+Redgrave192 Well it is as an adult, but as a kid, it's scary at first, but once you turn on all the lights and come to realization that you're alone. You get tons of ideas of things of what you wouldn't normally do when your parents are home.
I seriously wasn't expecting that to happen, actually. Your hands and brain do so much in this game that the whole "anti-game" debate sticking to it took me off guard. The design of the place is literally the Resident Evil mansion. The interface is literally Thief. There's not a lot of abstraction here, folks. Written follow-up will be published soon, keep an eye on the twitter or video description for the news.
Personally, the genuine emotions in Samantha's voice and her attitude toward life, combined with my interaction with the game world, got me so invested in the story that I was inspired IRL. Games do have that power sometimes, over certain people and in certain circumstances or moods.
"the game requires suspension of disbelief, when it should have been 100% realistic." I don't want to sound disrespectful, but it's sounding like you're trying way too hard to dismiss this game. No game is 100% realistic. The foundational structure of a game prevents them from being 100% realistic. It's retroactive story framing, a literary device that's thousands of years old.
This review and your follow-up represent the most insightful and accurate assessment of this game I've yet come across. I really appreciate the depth of analysis you offer in this video and others. Subscribed.
It's a different kind of game. It doesn't keep you playing because you have a challenge, it keeps you playing because you are intrigued by the story. And you do need to pay attention the entire game to pick up on the story clues hidden throughout the game.
When it comes down to it the story is fake, it might be based on a real experience but it doesn't sound like one. So it doesn't work as a contemporary art piece. In other words, It's failing to paint an interesting dialogue on sexual identity. It's just so god damn boring. Also: This coming of age story sucks because it is bloated with fucking boring teenage drama.
I think the main reason i didnt like Gone Home is because i was extremely disappointed with the ending. There was a lot of build up and i was genuinely enjoying the game expecting some sort of huge revelation. What i was left with just fell flat for me.
I just finished this game on the PS4 (it was one of the playstation plus free downloads of the month). I came into it with no expectations, but here is what I thought of it. I can honestly say that this was a pretty nice surprise. The atmosphere and the characters really hit home for me, and I enjoyed the subplots of the secondary characters quite a bit. The main story was a treat, as the vocal performance was amazing, pulling me in far more than I was initially prepared for. It had me mentally/emotionally going back to that time in my life when I could still thrill in discovering new things about myself, while wrestling with the angst of not really knowing what to do when I discovered them. The punk music was spot on too, really completing the theme and feel of the story. The whole package actually had me pining for the days when I still had the freedom to toss everything away and follow my heart along a different life's path. My only negative point would be the initial price. Putting it plainly, I wouldn't spend $20 on it, simply due to the short length... but if I had bought it on sale for $5 I would call that money *very* well spent.
Dude you're expectations on gaming are truly pathetic this walking simulator had an absolutely crappy story a predictable ending and the supernatural aspect of it was never even a form of the story or played a part of it dude are you Zoe Quinn's burner account. Your opinion sucks and you're tasting gaming is even worse.
Also, as a person who grew up in the 90s, the references in this game were on point: Street Fighter, SNES, VHS tapes, cassettes, 90s era garage punk, etc. The extra touch of nostalgia pulls you in
I don't have any sympathy for the developers of this game. Some may claim that this game getting clobbered by steam reviews and selling poorly due to potential buyers simply watching the game on youtube is unfair, but I beg to differ. If you are going to charge 20 dollars for a game, any game, you need to ensure that the experience of playing the game is better than being told about it. Better yet, that being told about the game makes you want to play it. For me, I watched a playthrough of the game on youtube, and liked the story and what the game did to tell that story. It's not a bad game. It's a good game with developers that don't know how to make the experience of playing a game different than watching that game be played. That is the most cardinal sin a game can commit.
I think something reviewers need to emphasize is that this game really isn't for everyone. Not in a 2deep4u way, just in a 'it's it's own thing and not designed to be a classic game as we defined them. if you're looking for a challenge outside of piecing together the plot by exploring, you're not going to find it here' It's lame that that's how it's got to be (it's like complaining system shock doesn't have any drivable cars), but too many people went into Gone Home with a wrong set of ideas.
i expected a horror game though :/ it could have been a really scary horror game! But the end was kinda dissappointing to me. I expected to shit go crazy :/
that1dude0092 I don't know why you would consider the ending bad, maybe you expected something different from the game in the first place. I did, and it seems to have potential to go all horror and thriller on the player. "I expected to shit go crazy :/" puts it best
I really loved this game, I'm glad I took advantage of the free download offer this weekend, and I'm glad I played it. I won't spoil any of it, except to say that the part about the Nazi invasion of Poland was possibly the greatest piece of writing I've yet seen in a game.
***** You are entitled to your opinion on homosexuality, and also this game. Personally, I liked this game. You do not. Nothing is wrong with that. However, you don't need to be quite so condescending about it. Also, what exactly about Gone Home involved "betraying their country"? I'm sure that many people have backed out of the military before they were too far in to back out. On another note, last time I checked, simulators are considered games. Again, everyone has opinions, and everyone's opinion is different.
MsMrhappyface Oh really? Can't back out of the military? Then what's this? everydaylife.globalpost.com/back-out-after-joining-military-8823.html To quote the opening paragraph, "But even though the military doesn't widely advertise it, it's sometimes possible to enlist and then subsequently back out of your contract."
I think the problem with this game is people expectations of it. Not every game needs a melodramatic narrative with bombastic things happening every 10 seconds. The game is understated, thoughtful and grounded. For me, even though I'm not gay, a female or even American this game hit home in a lot of places; and the way you piece together the family's history and each of their personalities together by yourself makes you feel like you know these people. Also the nostalgia almost hurts.
Grounded is the only word I'd use, and even then only sparingly. The details of the 90's nostalgia house are grounded but the perfect relationship between the sister and her girlfriend aren't.
According your logic, a lesbian woman outside of america would never enjoy love stories with heterossexual couples. Wtf? You being gay or not wont be what makes you like or dislike the story. It can help you liking it more or less, but not at the point of completly disliking it.
My biggest problem with this game and why I'm avoiding it can be summed up in one simple question. What does it offer? A two hour story with little replay-ability and a meta twist for a lot of money. There lies the key problem, it offers story, but that's a big risk. I can't look into the story to see if I'll be interested since that kind of defeats the purpose and hurts the game, especially of the experience is two hours. If I don't love the story, it's a complete waste and I can't preview it to see if I like it. I've had the meta twist spoiled for me, and I can say that I dodged a bullet with that one, as for me personally it would've of been a so what situation. I'll compare this game to a few other indies to demonstrate my point. First we have Shovel Knight. That game offers 2D platforming that's very well designed, according to most people. I know what I'm getting into as it has a genre (Gone Home doesn't really, at least without spoilers), and there's a demo to show how the game controls and is designed. I can also look into later levels without ruining the game for myself, making it a safe buy if I'm interested. The game also has a lot of humor and nostalgia as a nice bonus to add a little extra if I get a little bored/frustrated with the game at any point. If I ever got bored of Gone Home, it would have nothing to fall back on, and there is a much higher risk of that happening. Also, Shovel Knight is infinitely more replayable if enjoyed. The next is the Stanley Parable. This one is very story and meta driven, but it has the story, the commentary, and the humor to carry it. Much more importantly, it's one that can be looked into before buying without tainting the experience. A simple trailer will tell you everything you need to know, and even watching a playthrough of a path or two will leave the rest of the game and still give you a clear picture of what you're getting into. The meta commentary doesn't have the potential to anti climax or spoil the rest of the experience either, because it's built around it. It does suffer a similar key issue that I'll get into later. The game that I feel is the most similar to Gone Home with it's risks (except the price tag) is Goat Simulator. It has one key element it offers, and if said element doesn't feel worth it, it's a complete waste. It has next to no replay-ability and looking it up can end up spoiling the entire game. Both of them offer one trick, and if said trick fails to satisfy or is seen in advance, it's a complete waste. Watching a bit of either game basically spoils the experience as well, killing the reason to get it. Another huge reason I'm avoiding this game is the last time I went for a game purely for it's story, I was very disappointed. That game was Bioshock Infinite. I'm not too much into FPSes, though I love games like Borderlands and Fallout, and I tend to enjoy regular FPSes enough, so after hearing all of the praise for Bioshock Infinite's story, I went in blind (got it for $8). The game had a strong start, but fell apart as soon as I got into the first bit of mandatory gameplay (choosing who to throw the ball at). The gameplay dull and very unbalanced, but whatever, I came for the story and pushed on. Unfortunately, the story was a complete mess and disappointment, causing the entire experience to feel like a waste. Mathewmatosis made a Bioshock Infinite critique video that sums up my stance on the game perfectly. Lastly, why is this a game? What do it's mechanics accomplish? More importantly, is there any reason to play it rather than watch it. From what I've seen of the game, the main character doesn't react to anything in the house, which makes no sense. A book would tell us what the character is thinking or focusing on, a movie/short would let us see the character's reactions. Right now, It's just a well designed house mod for a Bethesda or Valve game. The playable character, who's Gone Home, doesn't react to anything (again, I've seen little about the game, so I might be wrong here), making it feel like she's a drone moving around. She has a character established in the game that doesn't matter. Gone Home would probably be an amazing Pixar short, but as a game, it doesn't seem to offer anything.
+Julian Giovinco The point here is that the game leans so heavily on it's story, and if that story doesn't pay off at the end, then the entire experience is effected.
Yohoat I felt it leaned more heavily on it's exploration, and the end didnt really feel all that important to me. Listen I aint sayin this shit was a masterpiece but I had a pretty enjoyable time.
This game is just pretentious. 20$'s for the equivalent of the anti joke "I got a knock knock joke but you have to start it". It acts like the simple fact of removing all the actual climax and payoff of being in suspense makes it so intelligent. It's like if dark souls 3 started off with a enemy who couldn't move and had 1 hp and when killed would roll the credits. Yeah it makes a statement about how the game was expected to be difficult but would that have been fun? Or even ethical to people who paid full price for something completely different than what they got? It's like selling water as vodka. Then refusing refunds because "It taught you a valuable lesson". That's false advertising and is shady as shit. I'd believe the devs just went this way to pass off lazy, cheap design as "artsy". Because if you make a horror game without horror, just walking around stringing the player about using suspension all the way until the credits, you haven't made a horror game. You've made a con scam.
You know...this video's comment section makes me want to create a slur for the really obnoxious anti-SJW types. Because if there is anything more obnoxious than ultra-leftist hipsters who do nothing but self-congratulate, it is the neckbeard hipster who thinks it is intellectually respectable to reject any piece of media that could be remotely tied to anything slightly feminist.
It does add up that people do and you are just too stuck on political agendas. People really do like exploring game spaces that act as character portraits. I legitimately like Dear Esther and this game is way more interactive then Dear Esther.
TheLueii I'm okay with walking simulators, but I have zero tolerance for pointless drivel that's being used to push an extreme political agenda. This trash game saw success because sites like Polygon gave it perfect scores and glowing reviews. It's a mediocre, pretentious game, but it's been elevated as some second-coming for progressives. Sickening. No one should tolerate political agendas being shoved down their throats. Hell, the concept of a "patriarchy" is pushed in Gone Home. That extremist ideology, with no foundation in reason or facts, shouldn't be lauded and praised.
Facelord I have a question for you, more out of curiosity than anything else: Would you say that the depiction of a worldview in an artwork always means approval of that worldview?
Facelord Oh for fucks sake. It's a game and it has a lesbian empowering story, bo fucking ho. It's not like as if game isn't set in 90's which was a time period that didn't have as much tolerance to lesbian rights. Honestly everyone who gets triggered over someone telling a story about homosexuals oppression has missed the entire point of why people are against modern feminism and extreme left. You just can't get away with writing a story the way you want these days. You just HAVE TO BE pushing an agenda right? I've played this game, and It never crossed my mind how this game was pushing an agenda trough out the gameplay period but instead how it would be undermined as "feminist propaganda" despite having a great story telling. Guess I was right.
1% of comments here: "This game sucks! I want to shoot stuff!" 98% of comments here: "No one respects story telling anymore. Everyone wants just to shoot stuff." 1% - random
Excuse me, but I've been an avid gamer since 1989, and I have literally not stopped gaming since. I've grown up alongside the gaming industry and have an open mind. I dislike most shooters, despite having prestiged a few times, and i appreciate story driven games as much as any mature gamer. But I can safely say that this game is an absolute waste of time and money. I truly felt as if I'd been tricked after having spent 20$ on this. It tells a mediocre story at best, but there is just no GAME here. This is the first game I've ever tried to get my money back for in my life. It feels like it took the developers maybe a week to come up with this, the graphics are poor, and it just seems lazily done. There are so many other games that tell Incredible stories, but that are actually games!!! At best, 2 hours. At the least, 2 MINUTES. I'm sorry, but no game should be beatable in 2 minutes. After I get to the "end" and the screen fades I said, "okay, that was quite an intro, but I'm ready to dive into this game now". Roll Credits. Jaw droppingly insulting. This game should cost 99 cents. Sorry, I don't mean to direct such animosity towards you, but I just wanted you to know that it's not just COD fanboys who hate this "game".
Jay Kim Idk.. sure this game doesn't have a great story... but maaaan maybe it's just me but the whole however short experience it was... it was so emotional for me that I can't start to explain it..... I don't know why but I enjoyed it...... Anyway, I never said anything about this game in my first comment... I just said what I saw in the comment section here that's all...
Ok I can appreciate that. And I will also admit that a lot of gamers nowadays DO want to just shoot stuff and dont care about anything else. Skip thru dialogue and cutscenes etc. I just wanted people to know that there are those of us out there whose game library doesnt consist only of COD or Madden and who didnt like this game.
This review makes me sad, it reminds me of all that Gone Home actually did really well. I loved exploring and putting together the parents’ stories etc. But those fucking diary entries just destroyed it for me. Their inclusion completely undermined the game’s every successes in storytelling through exploration, and it boiled the main story’s exposition down to the same tired “walk the protagonist to each cutscene” formula that you see in AAA titles, the type of shit that this game purported to be steering away from, and I just couldn’t tolerate it. The side stories, I put together in whatever order I happened to notice things, with no need to discover things in a specific order. But towards the end, I accidentally found one diary entry out of order, before the game wanted me to, rendering it completely out of context and pace/immersion-destroying, and that was it for me. It just revealed that the game had exactly the same linear, railroading intentions as anything else. The same as any typical game, but with the gameplay removed, just as people who are unfortunately derisive towards any story/exploration-driven game often accuse it of being. So not only does it undermine itself, but the potential of its entire genre. I cared a lot about the stories I uncovered on by own, but the main storyline was just a spoonfed audiobook, and as a result I couldn’t care less about it. And unfortunately, for me, it took the rest of the game down with it. It’s not the irredeemable non-game that a lot of people claim it to be, that even I'm sometimes tempted to dismiss it as. It really did have a hell of a lot going for it, and that’s exactly why it left me so bitter.
i don't understand how finding a diary entry out of order turns it into a linear experience. the fun of the game is explicitly in piecing details together so you get an accurate understanding of how Sam's love and family life affected her as she moved out for college.
@@brownspottedcat I'm still trying to figure out where this walking simulator was a game. I mean seriously is your expectations so low you actually enjoyed this garbage. I bet you're the same type of guy that I could put Superman 64 in front of you and then you'd sit there and go what a crowning achievement in gaming. It's people like you that kill gaming. Your expectations are so low that you're willing to accept any trash an indie developer puts in front of you just because some random paid off reviewer called it artsy.
@@bigdoinks69 this is a hilarious reply! I find the mystery narrative of Gone Home more compelling than most AAA games I've played in the last decade. that accounts for literally a half a year under half of my entire life! Halo MCC is tabbed out in the background of my desktop as I type out this reply. Gone Home is more fun than every single Halo game in this collection! I own a little over 600+ games between my Switch, Steam, and misc. Gone Home is more fun than probably 3/4ths of those games! It's not that my "expectations are so low"; I happen to appreciate the depth of character portrayed by Gone Home's interactive storytelling more than the game mechanics emphasized in other games. I don't care if DOOM Eternal has incredibly fun combat; once its difficulty began to plateau, DOOM Eternal was boring. Gone Home was more consistently stimulating across its 2~ hour story than an Ultra-Violence playthrough of DOOM Eternal was past the 3 hour mark. Gone Home's story is certainly less boring than DOOM Eternal's!
@@brownspottedcat Jesus Christ you're truly pathetic then. I mean really I find it hard to believe that you own that many games when you consider this game so great when it's nothing more than a crappy walking simulator with a lackluster pathetic embarrassingly bad lesbians love story.
But what games are *MORE* fun than Gone Home? I'll list 'em out: - Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite its theme-park shooting gallery campaign structure, the story it tells and immersive gameplay elements were more captivating than Gone Home - Dark Souls (Remastered). Dark Souls isn't a hard game! Try it! Its labyrinthine level layouts, tight combat, art direction, and fractured-but-coherent storytelling was more interesting than Gone Home. - FTL: Faster Than Light. Procedurally generated storytelling, prosaic descriptions of in-game events, and tense spaceship vs. spaceship combat was more enthralling than Gone Home - Morrowind. Scrounging through a civilization's history while theorycrafting busted character builds was more fascinating than playing Gone Home - Half-Life Alyx. Half Life Alyx just VR Gone Home. VR makes Alyx way more engaging than anything in Gone Home by default, but arguably Alyx would've been a better game if there was *less* stuff to shoot. I don't like videogames. I make videogames for a living. videogames are boring. last time i had fun in a AAA release, i was recoiling in fear during a particularly tense sewer section in Resident Evil 2. videogames should make me feel more than the technical satisfaction of mastering a games' systems before it inevitably becomes a boring power-trip.
The comments still reek of "THIS GAME ISN'T ABOUT SHOOTING STUFF AND IS BORING AND GAY" Don't get me wrong, shooting stuff is cool as shit. This is a game that isn't about shooting stuff. Both can coexist without affecting one another. Gone Home is a simple explorative game with a simple story (and a side story if you explore enough) and it excels at that. If you play it expecting a magic opera filled with twists and turns, you're going to be let down.
Bruce Wayne Yeah I did when it was free on PS4, just accept the fact people didn't enjoy the same game you did. Just because I have a different opinion doesn't mean I didn't play it or my opinions wrong. I don't like the game because it has no gameplay and its a shitty romance story.
your opinion is dismissed because your political bias is seeping through your rhetoric. Why do you expect anyone to take you seriously by calling people cucks? Besides, we all know what porn /pol/yps watch
I love how if you have gay characters or a slight feminist message in any medium the product is labeled as "sjw propaganda" or whatever. I can understand why some would hate this game but the "feminist" message isn't forced its just kind of an empowerment story. I don't see how thats really even "feminist". Seriously man, gamers and critics can be do close minded, you want people to hear what you have to say but NEVER want to listen to something thats different from your own opinions.
I do think this games story was decent at best though, gay couple runs away, ghosts or something. It was okay. It wasn't really the story that was even the best part it was discovering the story and exploring that made it worthwhile. I would like to see the developers of this game make a spiritual successor to this formula and drag it out and make it a bit longer.
Please explain how this was a good game again? I'm getting this Heavy Rain feeling in that the gameplay mechanics were so new at the time (but already done or built-up upon) and fresh that the story was a hacked up piece of hollywood simplicity. Strip Silent Hill 2's gameplay and replace it with Gone Home's and you would still have a qualitatively better game simply because a good Steven King book is better than a short inglorious romance novel. You can't push a simulation of life as a game much as you can't push a cliche book on the bestsellers list. There has to be more. Imagine a world where John Green or Neil Gaiman wrote the plot for this game. If I were testing virtual simulations of lives that made me cozy and comfortable, downloading them straight into the usb port on my cerebral cortex, then yes I would give this a 5 out of 5. As a gamer, I would have to ask for more.
You say "as a gamer," but you come off more as saying "as a fan of genre fiction." Which is cool. I don't care for YA fiction (like John Green). But I do love trashy genre fiction as much as the next guy. Those kind of stories should exist and I'm glad they do. But I also enjoy literary fiction, which, believe it or not, is oftentimes concerned with the mundane and the quotidian. There are no aliens, monsters or ghosts. They showcase stories of everyday people, stories that "speak to the human condition" - to invoke a cliche that is actually useful. Gone Home is one of these stories. And if you allow yourself to feel empathy for these characters - these people - to be drawn into their world (which is our world, funnily enough), you can have a beautiful, moving experience with this game. Anyway, my point is not to say your view is invalid, but simply that you might not be equipped to enjoy Gone Home, in a weird way. If you feel no empathy for these everyday people unless they are thrust into dire, outlandish circumstances, or diagnosed with terminal illnesses, then maybe stories like this one will never be your cup of tea.
BakehousePictures Ok, but as a piece of literary fiction it fails utterly. Can you imagine a vignette about a teenage lesbian romance which culminates in running away from home being published in the New Yorker? The diary sections about watching her girlfriend sing in a band? It's so cheesy and sentimental. It's a Hallmark take on "art" games. That's my problem with Gone Home. Yes, most of the gamers who dislike it are just showing off their lack of education via the nature of their criticism. But the reviewers and members of the press who go nuts over it are displaying the exact same deficit. Gone Home is well executed, and it's an approach to gaming that is too rare. But it's also not merely lacking in content in the concrete sense but in the abstract, thematic sense. It's a feel-good teenage love story, not some revelatory expression of high art.
Games can't really be judged in the same way we judge literature, but, to an extent, I do agree with you. Gone Home is not an exceptional piece of writing. In fact, no piece of game writing that I've come across can compare to even middle-brow literary fiction. But I would submit that it doesn't have to. Different criteria come into play when determining whether or not a game's writing is successful. Games move us and involve us in ways unheard of in other mediums. The most relevant of those being our complicity in the narrative, made possible through interactivity. It can't be understated just how important this interactivity is in producing a kind of immediacy and importance to everything the player experiences. Average writing can be made to appear transcendent when this interactivity is implemented properly. This is why I love games, and continue to defend them as art, despite often times feeling underwhelmed and insulted by their trope-laden stories and half-baked themes. And it's why I love Gone Home. While it may have failed as a piece of literary fiction, fortunately enough, it isn't literary fiction. It's a game that takes a few cues from literary fiction. And as a game, for me anyway, it succeeded -- going above and beyond all previous attempts in its genre ('walking simulator' or whatever you want to call it). I do still find your description of the game as a "feel-good teenage love story" to be reductive and inconsistent with my own experience, but I understand where you're coming from. Most of all, I appreciate that you articulate your criticisms with clarity and poise, unlike most of the game's detractors. I've lost count of the times I've been called a "hipster" or a "SJW" just for liking this game. So thanks for that.
***** Bull. I read better crap on a cereal box. The 'coming of age and sexual identity' story was far too overdone in the mid 90's in cheap paperback novels. Why should we offer anything in respect to praise to a game so utterly phoned in and over spent and bulit on a third rate story?
WatcherPrime You're thinking of the PLOT. Which, indeed, was very basic. The STORY was actually fairly complex and entirely reliant on the player to uncover its true depth.
Reasons for the lack of camera and jokes is mostly due to its short length and its tight deadline. I'd hate to think that something as quick and dry as this review might be better than something totally long and indulgent, like the MGS2 video. But you know, "necessity is the mother of invention." Note: thanks for the feedback, glad you liked it :)
This is my question: Why do you people CARE so much about this game and its gaminess (or lack thereof depending on your opinion?) It's as simple as this: The author wanted to invoke thought and emotion. They chose a story as a medium to evoke this thought and emotion, instead of, for example, a song, non-story-driven poem, or otherwise. As a vessel for this story, instead of making a movie or a novel, or a story-driven poem, they decided to create a video game. What's the big issue with this? The thing is, in the long run, they also use the vessel well - things done in this game could not have been done the same way in a Gone Home movie, or a Gone Home novel, or a Gone Home poem, so you can't even argue that it's less of or does not deserve to be a game. Now, the pricing of the game is another story - but alas, this other story has nothing to do with the quality of the game itself. In a much shorter fashion of conveying my message, I will state the following: How about all of you shut up, sit down, and ride your bandwagons back home?
While the story is told well, i dont think the story is very thought provoking at all. It feels more to me like a made for tv teen movie. Lacking in innovation and rich in cliches, If it was a poem book or movie not only would it not work, but it would be a terrible, uninteresting experience because the story is simply weak. As a game it works reasonable well due to the atmosphere and feeling of discovery To me the story of forbidden teenage lesbian love has little intellectual value and id be interested if you are pretenious enough to argue otherwise
James Smith While I don't personally prefer this type of game, I can why someone who likes exploring and looking for easter eggs would. It does what it sets out to do well, although the story isn't that mindblowing it's also pretty cheap. I think overhype is this game's biggest enemy, if you just want to sit back and find out about this family it's great. It'd also be nice if this genre got a title of its own, one that those who enjoy it won't be offended by.
I think some were disappointed by the story's end when the beginning certainly has the atmosphere and setup of a good horror story. The biggest thing I see is that many people view it as an extention of the Dear Esther design philosophy, which eliminates gameplay almost entirely, when what they're looking for is an expansion or merging of gameplay and story-systems. So they're just reacting in the hopes that such a philosphy doesn't latch onto games that need those mechanics, like it did with Amnesia and Destiny. But on there own, they're fine, it's just that reviews need to be clear about how much control the player has.
I think, more than anything, what really exemplifies the problems with this game is that it is $20. Sure it goes on sale for $5 every once and a while, but I still feel that's too much. I've legitimately played free games of the same nature that evoked more emotions out of me and made me feel like I was playing something deserving of my time and other peoples' efforts than this one. I am in no way against what the story had on offer. I feel if the game built up to something more chilling and creepy like it plays throughout, it would leave me with a better taste in my mouth. The game ends almost anti-climactically and ironically cliche. If somebody committed suicide, got into a wreck, or died of a drug overdose, I feel it could have done the game justice. I've read a lot of lesbian fiction and romance fiction, for that matter. For what it's telling in a structural sense, I've read this story a million times over with every combination of girl and boy (not just lesbians). While the length is decent enough, things aren't really as linear as they should be given the way the story is supposed to be told. You can literally beat the game in less than 5 minutes if you perform a certain action at the beginning of the game. I like how you can practically interact with everything, but so much of it is useless guff and only serves to distract you from the already poorly laid out diary entries. So, relating this back to the money problem, these issues would be a lot less substantial if the game was like, say, $2. It's all about perspective. I could buy Scribblenauts Unlimited, Sonic and All-Stars Team Racing, Typing of the Dead: Overkill, Rayman Origins, KOF XIII, or this game for the same price. That's assuming none of those games go on sale either. One last thing, the whole "kick it to the patriarchy!" thing felt off-putting and, more than anything else, confusing with its inclusion. It has nothing to do with the rest of the game and is never mentioned once throughout the actual story. If you guys are feminists, that's fine. Just don't slide in political nonsense for the pure sake of stirring up shit. EDIT: I'd also like to note that I liked your review, I felt you were justified in your statements, and can thankfully agree to disagree with you. That is all.
With the "kick the patriarchy" thing, I never got the feeling it was the game devs trying to insert propaganda to stir stuff up, but rather it was the in-story expression of the rebellious nature of that specific character. It was characterization. The devs weren't saying, "she's right, so be like her, and also kick boys in the dick," but rather they were just saying, "here's how she thinks and feels about the world around her." Uh... You didn't ask for my response, but... you know... youtube and random comments and free flow of information, and all that. I thought maybe I could show you an idea you may have overlooked. I mean, I could be entirely wrong with how I interpreted it, and maybe the devs *did* intentionally want to push feminism, but that wasn't how it felt to me. I think you're right about the full price though, but I also think $5 is fair. So, yeah... Have a nice day.
I can't believe I did, and, umm.... two things: #1) keep trying with the game thing #2) There's a lot more to Gone Home's plot than the surface-level stuff about teenagers coming out. Look at how your own expectations of the game were subverted, and how this made you feel betrayed. Note just how much you *care* about that, and then ask if your own story of playing the game supplements that of the in-game characters. Does that story have an arc of its own? Why are you so invested in it? Rethink.
Well, the comments here seem to be as shitty as I was expecting. Great video though, I always feel a bit of trepidation any time I click on a video about this game.
Since the game does, in fact, use more than just notes to tell the story, we have nothing to worry about in that regard. Excellent level design, writing and attention to detail is what makes it work. If you haven't picked it up, I still recommend it (once the price is lower, of course.)
I don't know why this game is getting such great reviews. The experience was mediocre at best. A 3 minute free flash game that I played a while ago had a much larger impact on me than the impact this game had on me. I am all for creative indie titles and all that but this game didn't hit the mark for me. Some of the clever writing of notes passed between two characters was a nice touch but nothing about this game is ground breaking or seriously impactful. I don't know maybe I just don't get as much joy out of snooping through peoples stuff to really enjoy this game. I had a few moments of worry and laughter while playing the game but not enough for me to give it a raving review and tell people its a must play. This game is a rip off at $20. It should be about $5.
Philip Redoutey I lived through the 90's so I understood it really well. I also understood the story told throughout the game. And no the storyline was not amazing, at least to me it wasn't. We have had so many breakthroughs with story telling in video games in the past 15 years and this doesn't come close to todays standards of impactful games. Play this game: armorgames.com/play/5355/immortall This game takes about 5 minutes to complete at most. In 5 minutes it tells a story about humanity that could be written in a 1000 pages. Yet it tells it in 5 minutes. It doesn't do it using voice overs or scripts to read. No it does it through gameplay, style and artistic direction. This is the quality I expect from a game that is going to be getting great scores and reviews for being different and emotional. This game was free. The 5 minutes that I played in this game is still in my memory for when it came out 4 years ago. Gone Home is forgettable. And I know that some people are going to say its not, and maybe it hit a soft spot on a few people but for most people its going to be forgettable. It was a bland love story between two teenage girls. Its story was told by exploration which is exactly the same technique used in point and click adventures. Its also used in many AAA games that go unnoticed as well through great level design. I just don't see this game as remarkable as everyone is making it out to be and nobody has really made a strong case for it either. All of the points people make for what they thought was amazing is something that has either been done a million times before or is not that amazing at all.
You sure wrote an awful lot of words on something unremarkable. It's interesting to say something doesn't matter while demonstrating that it matters so much. Als did you notice you claimed you understood the story, but completely ignored the emergent storytelling model? It's not the story, it's the way the story is told. I just showed Gone Home to my wife last night, and Immortall to my wife just now. One of them had an emotional impact on her. It wasn't Immortall.
@@JosephMcMurray1984 you said so much but most of it means nothing. You keep using subjective terms instead of objective ones. And you just dont explain why or how.
I don't like this game, at all. I do think alot of this game's publicity is due to political bias (and the fact that the polygon reviewer was friendly with the devs kinda fuels the fire as well) but that's a topic for another day. I don't think the game itself is unsalvageable though. I actually don't have a problem with the "gameplay" and I quite like the layout of the house, with an actually good story I could have really enjoyed it. No my problem is, well, the story. You come home, find out everyone in your family is gone, you look around, and after a number of supernatural hints, find out that your parents just went off for the weekend and didn't bother leaving you a note, and your sister has run away and also left you a note, and just to top it off, she took the fucking SNES as well. Okay first off, Lonnie left the army, she just up and left, they have a term for that, it's called going AWOL, and it's kind of illegal, Lonnie is now a criminal, the two of them have nothing but a car, some VHS tapes and a SNES. The best possible outcome I can realistically see happening here is that Lonnie will get arrested for going AWOL your sister gets sent back home to a very angry family. Also, this is young love, relationships between young people don't really tend to last that long. Another thing I feel is that it capitizes solely on 90's nostalgia, and as someone who was born in 1998 I feel as if the game uses that in place of an actually good story, and this is coming from someone with 10 emulators on this computer who really likes his retro stuff. Steggy was awesome though.
I have a question DON'T READ IF YOU DIDN'T FINISH THE GAME what with the satanic stuff?? the secret room downstairs has some satanic ritual with the picture of the old man.. i don't get it
Von Steiner If you buy The Witcher 3 for $60, and you spend 200 hours on it, you are only spending 30 cents per hour. If you measure the games value solely in terms of time, The Witcher 3 would be over 33 times more valuable than Gone Home. Obviously if you like the gameplay of Gone Home enough, then this would not matter to you. As for myself, I find story driven walking simulators such as these to be tedious and boring.
Von Steiner I'd agree. I loved the game personally, but that has a lot to do with the fact that i got it on sale for $5. If you do see it on discount, i highly recommend it.
This game was awesome! I grew up in the 90s and this game touched me deep. Perhaps people who couldn't connect with the younger sisters age group would be put off. If this game was set in the say 60s, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
The Halflife 2 mod Underhell does this really damn well IMO. Like you said, you have to work for the story for it to be compelling and interesting. In Underhell you have 3 ways of doing this. The house, the main characters dreams and his job which is being a member of a special forces team. All of these are worth going through and exploring. Where ever you go there is something that has a story to tell. I really cant believe how this mod isn't well known yet. Btw, that house he lives in is the most terrifying this that has ever existed. Just thinking about exploring in that house gives me the chills. Superb atmosphere, never experienced something like it.
Gone Home is one of the best games ive played...but seeing you kids it looks like u just like to have a call of duty or flappy bird type of game... You just dont compare Gone Home to other video games... its made for an era... the best era.... Videogames... long live death stranding, it will blow your minds..
Crazy how the title "Gone Home" can have so many meanings... the most obvious of first, the main character has returned home. Or has she? The house she has returned to is not the same house she grew up in, so it kind of makes it as if is an ironic situation, not knowing the place you're supposed to find the most safety. Home is where the family is, but none of Katie's family members are present, so that takes away a lot of what really makes it "home."
God damn, people are so anal about this game. They pretend like they care about gaming as a medium, but all they really succeed in is showing everyone else what a pissy little neckbeard they are. And I bet you six way from sunday it's because of the feminist message/leanings in the storytelling. Christ almighty, people are so fucking disgusting and petty. It makes me loath the very notion of being called a gamer.
It's a bait-and-switch. They build it up like its going to be about video game problems, then slowly and steadily reveal that its about normal people problems. I, for one, thought that was pretty freakin' clever.
I feel like there's no doubt that this game was masterfully done; it's methods of storytelling are phenomenal and I too was at the edge of my seat. However, being at the edge of your seat usually means you're expecting something, and my expectations were not honestly met. While I understand this to be a game about normal life, the whole atmosphere rather screamed of something darker going on, some hidden meaning behind everything. I know I'm not the only one who was expecting some insane plot twist. But it ends on a very mundane note, that made me simply think, what else? I was even hoping that after the credits it might reveal something, but again I was disappointed. It's a great game, but I personally would have enjoyed it more if it shocked the player more.
So many people missed the massive side story. The father being molested by Oscar as a child. Also the mother writing to her childhood friend about the affair she was having with the Rick guy.
I played through this recently with my wife and we were totally and completely fascinated by the story and characters and atmosphere of the game. I can say whereas you plowed through the game in 2 hours, if you play it with a friend, and take the time to talk and discuss and read aloud the various texts, and try to guess and read into the people you're exploring, it can take significantly longer(we played it in over 4 hours, single playthrough with no cheats). And still it was not boring or plodding, there was plenty to see. I was actually surprised that despite choosing to explore the house fairly randomly (with as much thorough attention as possible) the story didn't feel jumbled or messy. The only out of place bit of storytelling we had was skipping the last bit of the upstairs/attic and later realizing that was where we ultimately needed to go. Otherwise, it all made sense and felt like a wonderful interactive experience. But I know there are detractors and haters to the game, because it is not really a zero-sum game, it doesn't have the easily visible winner and loser present. And really, aside from missing vital details (I never did unlock the office file cabinet or the basement safe) or straight up giving up before it's done, you can't "lose". It is the type of game that has a very rich story and atmosphere to it, and a deep sense of exploration. If you are the kind of person that enjoyed creeping through old abandoned buildings and houses as a kid (or even now) and trying to discern who lived there, what happened, etc etc then you'll like how this game plays. That's what the "game" is, piecing together a vast layered puzzle. If you always expect to run from monsters, shoot the bad guy, level up your character and quickly maneuver your way through to the end... you may still find an appreciation for this, but I doubt it. Nowadays you'd think people would have caught on that indie games are often experimental, odd, and try to break away from the "tried and true". Playign them means excercising a bit of open mindedness and general acceptance that this is not your average experience. And yet so many walk up and refute it. "this can't be a real movie, it has no sound. This can't be a game, it's a visual novel. This can't be what it says, it's not exactly like everything else called that." Sheesh...
I think this game was released at the worst time possible. right now, being supportive towards same sex relationships is a trend, which makes it almost impossible to review this game objectively. no matter what you do, you'll be either a homophobe, or an extreme opposite of that. that's not entirely wrong, since your disposition towards this game's topic (on which it relies heavily) will severely affect your judgement. but that's this game's flaw - it blackmails the player and the reviewer into saying they like it. if they say they don't, that would mean they're not keeping up with what's popular right now, facing all sorts of unpleasant consequences that come with it.
***** , that's what I said when I started reading reviews of this game. I thought everyone's gone out of their mind, but then I noticed the trend and everything became clear.
+Arsenij Javorśkyj I enjoyed it not because it had lesbians in it, but because it's got great environmental storytelling and a fantastic atmosphere. I'm a guy who usually quickly scrolls through in-game diaries and books in most games, but Gone Home managed to entertain me for 3 hours just by giving me things to read and explore.
Gay people exist yo. Theyre gonna be in fictional stories sometimes. Thats not a "trend", thats humanity. Should all games just feature nothing but heterosexual couples and relationships? I'm sorry someone's sexuality bothers you so much, that must be hard for you.
Max Payne, this game is derivative in everything, except for the theme. there are literally hundreds of games that are like Gone Home (one of the best examples would be Scratches), but they are much better at doing what Gone Home tried to do. I wouldn't be even talking about it if the media didn't give this game so much more credit than it deserves. what does it offer, really? a few audio logs, a few scans of hand-written notes, a few jarringly awful punk songs, and a plot that is also so frustratingly cliche it makes me wonder if the developer actually thought that having lesbians in it would be enough to disregard everything else. the fact that the game, at times, manages to establish creepy/mysterious atmosphere makes the experience so even worse, since that atmosphere has nothing to do with what actually happened/is happening. Julian Giovinco, you've completely missed the point. It's not about whether or not to have lesbians in a video game, it's about the way the game is made, its writing, its gameplay, everything. I believe that every theme can be interesting if done right. this is, however, not the case with Gone Home. you can't expect a theme to carry the player through shallow gameplay and boring story. as I said before, if lesbian theme doesn't make you jump in excitement, then Gone Home has nothing for you.
Just played this game last night (free on PS Plus for June). Awesome. Story was great, exploring and piecing together the story was great. I think that if you've got a problem with this being a "game" you might be undervaluing how incredible it feels to put together a story by yourself using environmental details, and letting your imagination paint a picture for you. It's pretty awesome what this game did.
Having to manually find story stuff is nothing new. This definitely IS a game, but it's a boring game. The story is cliched and boring; WOW lesbians running away from home that are SO PUNK ROCK and do dumb shit. I really disliked all characters. They seemed almost designed to be obnoxious, and the protagonists reminiscence seemed cloyingly sentimental. Some of the puzzles were okay, but so many other games have done this already much better. It's a mediocre game, I don't hate it. I just hate how much attention it's getting while better games are being ignored. Why does anyone care about this game at all, negatively or positively?
It's got a lot of attention cause a lot of people liked it. And apparently they got stuff out of it that you didn't get. I really don't know what to say when people get mad at a game's or movie's success if they don't like it. It's such a weirdly hostile attitude.
Oh don't worry, over the three times I played through this before writing, that thought had indeed crossed my mind. I didn't write about it though because that would be wrong and I'd look pretty silly.
At the very LEAST there could have been some dark shadow figures darting around that you only see for just a brief moment or SOMETHING paranormal; I thought that this was going to be something SCARY maybe even a murder mystery, sure made it SEEM that way with having it be a rainy night plus the home being called they "Pshyco House". : / Also; I did not feel invested to any of the characters at all, and the little "love story" made me roll my eyes. 🙄
Well there was some fucked up shit in the game. It's alluded to that the dad was sexually abused by the old dude who used to live in the house of whatever.
that new vegas bit is such a good point, a whole game about that sweet fleeting moment just after checking out every cupboard and licking every cheese wheel but ends before forcing you to talk to every npc about every topic
I thought Gone Home was a mediocre story told very, very well. Nearly everything said in the review is true - it is very relatable, very subtle, and very smart - but the story itself, this being the events that went on, is very, very oldhat. It'd still recommend Gone Home, though maybe when it's on sale (if anything, this game goes to show that no matter how cliche, you can make a fantastic piece of art out of any story) but I'd like to see Fullbright make a game with the same fantastic storytelling for a better actual story.
so this comment might be spoilery; don't read if you care. Yes, it's a banale story, we've heard fairly often, but the mastery of this game is it got me hooked for it by intriguing me with potential supernatural elements and some very good writing as well as level design. And while you expect ghosts or mutilated bodies to show up, because videogames, the characters sneaked into my heart, so when I got to the ending, I was happy they figured it out - regardless of the game having led me by my nose previously.
If you lived in the 90’s and are familiar with the stereogram posters you will see the outline of a shark on the poster he picks up in Sams room. To see it properly you need to cross your eyes and sort of zone out to it but when you do it right the image will pop- its really in there
This game is fantastic. It might be short, but the story is told really well in under 3 hours. And it's a great story at that. No, the gameplay isn't mind blowing or revolutionary. No, the graphics aren't phenomenal. The thing is: games don't need that to be good. It was advertised as a simple exploration game, and it delivered. Read the description before you buy a game next time. The only part that bugs me is that it's regularly priced at $20. I got it for $3 and I feel like that is a fair price. I might feel a little cheated if I had paid the full $20.
No, this game is complete shit. Nobody should buy this abomination. Its basically what all devs want to make, movies. But there is one small thing that doesn't fit very well, movies don't have gameplay. And a game without gameplay is like a book without words. You cannot tell me that walking around a house, doing jack shit, deserves a 9/10. If you want to buy a visual novel, go on ahead, at least those are like 10 hours at least.
Cataholic I'll give you 5. The storyline is really well told in under 3 hours. The characters are likable and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to them. There are multiple stories going on if you pay attention to details. The emotions presented were raw and human. The nostalgia factor was off the charts for me. You don't need to tell anyone not to "waste their money". You aren't an internet savior. People are going to like this game regardless of whether or not you liked it. Again I will say: Get over yourself.
Zack Russell I'll do you one more. There is, in fact, gameplay. It's a bit shallow, but there is puzzle solving involved to progress. You have to track down combinations, locate hiden pannels, and so on. But then, if Cataholic had actually played the game, or even watched this review he's commenting on, he would know that.
Hey, but seriously, your reviews have it all! Plus some really bright and indepth insight that helps to put each game you cover or gaming in general into perspective... it's good stuff :)
To review a review, I'd say this is your best work yet, mate. You've clearly found the format that works best for you, writing clearly without pressuring yourself to pepper in jokes or cutaways to camera. Those instances were unnecessary at best and a bit distracting at worst, and your writing is strong enough to stand without them. All of that is to say, good job, mate. I look forward to your future videos.
There are a few reasons why I don't like Gone Home. 1. I do not see a challenge. Similar to a novel. Walking simulators are not games because they lack challenge. A casual game like farmvile has more challenge than walking simulators. 2. it was promoted by people who hate gamers and who have no ethics. You are not one of them thankfully. One of the reviews by the New York Times says it's the greatest. Really? Doubt it. Oddly enough, the founder Steve Gaynor, wrote an article on the same site as you. Odd, but not anything too suspicious. It feels like the "game" feminists like, not gamers. The story provided a homosexual couple that runs off from the military. Granted it has more story than Gen Zed, but I've seen better.
+Hunter “aka” Gman when did gamers and feminists become mutually exclusive? People do realize feminism isn't some club or social group or something like that right? It's a critical analysis of gender dynamics
Cameron Armstrong Music Feminism is an ideology. It is true that feminists can be gamers and vice versa, but it's not going to be common because it has censored games. GTA for example. Feminists have also infiltrated the games industry. Mighty no.9 is an example of this. I do not like feminism because it slows progress. They have gotten people fired because they said something they didn't like.
I understand why some people don't think about Gone Home as a good game for its "lack of gameplay and a failure state" etc, but anyone who says "the only reason people like it is because the story is about a lesbian" clearly hasn't played the game themselves or if they have, it just wasn't made for them. I mean, who are you people to tell why people like something? I enjoy watching let's plays and I watched one about Gone Home, and it was obvious that the person playing really enjoyed playing the game, even before realizing that the characters were in love. And I enjoyed watching the videos, because I was interested in knowing what had happened in the family by finding new clues. At the same time, I didn't enjoy Dear Ester, because it lacked any kind of interaction or thinking and simply required the player to walk and listen. Sure, games that have more gameplay, so to say, can tell stories just as well and even better, but when I think about how this particular story could have been done in any other kind of game, I feel like it wouldn't fit the style. The story of Gone Home is about ordinary people living pretty ordinary lives, having to deal with conflicts that a lot of ordinary people have. An action game wouldn't have been the right genre, not horror or fantasy. Maybe a platforming puzzle game could have done it with metaphors and stuff like that, kind of what Braid did, but even then I don't think it would have been the kind of genre this story required.
I think the main argument against the game is not so much "the only reason people like it is because the story is about a lesbian" but more of "the only reason this mediocre game received a flood of 10/10 reviews is because is has a lesbian and said reviewers were friends with the developer"
I think the biggest problem people in the comment section have with this game is its surrounding controversity. I loathed this game with a passion when it came out, just because I was so sick of everything that surrounded it. I won't go into detail because everyone probably already knows what I'm talking about. This game is just synonimous with a group of people I absolutely can't stand, and that's why I hate this game so much. I wouldn't say this game is objectively bad, I think it probably has a lot of merit for people who look for this kind of experience so it does have a right to exist the way it does (though maybe with a lower price tag, 20$ for 2 hours is a joke). I'm just sick of people calling this the "game of the year" or "an empowering emotional experience" because those words are so representative of a demographic that has "invaded" the videogame-industry rather recently, with which I strongly disagree for their reasons and methods, which everyone already knows about and therefore I don't really have to explain here.
KackBratz sad person. the game has nothing to do with your MRA crap. idiots.* *(apologies, i've seen some really retarded comments before, but i might be confusing this comment for one of them, due to it's certain ambiguities, which i might not be versed in, concerning the Gamergate "fiasco". i've simply seen alot more comments bashing women from trolls, apparently, than having seen pertinent news about what exactly GG is about. so i apologize, my comment will forge hopefully a better understanding for me, on the subject; and i should probably quit Gamespot).
CynicalBastard MRA crap? How the hell does one possibly twist what he says to find a way to make it connected to MRAs in any way? Because looking at what he said rationally sure does not lead to that.
"I won't go into detail because everyone probably already knows what I'm talking about. This game is just synonymous with a group of people I absolutely can't stand, and that's why I hate this game so much...I'm just sick of people calling this the "game of the year" or "an empowering emotional experience" because those words are so representative of a demographic that has 'invaded' the videogame-industry rather recently" ^ you can't see it because he refuses to make mention of it. he's calling for a game that has none of that stuff "everyone already knows he's talking about" because he's mad that a game such as one pertaining to a female lesbian protagonist after the events of Gamergate attracting the kind of people who'd rather see women getting harassed (and i'm not talking about Anna whatsherface) then see a dude get either fired and get bashed in the media, because he said some outlandish shit...yeah, both sides of that instigating factor are wrong for making a big deal about any of that shit, except when these things become real people doing real shady things that would have anyone question their legitimacy of their place in a professional company, when in THAT case, one side in this instigation has a much more vocal approach in their bashing of the other, while that other seems to be one to defend from the person whom was wrong. but now the definition is different for people whom might think so and so deserved to be bashed, or to be pigeon-holed, without any consequences in a professional environment. whether it's game development or game journalism; same difference. one are allowed to bash, while other HAS to defend. it's not fair, and there are alot of people rashly angered when their "side" is dragged into the mud. that's why i'm saying all that shit has nothing to do with this game, unlike what Kackbrats has stated.
CynicalBastard That seemed more an attack on the group within the industry who where pushing people to buy the game and giving it 10/10 scores as well as unearned gaming awards purely to push an agenda, something which has come to light in the past year to be the result of agenda pushing collusion. Has nothing to do with MRAs, or even feminism, but with a specific group of people who have shown themselves to not be bound by ideology pushing the works of their friends for profit. The only reason you could interpret it as being MRA related is because of a media campaign by these very people, one which has failed within gaming because gamers know better.
well, luckily i have been out of the loop. what a load of bullshit. i've seen some really retarded comments directly positing the "Feminists Hating on Gamers" thing and having replies run the gamut of merely agreeing, to absolutely shitting on any opinions on the matter that do not concur with their views (though do with free speech, and even many times rationally make certain accusations). my following the actual articles, trends, and so-on have been spotty at best. thanks for explaining to me where i should brush up. as i said, i've seen many ignorant comments before which have led me to my weariness of this topic, and people's bashing of gender's, which ever way that may go; and mostly FROM gamers do i see this. but that doesn't mean anything if i don't have the whole picture, so i apologize for my ignorance, as well (as my comment to Kacks). i still don't see how this game was one of those games, but hey, i'm not aware of the push this game supposedly got, for all intents and purposes, to hype the game when it wasn't as good as was proclaimed. but how could anyone make that sort of judgement call anyway, unless some very prudent evidence presented itself that someone thought that the game sucked but said it was good anyway. the Gamergate thing (and everything surrounding it, to paraphrase) has nothing good about it, and nothing i've seen good came from it's exposure either, save i guess on the face of it, it's exposure in and of itself...but waht did that do? like i said...i'm out of loop. been out of playing games for a couple years now, but i still keep up with what's being created,...though only on that, new games and such, and not the Gamergate or game industry news. i tend to stay out of that. so anyways, that's why i am really not versed in the whole escapade; just the anti-Feminist/MRA side of it (again from gamer's as i've said) which i think is ALL stupid. i think they're both just pushing agendas.
@@CynicalBastard I DON'T care what Anyone Says BioShock Infinite is A Much better Game The same thing with Batman Arkham Origins People hate those Games God knows why
About The Wire. I never said that it's the only good form of storytelling, just that it's the kind of storytelling I expected. In Heart of darkness, we hear Marlow's recollection(the protagonist in first person) while in Gone Home we hear the recollection of a character that's not present.
Couple years late to this invitation to "come home," and like many, I got it for free via PS Plus. That being said, this was genuinely one of best narrative-based games I've played, ever. There's an old saying that you can't "go home again," and that's absolutely true in the world this game creates. Things have changed so much since you left and you feel like a guest in your own (new) home. The emotional heft of the title, the discoveries you make about your family members, and pure sense of exploration were, and I use this word cautiously, "immersive." While it leaves a few things unanswered (no spoilers), I'm glad to have it in my library. I'm also glad I'm not the only one who thought of the original Resident Evil while playing. Great review
It's an awful, awful 'game'... Look, I get it, reviewers want gaming to be considered legitimate art, and are striving for any game that will add to that legitimacy, but jumping on a poor, pretentious title and raving about it for this reason is to mislead the consumer and to lie to yourself. I read your follow up, and it makes no difference. You're a guy who is trying to critique a work of art rather than a game, and failing at both, because a real work of art in gaming is something that gets everything right in terms of gameplay, graphics, story and atmosphere. They come as a package. The reason Gone Home is being panned across the board by anybody not a hipster and with a functioning brain is because it gets none of these things right. You want a work of art in gaming? Look at Grim Fandango, with it's masterful storytelling, exquisite art and style and so on. Look at the musical score of Final Fantasy 7. Look at the simplicity yet depth of truly ambitious indie gaming titles like Papers, Please. Gone Home doesn't hold a candle to these games. It doesn't even hold a candle to contemporaries like The Stanley Parable. As a reviewer, your job should have been calling attention to the shoddy depth of the title, the lacklustre art direction and forced narrative. Instead, you've probably helped fleece a few thousand people out of money for a bum of a 'game'. Well done.
Lee K it's contemporary's LOL. you naming off some old games with good stories means nothing. the game as a whole package accomplished all it set out to do. the graphics were there, the story was there, the atmosphere was there and the gameplay (interacting with your environment, or UI within the game) was there. you have no solid foundation for your hypothesis that the game is not a game, and well art is up for interpretation. sorry, you lose.
CynicalBastard Where exactly did I say it was not a game? It is a game - a bad one. If all a game had to do in order to be good was 'accomplish all it set out to do', then basically by that criteria every game is a masterpiece. The devs of Big Rigs could easily have set out to make a game where you drive through buildings, glitch everywhere and make people laugh - 10/10 Polygon then I suppose! If the developers of Gone Home set out to make a graphically standard, horribly written concept demo, then yes, they accomplished 'all they set out to do'. Good on them. In the real world, games should be judged on what they actually ARE, instead of what they are meant to be in concept. This is why this review is pure diarrhoea, as it isn't reviewing the game itself; it's reviewing the idea behind the game.
your comparison is stupid as fuck. Big Rigs was broken. why do you people try so HARD to come up with reason's that are non-existent for this game not to be called a game. extreme butthurt methinks. and you put game in mini quote's and you were trying to stipulate that the game was like trying to be art or wahtever... not even. *facepalm*
A lot of these replies are pretty closeminded towards your point, so I kinda wanna clarify that I get what you're saying and even agree in some ways. That being said, I have reservations about the line "They come as a package." Gameplay and narrative do come as a package, you're right about that, but I'm not sure how that in particular applies to Gone Home. Gone Home is an interactive experience with gated progression. The game requires the player to think critically about items or messages they find in order to uncover the next section of the story *and* the game. That's gameplay, and crucially it's gameplay that enhances the story rather than detract from it. Would the game be better if, instead of just solving light believable puzzles you instead had to walk up to a Witness style panel in the wall and play connect the dots? Or would the actual narrative be more interesting if there were weird monsters lurking the halls to distract from the intended experience, which is a love story. A lot of games, such as Bioshock or Half-Life (primarily shooters there, sorry I mostly play fps's) require the player to ignore actual gameplay when they consider the plot. Its ludicrous that one guy can kill that many people, especially when they one guy isn't trained. Real people are pretty resilient, it turns out, especially they also have guns. Killing three or four of them, I'll buy it. Killing dozens through off-hand indirect ways like a big bomb, I'll buy it. Directly killing *hundreds* of them with your own hands and guns? Pretty absurd. This works in plenty of games because you aren't really supposed to be thinking about it. More arcade-y experiences are generally not supposed to be taken literally. A big set-piece fight works experimentally and is meant to be felt rather than thought about, and when it is thought about it's thought about like a metaphor. A metaphor for vague "conflict" specifically. Gordon is a mass murderer who's actively sought out and killed hundreds of US Marines, as well as subreme alien forces. But it doesn't really feel like that because the marines and aliens are experientially just a metaphor for conflict. Gordon, in the way the player sees it, overcome tremendous odds and survived a massive conflict. The metaphor sticks with you, the actual events don't. That system is problematic because eventually it gets to a point where the story in any given video game feature long stretches of vague experiential conflict followed by straightforward plot exposition. Big long level -- cutscene -- big long level -- cutscene. Often times the places you do the action in, and the reasons you do the action for are engaging, and on an experiential level the action itself is engaging, but I wouldn't call this a "package" of good stuff as much as two little bags of good stuff. Games like Gone Home generally try to make the gameplay completely literal. It's meant to be believed that, in universe, the player analogue really actually did everything you did in the game, which to me is far more similar to a package. The gameplay is part of the plot and the plot of part of the gameplay, as opposed to two unrelated bits consisting of a metaphor followed by genuine plot-stuffs. On the opposite end of this spectrum is something like Doom, which also expects you to assume the player analogue is literally doing everything you do. You're expected to believe the Doom slayer/guy is actually killing all these demons because him being absurdly powerful is part of the canon. I never thought I'd compare Doom to a walking simulator but there you go. You could argue that Doom has a more worthwhile video game tale to tell than Gone Home, but that's just a personal taste thing. I personally see no reason why you can't tell a love story in the form of a video game, and personally the Gone Home style is probably the best way to do it.
This sucks really what are videogames turning into? fuck graphics i want GAMEplay where is the fucking freaking hell gameplay in this shit,it is like putting a photo into a dvd and calling it a movie.
It's the style of game, this game is not a representation of every game of this generation. It's just a little thing to occupy time. As well, sometimes photographs are put into DVD format, what's the point of even doing so? Hell if I know, but it's done, and it can display memories onto a screen with sound quite well.
But games make it so much better, everyone who reads a book or watches a film experiences the exact same thing, where as with a game like this each person notices different things along the way and can relate differently to the character they are controlling, with a film or book you don't have that to the same extent because it's though you're passively observing a situation.
I dont get it, 20 bucks for a 2 hour house simulator? I mean, honestly. even on sale its like $7 dollars right now. just the other day I bought System Shock 2 for $0.99, already have four hours into (out of what I would assume to be about 20 at the pace im going). Honestly, gettting good games on STEAM is for cheap is easy as all hell, and they are asking $20 for this? a few years ago you would get shit like cave story, IJI, hero core, la-mulana, and the list goes on, for free. actual games, free. personally, I would CONSIDER paying ten bucks. movies these days are around 2-3 hours for ten bucks, so fair enough. lower it to ten bucks and youll be on the bottom of my backlog.
Great game, great channel (love your try to plays and closeups of metal gear solid and zelda especially). This channel is so up there with extra credits as my favorite video game show. Any more of those out there with such high quality content?
Just finished the game. T'was pretty much the best presentation of environmental story telling, every object made sense. Unlike Dark Souls where if you pick up an item and suddenly you get lore.
I know you made this comment a month ago but I have to say I disagree wholeheartedly about the Dark Souls comment. Everything in that game is carefully placed and tells a story. You should have a look, the flavor text isn't the only lore the items tell =)
Balleet I know, but the item descriptions make no sense, I feel like its a lore dump rather than something natural. To me it would have been better if we were able enquire about the items at the peddler or the blacksmith and then the description elaborates.When everything else is crafted so meticulously even the tiniest of inconsistencies stand out.
The comments here are a dumpster fire when you come back to them a couple years later. The people insisting this wasn't a game are pretty delusional and I doubt any of them were old enough to remember when point and click adventure games were the most popular type of game.
I actually do appreciate mentioning the point and click adventure games... because I remember that I ultimately didn't get into them all that much when I was a kid and grew to not care for them at all once I became an adult. That's probably why I don't care for David Cage games or these types all that much either. They are "point and click" and sometimes mixed with some Simon Says. For this game, well, I'll just go and watch a silent playthrough to experience the story.
Actually the game can be completed in literally about one minute if you skip everything else. Only worth a couple of bucks even if it did last for two lousy hours. Remember back in PS1 days 12 hours was considered very short? Games these days only last a couple of minutes, WTF!
You can do that with Super Mario Bros. 3. Something being able to be speed run makes it bad? Also, what PS1 era did you live it? also, I'd like to know what universe you live in? Because 90% of AAA games made nowdays are like 100+hour boring collectathon open world games. And I'm looking at the "how long to beat" for various old big PS1 games an I'm getting stuff like 6 hours for Dino Crisis or Resident Evil. And the max you'd get for something that's not an RPG would be like 12 hours for something like Tony Hawk or Metal Gear Solid (which was 80% cutscenes). Hell, most arcadey games are like less than half and hour if you actually know what you're doing. And even then, I'm not sure why you can't have games of different lengths, especially for games with smaller studios. Well it's not even a thing of price since the game constantly goes for free or pay what you want on various occasions.
To everyone who says that you need to have a low IQ, be lesbian, hate fun, hate games to enjoy Gone Home: Did you even watch the video? Did you even try to understand what Super Bunnyhop was saying? If so, I don't get how you can make these negative judgments and insult people.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
What do you mean walking around the house alone at night _was_ terrifying? It still is for me dude .__.
+Redgrave192 Well it is as an adult, but as a kid, it's scary at first, but once you turn on all the lights and come to realization that you're alone. You get tons of ideas of things of what you wouldn't normally do when your parents are home.
😱🏚😨
same
I seriously wasn't expecting that to happen, actually. Your hands and brain do so much in this game that the whole "anti-game" debate sticking to it took me off guard. The design of the place is literally the Resident Evil mansion. The interface is literally Thief. There's not a lot of abstraction here, folks.
Written follow-up will be published soon, keep an eye on the twitter or video description for the news.
Personally, the genuine emotions in Samantha's voice and her attitude toward life, combined with my interaction with the game world, got me so invested in the story that I was inspired IRL. Games do have that power sometimes, over certain people and in certain circumstances or moods.
"the game requires suspension of disbelief, when it should have been 100% realistic."
I don't want to sound disrespectful, but it's sounding like you're trying way too hard to dismiss this game. No game is 100% realistic. The foundational structure of a game prevents them from being 100% realistic. It's retroactive story framing, a literary device that's thousands of years old.
Still doesn't change the fact that this walking simulator completely sucked
The comments. The pain. THE PAIN
Such elitism, such edge.
I don't know what to do with so much angst.
This review and your follow-up represent the most insightful and accurate assessment of this game I've yet come across. I really appreciate the depth of analysis you offer in this video and others. Subscribed.
To be fair Space marines shooting aliens is still more realistic than Hollywood made highschool comedies
Sadly even alien colonial Marines was better than this trash
It's a different kind of game. It doesn't keep you playing because you have a challenge, it keeps you playing because you are intrigued by the story. And you do need to pay attention the entire game to pick up on the story clues hidden throughout the game.
When it comes down to it the story is fake, it might be based on a real experience but it doesn't sound like one. So it doesn't work as a contemporary art piece. In other words, It's failing to paint an interesting dialogue on sexual identity. It's just so god damn boring.
Also: This coming of age story sucks because it is bloated with fucking boring teenage drama.
I think the main reason i didnt like Gone Home is because i was extremely disappointed with the ending. There was a lot of build up and i was genuinely enjoying the game expecting some sort of huge revelation.
What i was left with just fell flat for me.
I just finished this game on the PS4 (it was one of the playstation plus free downloads of the month). I came into it with no expectations, but here is what I thought of it.
I can honestly say that this was a pretty nice surprise. The atmosphere and the characters really hit home for me, and I enjoyed the subplots of the secondary characters quite a bit. The main story was a treat, as the vocal performance was amazing, pulling me in far more than I was initially prepared for. It had me mentally/emotionally going back to that time in my life when I could still thrill in discovering new things about myself, while wrestling with the angst of not really knowing what to do when I discovered them. The punk music was spot on too, really completing the theme and feel of the story. The whole package actually had me pining for the days when I still had the freedom to toss everything away and follow my heart along a different life's path.
My only negative point would be the initial price. Putting it plainly, I wouldn't spend $20 on it, simply due to the short length... but if I had bought it on sale for $5 I would call that money *very* well spent.
Dude you're expectations on gaming are truly pathetic this walking simulator had an absolutely crappy story a predictable ending and the supernatural aspect of it was never even a form of the story or played a part of it dude are you Zoe Quinn's burner account. Your opinion sucks and you're tasting gaming is even worse.
I mean I'm in all at how bad your review of what you saw in this game was. Seriously how bad of a Simp are you to actually enjoy this garbage game.
Also, as a person who grew up in the 90s, the references in this game were on point: Street Fighter, SNES, VHS tapes, cassettes, 90s era garage punk, etc. The extra touch of nostalgia pulls you in
I don't have any sympathy for the developers of this game. Some may claim that this game getting clobbered by steam reviews and selling poorly due to potential buyers simply watching the game on youtube is unfair, but I beg to differ. If you are going to charge 20 dollars for a game, any game, you need to ensure that the experience of playing the game is better than being told about it. Better yet, that being told about the game makes you want to play it. For me, I watched a playthrough of the game on youtube, and liked the story and what the game did to tell that story. It's not a bad game. It's a good game with developers that don't know how to make the experience of playing a game different than watching that game be played. That is the most cardinal sin a game can commit.
I think something reviewers need to emphasize is that this game really isn't for everyone. Not in a 2deep4u way, just in a 'it's it's own thing and not designed to be a classic game as we defined them. if you're looking for a challenge outside of piecing together the plot by exploring, you're not going to find it here' It's lame that that's how it's got to be (it's like complaining system shock doesn't have any drivable cars), but too many people went into Gone Home with a wrong set of ideas.
i expected a horror game though :/ it could have been a really scary horror game! But the end was kinda dissappointing to me. I expected to shit go crazy :/
wasn't the ending for this "game" bad?
I heard it was "oh your friend left hurr"
that1dude0092 I don't know why you would consider the ending bad, maybe you expected something different from the game in the first place. I did, and it seems to have potential to go all horror and thriller on the player. "I expected to shit go crazy :/" puts it best
Probably should have looked up the genre...
I really loved this game, I'm glad I took advantage of the free download offer this weekend, and I'm glad I played it. I won't spoil any of it, except to say that the part about the Nazi invasion of Poland was possibly the greatest piece of writing I've yet seen in a game.
I believe this game would be classified as a visual novel in Japan.
You don't know what a visual novel is do you?
I do and Gone Home is pretty much just that except it has free roam.
***** You are right, Eric Misner, the game Gone Home does indeed include homosexuality in its story. Or, as you said, it was "gay as fuck".
***** You are entitled to your opinion on homosexuality, and also this game. Personally, I liked this game. You do not. Nothing is wrong with that. However, you don't need to be quite so condescending about it. Also, what exactly about Gone Home involved "betraying their country"? I'm sure that many people have backed out of the military before they were too far in to back out. On another note, last time I checked, simulators are considered games. Again, everyone has opinions, and everyone's opinion is different.
MsMrhappyface Oh really? Can't back out of the military? Then what's this? everydaylife.globalpost.com/back-out-after-joining-military-8823.html To quote the opening paragraph, "But even though the military doesn't widely advertise it, it's sometimes possible to enlist and then subsequently back out of your contract."
This game is a waste of money. There's a way to make a "walking simulator" with good atmosphere and story, but this isn't it. Firewatch is.
I think the problem with this game is people expectations of it. Not every game needs a melodramatic narrative with bombastic things happening every 10 seconds. The game is understated, thoughtful and grounded. For me, even though I'm not gay, a female or even American this game hit home in a lot of places; and the way you piece together the family's history and each of their personalities together by yourself makes you feel like you know these people. Also the nostalgia almost hurts.
Anthony Pierri Well that's just like, your opinion man.
It's so deep man. I can see the bottom
Grounded is the only word I'd use, and even then only sparingly. The details of the 90's nostalgia house are grounded but the perfect relationship between the sister and her girlfriend aren't.
It has no gameplay though yet they have the nerve to charge $20?
According your logic, a lesbian woman outside of america would never enjoy love stories with heterossexual couples. Wtf?
You being gay or not wont be what makes you like or dislike the story. It can help you liking it more or less, but not at the point of completly disliking it.
My biggest problem with this game and why I'm avoiding it can be summed up in one simple question. What does it offer? A two hour story with little replay-ability and a meta twist for a lot of money. There lies the key problem, it offers story, but that's a big risk. I can't look into the story to see if I'll be interested since that kind of defeats the purpose and hurts the game, especially of the experience is two hours. If I don't love the story, it's a complete waste and I can't preview it to see if I like it. I've had the meta twist spoiled for me, and I can say that I dodged a bullet with that one, as for me personally it would've of been a so what situation. I'll compare this game to a few other indies to demonstrate my point.
First we have Shovel Knight. That game offers 2D platforming that's very well designed, according to most people. I know what I'm getting into as it has a genre (Gone Home doesn't really, at least without spoilers), and there's a demo to show how the game controls and is designed. I can also look into later levels without ruining the game for myself, making it a safe buy if I'm interested. The game also has a lot of humor and nostalgia as a nice bonus to add a little extra if I get a little bored/frustrated with the game at any point. If I ever got bored of Gone Home, it would have nothing to fall back on, and there is a much higher risk of that happening. Also, Shovel Knight is infinitely more replayable if enjoyed.
The next is the Stanley Parable. This one is very story and meta driven, but it has the story, the commentary, and the humor to carry it. Much more importantly, it's one that can be looked into before buying without tainting the experience. A simple trailer will tell you everything you need to know, and even watching a playthrough of a path or two will leave the rest of the game and still give you a clear picture of what you're getting into. The meta commentary doesn't have the potential to anti climax or spoil the rest of the experience either, because it's built around it. It does suffer a similar key issue that I'll get into later.
The game that I feel is the most similar to Gone Home with it's risks (except the price tag) is Goat Simulator. It has one key element it offers, and if said element doesn't feel worth it, it's a complete waste. It has next to no replay-ability and looking it up can end up spoiling the entire game. Both of them offer one trick, and if said trick fails to satisfy or is seen in advance, it's a complete waste. Watching a bit of either game basically spoils the experience as well, killing the reason to get it.
Another huge reason I'm avoiding this game is the last time I went for a game purely for it's story, I was very disappointed. That game was Bioshock Infinite. I'm not too much into FPSes, though I love games like Borderlands and Fallout, and I tend to enjoy regular FPSes enough, so after hearing all of the praise for Bioshock Infinite's story, I went in blind (got it for $8). The game had a strong start, but fell apart as soon as I got into the first bit of mandatory gameplay (choosing who to throw the ball at). The gameplay dull and very unbalanced, but whatever, I came for the story and pushed on. Unfortunately, the story was a complete mess and disappointment, causing the entire experience to feel like a waste. Mathewmatosis made a Bioshock Infinite critique video that sums up my stance on the game perfectly.
Lastly, why is this a game? What do it's mechanics accomplish? More importantly, is there any reason to play it rather than watch it. From what I've seen of the game, the main character doesn't react to anything in the house, which makes no sense. A book would tell us what the character is thinking or focusing on, a movie/short would let us see the character's reactions. Right now, It's just a well designed house mod for a Bethesda or Valve game. The playable character, who's Gone Home, doesn't react to anything (again, I've seen little about the game, so I might be wrong here), making it feel like she's a drone moving around. She has a character established in the game that doesn't matter. Gone Home would probably be an amazing Pixar short, but as a game, it doesn't seem to offer anything.
+Skywardflare758 Well, short simple answer:
environmental story telling, with that, not sure if the voice overs work.
Thank you for six rambling paragraphs on why a game you havent played, nor have any intention to ever play, is bad.
Julian Giovinco
It's undeniably a lot of money for 2 hours though.
Doesn't mean it isn't worth playing at some point.
+Julian Giovinco The point here is that the game leans so heavily on it's story, and if that story doesn't pay off at the end, then the entire experience is effected.
Yohoat I felt it leaned more heavily on it's exploration, and the end didnt really feel all that important to me. Listen I aint sayin this shit was a masterpiece but I had a pretty enjoyable time.
This game is just pretentious.
20$'s for the equivalent of the anti joke "I got a knock knock joke but you have to start it". It acts like the simple fact of removing all the actual climax and payoff of being in suspense makes it so intelligent. It's like if dark souls 3 started off with a enemy who couldn't move and had 1 hp and when killed would roll the credits. Yeah it makes a statement about how the game was expected to be difficult but would that have been fun? Or even ethical to people who paid full price for something completely different than what they got? It's like selling water as vodka. Then refusing refunds because "It taught you a valuable lesson". That's false advertising and is shady as shit.
I'd believe the devs just went this way to pass off lazy, cheap design as "artsy". Because if you make a horror game without horror, just walking around stringing the player about using suspension all the way until the credits, you haven't made a horror game. You've made a con scam.
You know...this video's comment section makes me want to create a slur for the really obnoxious anti-SJW types. Because if there is anything more obnoxious than ultra-leftist hipsters who do nothing but self-congratulate, it is the neckbeard hipster who thinks it is intellectually respectable to reject any piece of media that could be remotely tied to anything slightly feminist.
TheLueii God just call them sexist pieces of shit and leave it be. That's all they are.
It does add up that people do and you are just too stuck on political agendas. People really do like exploring game spaces that act as character portraits. I legitimately like Dear Esther and this game is way more interactive then Dear Esther.
TheLueii I'm okay with walking simulators, but I have zero tolerance for pointless drivel that's being used to push an extreme political agenda.
This trash game saw success because sites like Polygon gave it perfect scores and glowing reviews. It's a mediocre, pretentious game, but it's been elevated as some second-coming for progressives. Sickening.
No one should tolerate political agendas being shoved down their throats. Hell, the concept of a "patriarchy" is pushed in Gone Home. That extremist ideology, with no foundation in reason or facts, shouldn't be lauded and praised.
Facelord I have a question for you, more out of curiosity than anything else: Would you say that the depiction of a worldview in an artwork always means approval of that worldview?
Facelord Oh for fucks sake. It's a game and it has a lesbian empowering story, bo fucking ho. It's not like as if game isn't set in 90's which was a time period that didn't have as much tolerance to lesbian rights.
Honestly everyone who gets triggered over someone telling a story about homosexuals oppression has missed the entire point of why people are against modern feminism and extreme left. You just can't get away with writing a story the way you want these days. You just HAVE TO BE pushing an agenda right?
I've played this game, and It never crossed my mind how this game was pushing an agenda trough out the gameplay period but instead how it would be undermined as "feminist propaganda" despite having a great story telling.
Guess I was right.
1% of comments here: "This game sucks! I want to shoot stuff!"
98% of comments here: "No one respects story telling anymore. Everyone wants just to shoot stuff."
1% - random
Excuse me, but I've been an avid gamer since 1989, and I have literally not stopped gaming since. I've grown up alongside the gaming industry and have an open mind. I dislike most shooters, despite having prestiged a few times, and i appreciate story driven games as much as any mature gamer. But I can safely say that this game is an absolute waste of time and money. I truly felt as if I'd been tricked after having spent 20$ on this. It tells a mediocre story at best, but there is just no GAME here. This is the first game I've ever tried to get my money back for in my life. It feels like it took the developers maybe a week to come up with this, the graphics are poor, and it just seems lazily done. There are so many other games that tell Incredible stories, but that are actually games!!! At best, 2 hours. At the least, 2 MINUTES. I'm sorry, but no game should be beatable in 2 minutes. After I get to the "end" and the screen fades I said, "okay, that was quite an intro, but I'm ready to dive into this game now". Roll Credits. Jaw droppingly insulting. This game should cost 99 cents. Sorry, I don't mean to direct such animosity towards you, but I just wanted you to know that it's not just COD fanboys who hate this "game".
What about those of us who think video games should be able to tell a story without stripping away all the things that make them video games?
Jay Kim Idk.. sure this game doesn't have a great story... but maaaan maybe it's just me but the whole however short experience it was... it was so emotional for me that I can't start to explain it..... I don't know why but I enjoyed it......
Anyway, I never said anything about this game in my first comment... I just said what I saw in the comment section here that's all...
Ok I can appreciate that. And I will also admit that a lot of gamers nowadays DO want to just shoot stuff and dont care about anything else. Skip thru dialogue and cutscenes etc. I just wanted people to know that there are those of us out there whose game library doesnt consist only of COD or Madden and who didnt like this game.
+Jay Kim you just saved my ps4 from this poopoo game thanks man
This review makes me sad, it reminds me of all that Gone Home actually did really well. I loved exploring and putting together the parents’ stories etc. But those fucking diary entries just destroyed it for me. Their inclusion completely undermined the game’s every successes in storytelling through exploration, and it boiled the main story’s exposition down to the same tired “walk the protagonist to each cutscene” formula that you see in AAA titles, the type of shit that this game purported to be steering away from, and I just couldn’t tolerate it.
The side stories, I put together in whatever order I happened to notice things, with no need to discover things in a specific order. But towards the end, I accidentally found one diary entry out of order, before the game wanted me to, rendering it completely out of context and pace/immersion-destroying, and that was it for me. It just revealed that the game had exactly the same linear, railroading intentions as anything else. The same as any typical game, but with the gameplay removed, just as people who are unfortunately derisive towards any story/exploration-driven game often accuse it of being. So not only does it undermine itself, but the potential of its entire genre. I cared a lot about the stories I uncovered on by own, but the main storyline was just a spoonfed audiobook, and as a result I couldn’t care less about it. And unfortunately, for me, it took the rest of the game down with it.
It’s not the irredeemable non-game that a lot of people claim it to be, that even I'm sometimes tempted to dismiss it as. It really did have a hell of a lot going for it, and that’s exactly why it left me so bitter.
i don't understand how finding a diary entry out of order turns it into a linear experience. the fun of the game is explicitly in piecing details together so you get an accurate understanding of how Sam's love and family life affected her as she moved out for college.
@@brownspottedcat I'm still trying to figure out where this walking simulator was a game. I mean seriously is your expectations so low you actually enjoyed this garbage. I bet you're the same type of guy that I could put Superman 64 in front of you and then you'd sit there and go what a crowning achievement in gaming. It's people like you that kill gaming. Your expectations are so low that you're willing to accept any trash an indie developer puts in front of you just because some random paid off reviewer called it artsy.
@@bigdoinks69 this is a hilarious reply! I find the mystery narrative of Gone Home more compelling than most AAA games I've played in the last decade. that accounts for literally a half a year under half of my entire life!
Halo MCC is tabbed out in the background of my desktop as I type out this reply. Gone Home is more fun than every single Halo game in this collection!
I own a little over 600+ games between my Switch, Steam, and misc. Gone Home is more fun than probably 3/4ths of those games!
It's not that my "expectations are so low"; I happen to appreciate the depth of character portrayed by Gone Home's interactive storytelling more than the game mechanics emphasized in other games. I don't care if DOOM Eternal has incredibly fun combat; once its difficulty began to plateau, DOOM Eternal was boring. Gone Home was more consistently stimulating across its 2~ hour story than an Ultra-Violence playthrough of DOOM Eternal was past the 3 hour mark. Gone Home's story is certainly less boring than DOOM Eternal's!
@@brownspottedcat Jesus Christ you're truly pathetic then. I mean really I find it hard to believe that you own that many games when you consider this game so great when it's nothing more than a crappy walking simulator with a lackluster pathetic embarrassingly bad lesbians love story.
But what games are *MORE* fun than Gone Home? I'll list 'em out:
- Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite its theme-park shooting gallery campaign structure, the story it tells and immersive gameplay elements were more captivating than Gone Home
- Dark Souls (Remastered). Dark Souls isn't a hard game! Try it! Its labyrinthine level layouts, tight combat, art direction, and fractured-but-coherent storytelling was more interesting than Gone Home.
- FTL: Faster Than Light. Procedurally generated storytelling, prosaic descriptions of in-game events, and tense spaceship vs. spaceship combat was more enthralling than Gone Home
- Morrowind. Scrounging through a civilization's history while theorycrafting busted character builds was more fascinating than playing Gone Home
- Half-Life Alyx. Half Life Alyx just VR Gone Home. VR makes Alyx way more engaging than anything in Gone Home by default, but arguably Alyx would've been a better game if there was *less* stuff to shoot.
I don't like videogames. I make videogames for a living. videogames are boring. last time i had fun in a AAA release, i was recoiling in fear during a particularly tense sewer section in Resident Evil 2. videogames should make me feel more than the technical satisfaction of mastering a games' systems before it inevitably becomes a boring power-trip.
The comments still reek of "THIS GAME ISN'T ABOUT SHOOTING STUFF AND IS BORING AND GAY"
Don't get me wrong, shooting stuff is cool as shit. This is a game that isn't about shooting stuff. Both can coexist without affecting one another.
Gone Home is a simple explorative game with a simple story (and a side story if you explore enough) and it excels at that. If you play it expecting a magic opera filled with twists and turns, you're going to be let down.
CrazyPizzaMan21 you didnt actually play it did you. Go back to pol.
Bruce Wayne Yeah I did when it was free on PS4, just accept the fact people didn't enjoy the same game you did. Just because I have a different opinion doesn't mean I didn't play it or my opinions wrong. I don't like the game because it has no gameplay and its a shitty romance story.
A Bit of a strawman argument there
Just a little
THERE'S NO GAMEPLAY IN A 2 HOUR INTERACTIVE GENERIC LOVE STORY THAT COST $20. RIP-OFF
your opinion is dismissed because your political bias is seeping through your rhetoric. Why do you expect anyone to take you seriously by calling people cucks? Besides, we all know what porn /pol/yps watch
The game only got high scores because of the lesbians, really, because lord forbids that a reviewer dares to critizise a game with social commentary.
I love how if you have gay characters or a slight feminist message in any medium the product is labeled as "sjw propaganda" or whatever. I can understand why some would hate this game but the "feminist" message isn't forced its just kind of an empowerment story. I don't see how thats really even "feminist". Seriously man, gamers and critics can be do close minded, you want people to hear what you have to say but NEVER want to listen to something thats different from your own opinions.
I do think this games story was decent at best though, gay couple runs away, ghosts or something. It was okay. It wasn't really the story that was even the best part it was discovering the story and exploring that made it worthwhile. I would like to see the developers of this game make a spiritual successor to this formula and drag it out and make it a bit longer.
It really is to bad that the story was complete garbage.
***** says the mlp fan
Snot Nose The Goblin I like gone home, it´s interesting.
Mundane is not garbage.
Please explain how this was a good game again? I'm getting this Heavy Rain feeling in that the gameplay mechanics were so new at the time (but already done or built-up upon) and fresh that the story was a hacked up piece of hollywood simplicity. Strip Silent Hill 2's gameplay and replace it with Gone Home's and you would still have a qualitatively better game simply because a good Steven King book is better than a short inglorious romance novel. You can't push a simulation of life as a game much as you can't push a cliche book on the bestsellers list. There has to be more. Imagine a world where John Green or Neil Gaiman wrote the plot for this game. If I were testing virtual simulations of lives that made me cozy and comfortable, downloading them straight into the usb port on my cerebral cortex, then yes I would give this a 5 out of 5. As a gamer, I would have to ask for more.
You say "as a gamer," but you come off more as saying "as a fan of genre fiction." Which is cool. I don't care for YA fiction (like John Green). But I do love trashy genre fiction as much as the next guy. Those kind of stories should exist and I'm glad they do. But I also enjoy literary fiction, which, believe it or not, is oftentimes concerned with the mundane and the quotidian. There are no aliens, monsters or ghosts. They showcase stories of everyday people, stories that "speak to the human condition" - to invoke a cliche that is actually useful. Gone Home is one of these stories. And if you allow yourself to feel empathy for these characters - these people - to be drawn into their world (which is our world, funnily enough), you can have a beautiful, moving experience with this game. Anyway, my point is not to say your view is invalid, but simply that you might not be equipped to enjoy Gone Home, in a weird way. If you feel no empathy for these everyday people unless they are thrust into dire, outlandish circumstances, or diagnosed with terminal illnesses, then maybe stories like this one will never be your cup of tea.
BakehousePictures Ok, but as a piece of literary fiction it fails utterly. Can you imagine a vignette about a teenage lesbian romance which culminates in running away from home being published in the New Yorker? The diary sections about watching her girlfriend sing in a band? It's so cheesy and sentimental. It's a Hallmark take on "art" games.
That's my problem with Gone Home. Yes, most of the gamers who dislike it are just showing off their lack of education via the nature of their criticism. But the reviewers and members of the press who go nuts over it are displaying the exact same deficit. Gone Home is well executed, and it's an approach to gaming that is too rare. But it's also not merely lacking in content in the concrete sense but in the abstract, thematic sense. It's a feel-good teenage love story, not some revelatory expression of high art.
Games can't really be judged in the same way we judge literature, but, to an extent, I do agree with you. Gone Home is not an exceptional piece of writing. In fact, no piece of game writing that I've come across can compare to even middle-brow literary fiction. But I would submit that it doesn't have to. Different criteria come into play when determining whether or not a game's writing is successful.
Games move us and involve us in ways unheard of in other mediums. The most relevant of those being our complicity in the narrative, made possible through interactivity. It can't be understated just how important this interactivity is in producing a kind of immediacy and importance to everything the player experiences. Average writing can be made to appear transcendent when this interactivity is implemented properly. This is why I love games, and continue to defend them as art, despite often times feeling underwhelmed and insulted by their trope-laden stories and half-baked themes. And it's why I love Gone Home. While it may have failed as a piece of literary fiction, fortunately enough, it isn't literary fiction. It's a game that takes a few cues from literary fiction. And as a game, for me anyway, it succeeded -- going above and beyond all previous attempts in its genre ('walking simulator' or whatever you want to call it).
I do still find your description of the game as a "feel-good teenage love story" to be reductive and inconsistent with my own experience, but I understand where you're coming from. Most of all, I appreciate that you articulate your criticisms with clarity and poise, unlike most of the game's detractors. I've lost count of the times I've been called a "hipster" or a "SJW" just for liking this game. So thanks for that.
***** Bull. I read better crap on a cereal box. The 'coming of age and sexual identity' story was far too overdone in the mid 90's in cheap paperback novels. Why should we offer anything in respect to praise to a game so utterly phoned in and over spent and bulit on a third rate story?
WatcherPrime You're thinking of the PLOT. Which, indeed, was very basic. The STORY was actually fairly complex and entirely reliant on the player to uncover its true depth.
Reasons for the lack of camera and jokes is mostly due to its short length and its tight deadline. I'd hate to think that something as quick and dry as this review might be better than something totally long and indulgent, like the MGS2 video. But you know, "necessity is the mother of invention."
Note: thanks for the feedback, glad you liked it :)
This is my question: Why do you people CARE so much about this game and its gaminess (or lack thereof depending on your opinion?) It's as simple as this: The author wanted to invoke thought and emotion. They chose a story as a medium to evoke this thought and emotion, instead of, for example, a song, non-story-driven poem, or otherwise. As a vessel for this story, instead of making a movie or a novel, or a story-driven poem, they decided to create a video game. What's the big issue with this? The thing is, in the long run, they also use the vessel well - things done in this game could not have been done the same way in a Gone Home movie, or a Gone Home novel, or a Gone Home poem, so you can't even argue that it's less of or does not deserve to be a game. Now, the pricing of the game is another story - but alas, this other story has nothing to do with the quality of the game itself. In a much shorter fashion of conveying my message, I will state the following: How about all of you shut up, sit down, and ride your bandwagons back home?
While the story is told well, i dont think the story is very thought provoking at all. It feels more to me like a made for tv teen movie. Lacking in innovation and rich in cliches, If it was a poem book or movie not only would it not work, but it would be a terrible, uninteresting experience because the story is simply weak. As a game it works reasonable well due to the atmosphere and feeling of discovery
To me the story of forbidden teenage lesbian love has little intellectual value and id be interested if you are pretenious enough to argue otherwise
James Smith
While I don't personally prefer this type of game, I can why someone who likes exploring and looking for easter eggs would.
It does what it sets out to do well, although the story isn't that mindblowing it's also pretty cheap. I think overhype is this game's biggest enemy, if you just want to sit back and find out about this family it's great.
It'd also be nice if this genre got a title of its own, one that those who enjoy it won't be offended by.
I think some were disappointed by the story's end when the beginning certainly has the atmosphere and setup of a good horror story.
The biggest thing I see is that many people view it as an extention of the Dear Esther design philosophy, which eliminates gameplay almost entirely, when what they're looking for is an expansion or merging of gameplay and story-systems. So they're just reacting in the hopes that such a philosphy doesn't latch onto games that need those mechanics, like it did with Amnesia and Destiny.
But on there own, they're fine, it's just that reviews need to be clear about how much control the player has.
Why do you care that they care?
story is still bad lol
I'm here because of the PS Plus games lineup for June lmao
Ikr
I think, more than anything, what really exemplifies the problems with this game is that it is $20. Sure it goes on sale for $5 every once and a while, but I still feel that's too much. I've legitimately played free games of the same nature that evoked more emotions out of me and made me feel like I was playing something deserving of my time and other peoples' efforts than this one. I am in no way against what the story had on offer. I feel if the game built up to something more chilling and creepy like it plays throughout, it would leave me with a better taste in my mouth. The game ends almost anti-climactically and ironically cliche. If somebody committed suicide, got into a wreck, or died of a drug overdose, I feel it could have done the game justice. I've read a lot of lesbian fiction and romance fiction, for that matter. For what it's telling in a structural sense, I've read this story a million times over with every combination of girl and boy (not just lesbians). While the length is decent enough, things aren't really as linear as they should be given the way the story is supposed to be told. You can literally beat the game in less than 5 minutes if you perform a certain action at the beginning of the game. I like how you can practically interact with everything, but so much of it is useless guff and only serves to distract you from the already poorly laid out diary entries. So, relating this back to the money problem, these issues would be a lot less substantial if the game was like, say, $2. It's all about perspective. I could buy Scribblenauts Unlimited, Sonic and All-Stars Team Racing, Typing of the Dead: Overkill, Rayman Origins, KOF XIII, or this game for the same price. That's assuming none of those games go on sale either. One last thing, the whole "kick it to the patriarchy!" thing felt off-putting and, more than anything else, confusing with its inclusion. It has nothing to do with the rest of the game and is never mentioned once throughout the actual story. If you guys are feminists, that's fine. Just don't slide in political nonsense for the pure sake of stirring up shit. EDIT: I'd also like to note that I liked your review, I felt you were justified in your statements, and can thankfully agree to disagree with you. That is all.
With the "kick the patriarchy" thing, I never got the feeling it was the game devs trying to insert propaganda to stir stuff up, but rather it was the in-story expression of the rebellious nature of that specific character. It was characterization. The devs weren't saying, "she's right, so be like her, and also kick boys in the dick," but rather they were just saying, "here's how she thinks and feels about the world around her."
Uh... You didn't ask for my response, but... you know... youtube and random comments and free flow of information, and all that. I thought maybe I could show you an idea you may have overlooked. I mean, I could be entirely wrong with how I interpreted it, and maybe the devs *did* intentionally want to push feminism, but that wasn't how it felt to me.
I think you're right about the full price though, but I also think $5 is fair.
So, yeah... Have a nice day.
A game smaller than a small map on counter strike. Brave.. not really, a fucking rip off? yes.
I can't believe I did, and, umm.... two things: #1) keep trying with the game thing #2) There's a lot more to Gone Home's plot than the surface-level stuff about teenagers coming out. Look at how your own expectations of the game were subverted, and how this made you feel betrayed. Note just how much you *care* about that, and then ask if your own story of playing the game supplements that of the in-game characters. Does that story have an arc of its own? Why are you so invested in it? Rethink.
this game is the epitome of rich white girl problem
Well, the comments here seem to be as shitty as I was expecting.
Great video though, I always feel a bit of trepidation any time I click on a video about this game.
Since the game does, in fact, use more than just notes to tell the story, we have nothing to worry about in that regard. Excellent level design, writing and attention to detail is what makes it work. If you haven't picked it up, I still recommend it (once the price is lower, of course.)
I don't know why this game is getting such great reviews. The experience was mediocre at best. A 3 minute free flash game that I played a while ago had a much larger impact on me than the impact this game had on me.
I am all for creative indie titles and all that but this game didn't hit the mark for me. Some of the clever writing of notes passed between two characters was a nice touch but nothing about this game is ground breaking or seriously impactful.
I don't know maybe I just don't get as much joy out of snooping through peoples stuff to really enjoy this game. I had a few moments of worry and laughter while playing the game but not enough for me to give it a raving review and tell people its a must play.
This game is a rip off at $20. It should be about $5.
Philip Redoutey I lived through the 90's so I understood it really well. I also understood the story told throughout the game. And no the storyline was not amazing, at least to me it wasn't. We have had so many breakthroughs with story telling in video games in the past 15 years and this doesn't come close to todays standards of impactful games.
Play this game:
armorgames.com/play/5355/immortall
This game takes about 5 minutes to complete at most. In 5 minutes it tells a story about humanity that could be written in a 1000 pages. Yet it tells it in 5 minutes. It doesn't do it using voice overs or scripts to read. No it does it through gameplay, style and artistic direction. This is the quality I expect from a game that is going to be getting great scores and reviews for being different and emotional. This game was free. The 5 minutes that I played in this game is still in my memory for when it came out 4 years ago.
Gone Home is forgettable. And I know that some people are going to say its not, and maybe it hit a soft spot on a few people but for most people its going to be forgettable. It was a bland love story between two teenage girls. Its story was told by exploration which is exactly the same technique used in point and click adventures. Its also used in many AAA games that go unnoticed as well through great level design.
I just don't see this game as remarkable as everyone is making it out to be and nobody has really made a strong case for it either. All of the points people make for what they thought was amazing is something that has either been done a million times before or is not that amazing at all.
You sure wrote an awful lot of words on something unremarkable. It's interesting to say something doesn't matter while demonstrating that it matters so much. Als did you notice you claimed you understood the story, but completely ignored the emergent storytelling model? It's not the story, it's the way the story is told.
I just showed Gone Home to my wife last night, and Immortall to my wife just now. One of them had an emotional impact on her. It wasn't Immortall.
@@JosephMcMurray1984 you said so much but most of it means nothing.
You keep using subjective terms instead of objective ones. And you just dont explain why or how.
I don't like this game, at all. I do think alot of this game's publicity is due to political bias (and the fact that the polygon reviewer was friendly with the devs kinda fuels the fire as well) but that's a topic for another day. I don't think the game itself is unsalvageable though. I actually don't have a problem with the "gameplay" and I quite like the layout of the house, with an actually good story I could have really enjoyed it. No my problem is, well, the story. You come home, find out everyone in your family is gone, you look around, and after a number of supernatural hints, find out that your parents just went off for the weekend and didn't bother leaving you a note, and your sister has run away and also left you a note, and just to top it off, she took the fucking SNES as well.
Okay first off, Lonnie left the army, she just up and left, they have a term for that, it's called going AWOL, and it's kind of illegal, Lonnie is now a criminal, the two of them have nothing but a car, some VHS tapes and a SNES. The best possible outcome I can realistically see happening here is that Lonnie will get arrested for going AWOL your sister gets sent back home to a very angry family. Also, this is young love, relationships between young people don't really tend to last that long.
Another thing I feel is that it capitizes solely on 90's nostalgia, and as someone who was born in 1998 I feel as if the game uses that in place of an actually good story, and this is coming from someone with 10 emulators on this computer who really likes his retro stuff.
Steggy was awesome though.
I have a question DON'T READ IF YOU DIDN'T FINISH THE GAME
what with the satanic stuff?? the secret room downstairs has some satanic ritual with the picture of the old man.. i don't get it
Angsty emo teens, bro. Part of the reason the writing was so lame in this game.
Who knows? The only thing I thought was really good in this game was the voice acting.
I don't know. 20 dollars seems a bit much for just a couple of hourse of game.
Von Steiner If you buy The Witcher 3 for $60, and you spend 200 hours on it, you are only spending 30 cents per hour. If you measure the games value solely in terms of time, The Witcher 3 would be over 33 times more valuable than Gone Home. Obviously if you like the gameplay of Gone Home enough, then this would not matter to you. As for myself, I find story driven walking simulators such as these to be tedious and boring.
***** Well, i think 60 dollars for a game is still too much....
Von Steiner hard man to please
***** If you say so.
Von Steiner I'd agree. I loved the game personally, but that has a lot to do with the fact that i got it on sale for $5. If you do see it on discount, i highly recommend it.
This game was awesome!
I grew up in the 90s and this game touched me deep. Perhaps people who couldn't connect with the younger sisters age group would be put off. If this game was set in the say 60s, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
MsMrhappyface You can walk and read, isn't this fun?
I try not to take my experiences from back then too personally.
I remember this game. I turned it off after I realized I could do everything in this game in real life, in my actual house.
@@aleksnull who didn't hurt you enough?
The Halflife 2 mod Underhell does this really damn well IMO.
Like you said, you have to work for the story for it to be compelling and interesting.
In Underhell you have 3 ways of doing this. The house, the main characters dreams and his job which is being a member of a special forces team. All of these are worth going through and exploring. Where ever you go there is something that has a story to tell. I really cant believe how this mod isn't well known yet.
Btw, that house he lives in is the most terrifying this that has ever existed. Just thinking about exploring in that house gives me the chills. Superb atmosphere, never experienced something like it.
Gone Home is one of the best games ive played...but seeing you kids it looks like u just like to have a call of duty or flappy bird type of game... You just dont compare Gone Home to other video games... its made for an era... the best era.... Videogames... long live death stranding, it will blow your minds..
Crazy how the title "Gone Home" can have so many meanings... the most obvious of first, the main character has returned home. Or has she? The house she has returned to is not the same house she grew up in, so it kind of makes it as if is an ironic situation, not knowing the place you're supposed to find the most safety. Home is where the family is, but none of Katie's family members are present, so that takes away a lot of what really makes it "home."
God damn, people are so anal about this game. They pretend like they care about gaming as a medium, but all they really succeed in is showing everyone else what a pissy little neckbeard they are. And I bet you six way from sunday it's because of the feminist message/leanings in the storytelling.
Christ almighty, people are so fucking disgusting and petty. It makes me loath the very notion of being called a gamer.
Chris Brown At least we don't beat our waifus.
+Chris Brown Then don't be a gamer. They all smell like sour milk.
+nickreilly72 Someone is bitter.
+Chris Brown It's terrible as a game, and it's also terrible as a story, it has zero redeeming qualities. How can anyone defend this is beyound me.
Different strokes for different folks I say
It's a bait-and-switch. They build it up like its going to be about video game problems, then slowly and steadily reveal that its about normal people problems.
I, for one, thought that was pretty freakin' clever.
I feel like there's no doubt that this game was masterfully done; it's methods of storytelling are phenomenal and I too was at the edge of my seat. However, being at the edge of your seat usually means you're expecting something, and my expectations were not honestly met. While I understand this to be a game about normal life, the whole atmosphere rather screamed of something darker going on, some hidden meaning behind everything. I know I'm not the only one who was expecting some insane plot twist. But it ends on a very mundane note, that made me simply think, what else? I was even hoping that after the credits it might reveal something, but again I was disappointed. It's a great game, but I personally would have enjoyed it more if it shocked the player more.
Man it's a lot of things but it's not a great game. This was literally a point and click adventure game with no pointing or adventure lmao
Amazing review! You have a very pleasant voice to listen to and some good writing put into this video. I'm glad I discovered this channel. Keep it up.
So many people missed the massive side story. The father being molested by Oscar as a child. Also the mother writing to her childhood friend about the affair she was having with the Rick guy.
***** Tl;dr.
It's by a guy named "PuceMoose." The mod's called "Tales of the Burning Sands"
I played through this recently with my wife and we were totally and completely fascinated by the story and characters and atmosphere of the game. I can say whereas you plowed through the game in 2 hours, if you play it with a friend, and take the time to talk and discuss and read aloud the various texts, and try to guess and read into the people you're exploring, it can take significantly longer(we played it in over 4 hours, single playthrough with no cheats). And still it was not boring or plodding, there was plenty to see. I was actually surprised that despite choosing to explore the house fairly randomly (with as much thorough attention as possible) the story didn't feel jumbled or messy. The only out of place bit of storytelling we had was skipping the last bit of the upstairs/attic and later realizing that was where we ultimately needed to go. Otherwise, it all made sense and felt like a wonderful interactive experience.
But I know there are detractors and haters to the game, because it is not really a zero-sum game, it doesn't have the easily visible winner and loser present. And really, aside from missing vital details (I never did unlock the office file cabinet or the basement safe) or straight up giving up before it's done, you can't "lose".
It is the type of game that has a very rich story and atmosphere to it, and a deep sense of exploration. If you are the kind of person that enjoyed creeping through old abandoned buildings and houses as a kid (or even now) and trying to discern who lived there, what happened, etc etc then you'll like how this game plays. That's what the "game" is, piecing together a vast layered puzzle. If you always expect to run from monsters, shoot the bad guy, level up your character and quickly maneuver your way through to the end... you may still find an appreciation for this, but I doubt it.
Nowadays you'd think people would have caught on that indie games are often experimental, odd, and try to break away from the "tried and true". Playign them means excercising a bit of open mindedness and general acceptance that this is not your average experience. And yet so many walk up and refute it. "this can't be a real movie, it has no sound. This can't be a game, it's a visual novel. This can't be what it says, it's not exactly like everything else called that." Sheesh...
No.
I guess the good news about games this short is that they don't waste any of your time. But then again, you know the saying. Time is money.
I think this game was released at the worst time possible. right now, being supportive towards same sex relationships is a trend, which makes it almost impossible to review this game objectively. no matter what you do, you'll be either a homophobe, or an extreme opposite of that. that's not entirely wrong, since your disposition towards this game's topic (on which it relies heavily) will severely affect your judgement. but that's this game's flaw - it blackmails the player and the reviewer into saying they like it. if they say they don't, that would mean they're not keeping up with what's popular right now, facing all sorts of unpleasant consequences that come with it.
+Arsenij Javorśkyj wtf
***** , that's what I said when I started reading reviews of this game. I thought everyone's gone out of their mind, but then I noticed the trend and everything became clear.
+Arsenij Javorśkyj I enjoyed it not because it had lesbians in it, but because it's got great environmental storytelling and a fantastic atmosphere. I'm a guy who usually quickly scrolls through in-game diaries and books in most games, but Gone Home managed to entertain me for 3 hours just by giving me things to read and explore.
Gay people exist yo. Theyre gonna be in fictional stories sometimes. Thats not a "trend", thats humanity. Should all games just feature nothing but heterosexual couples and relationships? I'm sorry someone's sexuality bothers you so much, that must be hard for you.
Max Payne, this game is derivative in everything, except for the theme. there are literally hundreds of games that are like Gone Home (one of the best examples would be Scratches), but they are much better at doing what Gone Home tried to do. I wouldn't be even talking about it if the media didn't give this game so much more credit than it deserves. what does it offer, really? a few audio logs, a few scans of hand-written notes, a few jarringly awful punk songs, and a plot that is also so frustratingly cliche it makes me wonder if the developer actually thought that having lesbians in it would be enough to disregard everything else. the fact that the game, at times, manages to establish creepy/mysterious atmosphere makes the experience so even worse, since that atmosphere has nothing to do with what actually happened/is happening.
Julian Giovinco, you've completely missed the point. It's not about whether or not to have lesbians in a video game, it's about the way the game is made, its writing, its gameplay, everything. I believe that every theme can be interesting if done right. this is, however, not the case with Gone Home. you can't expect a theme to carry the player through shallow gameplay and boring story. as I said before, if lesbian theme doesn't make you jump in excitement, then Gone Home has nothing for you.
Did you know that the two trippy pictures in Sam's room are stereoscopic images, which means they have a hidden shape drawn inside. Look it up.
Just played this game last night (free on PS Plus for June).
Awesome. Story was great, exploring and piecing together the story was great. I think that if you've got a problem with this being a "game" you might be undervaluing how incredible it feels to put together a story by yourself using environmental details, and letting your imagination paint a picture for you. It's pretty awesome what this game did.
This game leaves nothing to the imagination.
huh
Oh god it was so fucking deep man my dude.
The first striped image is of a fish and a shark and the one with all of the hearts is a, surprise surprise, a picture of a heart.
Having to manually find story stuff is nothing new. This definitely IS a game, but it's a boring game.
The story is cliched and boring; WOW lesbians running away from home that are SO PUNK ROCK and do dumb shit. I really disliked all characters. They seemed almost designed to be obnoxious, and the protagonists reminiscence seemed cloyingly sentimental. Some of the puzzles were okay, but so many other games have done this already much better.
It's a mediocre game, I don't hate it. I just hate how much attention it's getting while better games are being ignored. Why does anyone care about this game at all, negatively or positively?
+Plasma Bat calling the story clichéd is a weird claim. Can you name any other games about lesbians running away from home...?
It's a ripoff of that Courage the Cowardly Dog episode
It's got a lot of attention cause a lot of people liked it. And apparently they got stuff out of it that you didn't get. I really don't know what to say when people get mad at a game's or movie's success if they don't like it. It's such a weirdly hostile attitude.
Oh don't worry, over the three times I played through this before writing, that thought had indeed crossed my mind. I didn't write about it though because that would be wrong and I'd look pretty silly.
At the very LEAST there could have been some dark shadow figures darting around that you only see for just a brief moment or SOMETHING paranormal; I thought that this was going to be something SCARY maybe even a murder mystery, sure made it SEEM that way with having it be a rainy night plus the home being called they "Pshyco House". : /
Also; I did not feel invested to any of the characters at all, and the little "love story" made me roll my eyes. 🙄
Well there was some fucked up shit in the game. It's alluded to that the dad was sexually abused by the old dude who used to live in the house of whatever.
that new vegas bit is such a good point, a whole game about that sweet fleeting moment just after checking out every cupboard and licking every cheese wheel but ends before forcing you to talk to every npc about every topic
I thought Gone Home was a mediocre story told very, very well. Nearly everything said in the review is true - it is very relatable, very subtle, and very smart - but the story itself, this being the events that went on, is very, very oldhat. It'd still recommend Gone Home, though maybe when it's on sale (if anything, this game goes to show that no matter how cliche, you can make a fantastic piece of art out of any story) but I'd like to see Fullbright make a game with the same fantastic storytelling for a better actual story.
so this comment might be spoilery; don't read if you care.
Yes, it's a banale story, we've heard fairly often, but the mastery of this game is it got me hooked for it by intriguing me with potential supernatural elements and some very good writing as well as level design. And while you expect ghosts or mutilated bodies to show up, because videogames, the characters sneaked into my heart, so when I got to the ending, I was happy they figured it out - regardless of the game having led me by my nose previously.
Morrowind is the SHIIIIT
Sterling C
yeah, i might buy it some day.
If you lived in the 90’s and are familiar with the stereogram posters you will see the outline of a shark on the poster he picks up in Sams room. To see it properly you need to cross your eyes and sort of zone out to it but when you do it right the image will pop- its really in there
this review is longer than the fucking game
Quite literally, if you just go straight to the attic.
You can beat the game 5 or 6 times over the duration of the review.
Speedrun strats muh boi. Also yeah this game is painfully bad
always looking forward to new uploads - love this channel!
This game is fantastic. It might be short, but the story is told really well in under 3 hours. And it's a great story at that. No, the gameplay isn't mind blowing or revolutionary. No, the graphics aren't phenomenal. The thing is: games don't need that to be good. It was advertised as a simple exploration game, and it delivered. Read the description before you buy a game next time.
The only part that bugs me is that it's regularly priced at $20. I got it for $3 and I feel like that is a fair price. I might feel a little cheated if I had paid the full $20.
No, this game is complete shit. Nobody should buy this abomination. Its basically what all devs want to make, movies. But there is one small thing that doesn't fit very well, movies don't have gameplay. And a game without gameplay is like a book without words.
You cannot tell me that walking around a house, doing jack shit, deserves a 9/10.
If you want to buy a visual novel, go on ahead, at least those are like 10 hours at least.
Cataholic Alright, you didn't like it. Big fucking deal. Your opinion isn't the only opinion in the world. Get over yourself.
Zack Russell
Well no, im just telling people to not waste a cent on this piece of shit. Tell me 1 redeeming quality about this game.
Cataholic I'll give you 5. The storyline is really well told in under 3 hours. The characters are likable and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to them. There are multiple stories going on if you pay attention to details. The emotions presented were raw and human. The nostalgia factor was off the charts for me.
You don't need to tell anyone not to "waste their money". You aren't an internet savior. People are going to like this game regardless of whether or not you liked it. Again I will say: Get over yourself.
Zack Russell I'll do you one more. There is, in fact, gameplay. It's a bit shallow, but there is puzzle solving involved to progress. You have to track down combinations, locate hiden pannels, and so on. But then, if Cataholic had actually played the game, or even watched this review he's commenting on, he would know that.
Hey, but seriously, your reviews have it all! Plus some really bright and indepth insight that helps to put each game you cover or gaming in general into perspective... it's good stuff :)
Gone home is so fucking over rated.
To review a review, I'd say this is your best work yet, mate. You've clearly found the format that works best for you, writing clearly without pressuring yourself to pepper in jokes or cutaways to camera. Those instances were unnecessary at best and a bit distracting at worst, and your writing is strong enough to stand without them. All of that is to say, good job, mate. I look forward to your future videos.
I'd love to see a critical close-up on this one... some time in the future :)
I bet a lot of people who played it yesterday would echo this sentiment. Upvoted!
There are a few reasons why I don't like Gone Home. 1. I do not see a challenge. Similar to a novel. Walking simulators are not games because they lack challenge. A casual game like farmvile has more challenge than walking simulators. 2. it was promoted by people who hate gamers and who have no ethics. You are not one of them thankfully. One of the reviews by the New York Times says it's the greatest. Really? Doubt it. Oddly enough, the founder Steve Gaynor, wrote an article on the same site as you. Odd, but not anything too suspicious.
It feels like the "game" feminists like, not gamers. The story provided a homosexual couple that runs off from the military. Granted it has more story than Gen Zed, but I've seen better.
+Hunter “aka” Gman when did gamers and feminists become mutually exclusive? People do realize feminism isn't some club or social group or something like that right? It's a critical analysis of gender dynamics
Cameron Armstrong Music Feminism is an ideology. It is true that feminists can be gamers and vice versa, but it's not going to be common because it has censored games. GTA for example. Feminists have also infiltrated the games industry. Mighty no.9 is an example of this.
I do not like feminism because it slows progress. They have gotten people fired because they said something they didn't like.
Subbed. Another great reviewer I discovered. Keep up the good work sir
I understand why some people don't think about Gone Home as a good game for its "lack of gameplay and a failure state" etc, but anyone who says "the only reason people like it is because the story is about a lesbian" clearly hasn't played the game themselves or if they have, it just wasn't made for them. I mean, who are you people to tell why people like something?
I enjoy watching let's plays and I watched one about Gone Home, and it was obvious that the person playing really enjoyed playing the game, even before realizing that the characters were in love. And I enjoyed watching the videos, because I was interested in knowing what had happened in the family by finding new clues. At the same time, I didn't enjoy Dear Ester, because it lacked any kind of interaction or thinking and simply required the player to walk and listen.
Sure, games that have more gameplay, so to say, can tell stories just as well and even better, but when I think about how this particular story could have been done in any other kind of game, I feel like it wouldn't fit the style. The story of Gone Home is about ordinary people living pretty ordinary lives, having to deal with conflicts that a lot of ordinary people have. An action game wouldn't have been the right genre, not horror or fantasy. Maybe a platforming puzzle game could have done it with metaphors and stuff like that, kind of what Braid did, but even then I don't think it would have been the kind of genre this story required.
I think the main argument against the game is not so much "the only reason people like it is because the story is about a lesbian" but more of "the only reason this mediocre game received a flood of 10/10 reviews is because is has a lesbian and said reviewers were friends with the developer"
Bob Bobson LOL i hope there are people who stew over such dumb shit. LOL AMERICAAA
I've played it, it was bad.
I mean, its not like these guys are wrong. These are totally valid concepts, they just coined terribly cumbersome words for them.
I think the biggest problem people in the comment section have with this game is its surrounding controversity. I loathed this game with a passion when it came out, just because I was so sick of everything that surrounded it. I won't go into detail because everyone probably already knows what I'm talking about. This game is just synonimous with a group of people I absolutely can't stand, and that's why I hate this game so much.
I wouldn't say this game is objectively bad, I think it probably has a lot of merit for people who look for this kind of experience so it does have a right to exist the way it does (though maybe with a lower price tag, 20$ for 2 hours is a joke). I'm just sick of people calling this the "game of the year" or "an empowering emotional experience" because those words are so representative of a demographic that has "invaded" the videogame-industry rather recently, with which I strongly disagree for their reasons and methods, which everyone already knows about and therefore I don't really have to explain here.
KackBratz sad person. the game has nothing to do with your MRA crap. idiots.*
*(apologies, i've seen some really retarded comments before, but i might be confusing this comment for one of them, due to it's certain ambiguities, which i might not be versed in, concerning the Gamergate "fiasco". i've simply seen alot more comments bashing women from trolls, apparently, than having seen pertinent news about what exactly GG is about. so i apologize, my comment will forge hopefully a better understanding for me, on the subject; and i should probably quit Gamespot).
CynicalBastard MRA crap? How the hell does one possibly twist what he says to find a way to make it connected to MRAs in any way? Because looking at what he said rationally sure does not lead to that.
"I won't go into detail because everyone probably already knows what I'm talking about. This game is just synonymous with a group of people I absolutely can't stand, and that's why I hate this game so much...I'm just sick of people calling this the "game of the year" or "an empowering emotional experience" because those words are so representative of a demographic that has 'invaded' the videogame-industry rather recently"
^ you can't see it because he refuses to make mention of it.
he's calling for a game that has none of that stuff "everyone already knows he's talking about" because he's mad that a game such as one pertaining to a female lesbian protagonist after the events of Gamergate attracting the kind of people who'd rather see women getting harassed (and i'm not talking about Anna whatsherface) then see a dude get either fired and get bashed in the media, because he said some outlandish shit...yeah, both sides of that instigating factor are wrong for making a big deal about any of that shit, except when these things become real people doing real shady things that would have anyone question their legitimacy of their place in a professional company, when in THAT case, one side in this instigation has a much more vocal approach in their bashing of the other, while that other seems to be one to defend from the person whom was wrong. but now the definition is different for people whom might think so and so deserved to be bashed, or to be pigeon-holed, without any consequences in a professional environment. whether it's game development or game journalism; same difference. one are allowed to bash, while other HAS to defend. it's not fair, and there are alot of people rashly angered when their "side" is dragged into the mud.
that's why i'm saying all that shit has nothing to do with this game, unlike what Kackbrats has stated.
CynicalBastard That seemed more an attack on the group within the industry who where pushing people to buy the game and giving it 10/10 scores as well as unearned gaming awards purely to push an agenda, something which has come to light in the past year to be the result of agenda pushing collusion. Has nothing to do with MRAs, or even feminism, but with a specific group of people who have shown themselves to not be bound by ideology pushing the works of their friends for profit. The only reason you could interpret it as being MRA related is because of a media campaign by these very people, one which has failed within gaming because gamers know better.
well, luckily i have been out of the loop. what a load of bullshit. i've seen some really retarded comments directly positing the "Feminists Hating on Gamers" thing and having replies run the gamut of merely agreeing, to absolutely shitting on any opinions on the matter that do not concur with their views (though do with free speech, and even many times rationally make certain accusations).
my following the actual articles, trends, and so-on have been spotty at best. thanks for explaining to me where i should brush up. as i said, i've seen many ignorant comments before which have led me to my weariness of this topic, and people's bashing of gender's, which ever way that may go; and mostly FROM gamers do i see this. but that doesn't mean anything if i don't have the whole picture, so i apologize for my ignorance, as well (as my comment to Kacks).
i still don't see how this game was one of those games, but hey, i'm not aware of the push this game supposedly got, for all intents and purposes, to hype the game when it wasn't as good as was proclaimed. but how could anyone make that sort of judgement call anyway, unless some very prudent evidence presented itself that someone thought that the game sucked but said it was good anyway.
the Gamergate thing (and everything surrounding it, to paraphrase) has nothing good about it, and nothing i've seen good came from it's exposure either, save i guess on the face of it, it's exposure in and of itself...but waht did that do? like i said...i'm out of loop. been out of playing games for a couple years now, but i still keep up with what's being created,...though only on that, new games and such, and not the Gamergate or game industry news. i tend to stay out of that. so anyways, that's why i am really not versed in the whole escapade; just the anti-Feminist/MRA side of it (again from gamer's as i've said) which i think is ALL stupid. i think they're both just pushing agendas.
This game is all about story, but the story blows, so the game also blows.
Reading simulator.
***** you didn't have to even think about this game let alone comment on it.
@@CynicalBastard This Game isn't Corny? IT'S EXTREMELY CORNY AND VERY BORING!
@@CynicalBastard I DON'T care what Anyone Says BioShock Infinite is A Much better Game The same thing with Batman Arkham Origins People hate those Games God knows why
About The Wire. I never said that it's the only good form of storytelling, just that it's the kind of storytelling I expected.
In Heart of darkness, we hear Marlow's recollection(the protagonist in first person) while in Gone Home we hear the recollection of a character that's not present.
I was 17 when I played it, didn't get a thing, bored to death.
Glad I played it pirate lols
only thing i liked was exploring. felt like my childhood house at night but only like 4 times bigger.
Couple years late to this invitation to "come home," and like many, I got it for free via PS Plus. That being said, this was genuinely one of best narrative-based games I've played, ever. There's an old saying that you can't "go home again," and that's absolutely true in the world this game creates. Things have changed so much since you left and you feel like a guest in your own (new) home. The emotional heft of the title, the discoveries you make about your family members, and pure sense of exploration were, and I use this word cautiously, "immersive." While it leaves a few things unanswered (no spoilers), I'm glad to have it in my library. I'm also glad I'm not the only one who thought of the original Resident Evil while playing. Great review
This comment section makes me resent our species.
Takes about 3 hours I think if you take your time. No puzzles, just a realistic experience of looking for clues and learning about characters
Crazy to see to many dislikes. Gamer toxicity and homophobia at it's best.
I love that you were head banging while throwing pizza boxes around
It's an awful, awful 'game'... Look, I get it, reviewers want gaming to be considered legitimate art, and are striving for any game that will add to that legitimacy, but jumping on a poor, pretentious title and raving about it for this reason is to mislead the consumer and to lie to yourself.
I read your follow up, and it makes no difference. You're a guy who is trying to critique a work of art rather than a game, and failing at both, because a real work of art in gaming is something that gets everything right in terms of gameplay, graphics, story and atmosphere. They come as a package.
The reason Gone Home is being panned across the board by anybody not a hipster and with a functioning brain is because it gets none of these things right. You want a work of art in gaming? Look at Grim Fandango, with it's masterful storytelling, exquisite art and style and so on. Look at the musical score of Final Fantasy 7. Look at the simplicity yet depth of truly ambitious indie gaming titles like Papers, Please.
Gone Home doesn't hold a candle to these games. It doesn't even hold a candle to contemporaries like The Stanley Parable. As a reviewer, your job should have been calling attention to the shoddy depth of the title, the lacklustre art direction and forced narrative. Instead, you've probably helped fleece a few thousand people out of money for a bum of a 'game'. Well done.
Lee K it's contemporary's LOL. you naming off some old games with good stories means nothing. the game as a whole package accomplished all it set out to do. the graphics were there, the story was there, the atmosphere was there and the gameplay (interacting with your environment, or UI within the game) was there. you have no solid foundation for your hypothesis that the game is not a game, and well art is up for interpretation. sorry, you lose.
CynicalBastard Where exactly did I say it was not a game? It is a game - a bad one.
If all a game had to do in order to be good was 'accomplish all it set out to do', then basically by that criteria every game is a masterpiece. The devs of Big Rigs could easily have set out to make a game where you drive through buildings, glitch everywhere and make people laugh - 10/10 Polygon then I suppose!
If the developers of Gone Home set out to make a graphically standard, horribly written concept demo, then yes, they accomplished 'all they set out to do'. Good on them.
In the real world, games should be judged on what they actually ARE, instead of what they are meant to be in concept. This is why this review is pure diarrhoea, as it isn't reviewing the game itself; it's reviewing the idea behind the game.
your comparison is stupid as fuck. Big Rigs was broken. why do you people try so HARD to come up with reason's that are non-existent for this game not to be called a game. extreme butthurt methinks. and you put game in mini quote's and you were trying to stipulate that the game was like trying to be art or wahtever... not even. *facepalm*
Nice strawman.
A lot of these replies are pretty closeminded towards your point, so I kinda wanna clarify that I get what you're saying and even agree in some ways.
That being said, I have reservations about the line "They come as a package."
Gameplay and narrative do come as a package, you're right about that, but I'm not sure how that in particular applies to Gone Home. Gone Home is an interactive experience with gated progression. The game requires the player to think critically about items or messages they find in order to uncover the next section of the story *and* the game. That's gameplay, and crucially it's gameplay that enhances the story rather than detract from it.
Would the game be better if, instead of just solving light believable puzzles you instead had to walk up to a Witness style panel in the wall and play connect the dots? Or would the actual narrative be more interesting if there were weird monsters lurking the halls to distract from the intended experience, which is a love story.
A lot of games, such as Bioshock or Half-Life (primarily shooters there, sorry I mostly play fps's) require the player to ignore actual gameplay when they consider the plot. Its ludicrous that one guy can kill that many people, especially when they one guy isn't trained. Real people are pretty resilient, it turns out, especially they also have guns. Killing three or four of them, I'll buy it. Killing dozens through off-hand indirect ways like a big bomb, I'll buy it. Directly killing *hundreds* of them with your own hands and guns? Pretty absurd.
This works in plenty of games because you aren't really supposed to be thinking about it. More arcade-y experiences are generally not supposed to be taken literally. A big set-piece fight works experimentally and is meant to be felt rather than thought about, and when it is thought about it's thought about like a metaphor. A metaphor for vague "conflict" specifically. Gordon is a mass murderer who's actively sought out and killed hundreds of US Marines, as well as subreme alien forces. But it doesn't really feel like that because the marines and aliens are experientially just a metaphor for conflict. Gordon, in the way the player sees it, overcome tremendous odds and survived a massive conflict. The metaphor sticks with you, the actual events don't.
That system is problematic because eventually it gets to a point where the story in any given video game feature long stretches of vague experiential conflict followed by straightforward plot exposition. Big long level -- cutscene -- big long level -- cutscene. Often times the places you do the action in, and the reasons you do the action for are engaging, and on an experiential level the action itself is engaging, but I wouldn't call this a "package" of good stuff as much as two little bags of good stuff.
Games like Gone Home generally try to make the gameplay completely literal. It's meant to be believed that, in universe, the player analogue really actually did everything you did in the game, which to me is far more similar to a package. The gameplay is part of the plot and the plot of part of the gameplay, as opposed to two unrelated bits consisting of a metaphor followed by genuine plot-stuffs.
On the opposite end of this spectrum is something like Doom, which also expects you to assume the player analogue is literally doing everything you do. You're expected to believe the Doom slayer/guy is actually killing all these demons because him being absurdly powerful is part of the canon.
I never thought I'd compare Doom to a walking simulator but there you go.
You could argue that Doom has a more worthwhile video game tale to tell than Gone Home, but that's just a personal taste thing. I personally see no reason why you can't tell a love story in the form of a video game, and personally the Gone Home style is probably the best way to do it.
In the end you find the notebook "letters for Katie", this is where you "hear" the memoirs from.
This sucks really what are videogames turning into? fuck graphics i want GAMEplay where is the fucking freaking hell gameplay in this shit,it is like putting a photo into a dvd and calling it a movie.
It's the style of game, this game is not a representation of every game of this generation. It's just a little thing to occupy time. As well, sometimes photographs are put into DVD format, what's the point of even doing so? Hell if I know, but it's done, and it can display memories onto a screen with sound quite well.
how can i play if it inst even a game?
DemonZack666 but what makes this not a game?
But games make it so much better, everyone who reads a book or watches a film experiences the exact same thing, where as with a game like this each person notices different things along the way and can relate differently to the character they are controlling, with a film or book you don't have that to the same extent because it's though you're passively observing a situation.
And "what are games turning into?", ever played a classic point and click game? These games have been around since the 80s...
Yup. Welcome back!
I dont get it, 20 bucks for a 2 hour house simulator? I mean, honestly. even on sale its like $7 dollars right now. just the other day I bought System Shock 2 for $0.99, already have four hours into (out of what I would assume to be about 20 at the pace im going).
Honestly, gettting good games on STEAM is for cheap is easy as all hell, and they are asking $20 for this? a few years ago you would get shit like cave story, IJI, hero core, la-mulana, and the list goes on, for free. actual games, free.
personally, I would CONSIDER paying ten bucks. movies these days are around 2-3 hours for ten bucks, so fair enough. lower it to ten bucks and youll be on the bottom of my backlog.
Great game, great channel (love your try to plays and closeups of metal gear solid and zelda especially). This channel is so up there with extra credits as my favorite video game show. Any more of those out there with such high quality content?
Just finished the game. T'was pretty much the best presentation of environmental story telling, every object made sense. Unlike Dark Souls where if you pick up an item and suddenly you get lore.
I know you made this comment a month ago but I have to say I disagree wholeheartedly about the Dark Souls comment. Everything in that game is carefully placed and tells a story. You should have a look, the flavor text isn't the only lore the items tell =)
Balleet I know, but the item descriptions make no sense, I feel like its a lore dump rather than something natural. To me it would have been better if we were able enquire about the items at the peddler or the blacksmith and then the description elaborates.When everything else is crafted so meticulously even the tiniest of inconsistencies stand out.
The comments here are a dumpster fire when you come back to them a couple years later. The people insisting this wasn't a game are pretty delusional and I doubt any of them were old enough to remember when point and click adventure games were the most popular type of game.
I actually do appreciate mentioning the point and click adventure games... because I remember that I ultimately didn't get into them all that much when I was a kid and grew to not care for them at all once I became an adult. That's probably why I don't care for David Cage games or these types all that much either. They are "point and click" and sometimes mixed with some Simon Says.
For this game, well, I'll just go and watch a silent playthrough to experience the story.
give me a fucking break...
Actually the game can be completed in literally about one minute if you skip everything else. Only worth a couple of bucks even if it did last for two lousy hours.
Remember back in PS1 days 12 hours was considered very short? Games these days only last a couple of minutes, WTF!
You can do that with Super Mario Bros. 3. Something being able to be speed run makes it bad? Also, what PS1 era did you live it?
also, I'd like to know what universe you live in? Because 90% of AAA games made nowdays are like 100+hour boring collectathon open world games. And I'm looking at the "how long to beat" for various old big PS1 games an I'm getting stuff like 6 hours for Dino Crisis or Resident Evil. And the max you'd get for something that's not an RPG would be like 12 hours for something like Tony Hawk or Metal Gear Solid (which was 80% cutscenes). Hell, most arcadey games are like less than half and hour if you actually know what you're doing.
And even then, I'm not sure why you can't have games of different lengths, especially for games with smaller studios. Well it's not even a thing of price since the game constantly goes for free or pay what you want on various occasions.
To everyone who says that you need to have a low IQ, be lesbian, hate fun, hate games to enjoy Gone Home:
Did you even watch the video? Did you even try to understand what Super Bunnyhop was saying? If so, I don't get how you can make these negative judgments and insult people.
I absolutely appreciate that you don't score games in your reviews. The review itself is what's important!