The story starts with a young college graduate named Kaitlin who goes to her parent's and sister's new home after trekking across Europe. She arrives in the middle of the night to a letter on the front of the door from her sister Sam who has mysteriously vanished. She also quickly discovers her parents are missing as well. She now has to explore this dark huge home in the middle of the night with a raging storm outside all by herself. This may sound like the start of a horror game, but it's quite the opposite.

It's actually a really beautiful story about two young girls in high school that fall in love, and the hardships of dealing with their relationship amongst society. The story is told through commentary by Sam as Kaitlin finds notes and objects in the house as she searches for answers about her missing family.

The environmental story telling is done extremely well in this game. It has a lot of nice little touches like movie posters, VSH tapes that have actual movie titles, hand drawn comics by Sam, writing inside a case of cassette tape by Lottie to Sam, etc. The devs went out of their way to make the home feel lived in and real. Even though many of the objects in the home are mostly interesting, a lot of the notes were really boring. I had to force myself to read a lot of them and others I just plain skipped. No offense to the developers, but how could an electric bill be that riveting??? The hand written notes or letters that you find when exploring the house added a lot of personality, but there were several times where I couldn't make out the writing because the handwriting was so illegible. Needless to say it added to some frustration.

Even though most of the story revolves around Sam and Lottie, there are also story elements for the parents. I actually found the father's story line to be really interesting, but the mother's...not so much. I didn't really find her to be boring per say, just not that interesting. The most boring character award goes to Kaitlin herself. The only time you ever hear her speak is a voice recording on the family's answering machine in the opening of the game. Kaitlin feels so lifeless , she adds no opinions or thoughts on anything she discovers or finds. There's no pictures or anything really showing the player about Kaitlin and Sam's relationship outside of Sam's journal entries to Kaitlin throughout the game. All you know is that they get along and seem close, but there's nothing that shows or explains why or how that is. The sad truth is that Kaitlin is nothing more than avatar for the player to explore the house, rather than an interesting character in her own regard.

Usually this is the part where I'd talk about the gameplay, but seeing as this is pretty much your run of the mill walking simulator there's not really much to say. The game consists of the player walking from room to room, opening doors, turning on lights, finding a key or combo for a lock, examining objects and reading notes. That's it...hell, you can't even make Kaitlin run. The game does offer certain features like starting the games with all the doors unlocked so you can explore the house however you want or start with having all the lights on if you're afraid of the dark.

The gameplay is not engaging in the slightest, if it weren't for the story this game wouldn't be worth playing at all. There are no dialog options, no multiple endings, and no mini games. This game offers no replayability and is extremely short in play time especially if you've already played prior. There is even a trophy/achievement for finishing the game under a minute. I guess you could go around the house and throw random objects if that sounds fun to you.

I consider myself pretty opened minded when it comes to experiencing new types of gameplay, but I'll be honest here...this is not a video game. I'm not saying this because it's a walking simulator. I'm saying this because this game does nothing creative about how it tells it's story like What Remains of Edith Finch which a perfect example of a walking simulator done right.

Yes, the story is very emotional, heart wrenching, and really relatable for the LGBTQ community. However, I want to play through the eyes of Sam and experience all the things she talked about in the game. I want to feel the emotions up close so it feels tangible instead of just listening through Kaitlin like a walkie talkie. A really great example would have been flashback segments where in the present you play as Kaitlin exploring the house and finding clues and through those clues you play as Sam in the past showing the player how the events came to be in a much more creative and engaging experience, but that's just not what we got.

Overall:

I found the story to be very emotional and it left me in tears at the end, but the gameplay was so painfully underwhelming. The mechanics in the game are so simplistic and unimaginative to the point it's almost insulting. There are so many missed opportunities in this game that it kind of makes me sad.

Pros:
+Great story
+really nice environmental details

Cons:
-really boring gameplay
-too short
-no replayability

Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked. 'Walking simulators' tend not to be a style of game that my preferences lean towards, but Gone Home is definitely up there as one of the best examples of the genre. Fullbright have done a great job of capturing the atmosphere of the empty house and the story is well-told, making you want to explore and discover as much of it as you can. The sense of immersion might have been greater if there was more interactivity, but the game remains an enjoyable experience while not outstaying its welcome given its short length.

Enjoyment - 6/10
Difficulty - 1/10

Nice small narrative story. Overall, a solid experience.
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