lot of clues and evidence to what has happend and the voice acting is great. The game can come off as a horror title based on the dark rooms and sounds, but it is not actually anything spooky.
This game holds up really well with an artstyle that is long-lasting. It's mindblowing that I can now play this game on a handheld device like the steam deck, this used to require a quite beefy PC back in the days. I really had a good relaxing time exploring the house and finding all the clues, now going back for achivement hunting and finding new things about the game I never knew existed. The story is bittersweet and could be a tearjerker for some, at least I think it will have an affect on most people in some way, shape or form, I think this game was pretty groundbreaking back in 2013 and it really is worth playing even to this day even when I look past nostalgia. It's just a short and interesting game that doesn't overstay It's welcome. I would love more games like this.