Gone Home
Release Date: August 15, 2013
Adventure, FPP, puzzle elements, indie games, experimental/artistic, exploration games, games for impact, singleplayer
Steam
An original exploration adventure drama with first-person perspective. Gone Home is a debut project of an indie developer The Fullbright Company, whose members previously worked on a successful DLC for BioShock 2, Minerva’s Den. Gone Home is set in the United States of 1990s. You play as a young woman named Katy, who returns home after spending a year away in Europe. When she gets home, instead of her family she is welcomed by an empty house.
Gone Home is an original exploration adventure drama game released for PC, PS4 and XONE. This is a debut project of The Fullbright Company, studio founded by industry veterans. Among their previous achievements there is Minerva’s Den DLC for BioShock 2. That add-on received great reviews – many of which said it was better even than the original game.
Plot
What makes Gone Home stand out from the crowd is its original narrative. In contrast to current trends, the game does not tell a blood-chilling story, instead focusing on problems of a typical American family. The game is set in the 1990’s and you play as 21-year-old Katy, who goes back home after spending a year in Europe. To her surprise, there is no one at home – her mather, father and sister have all vanished without a trace. While the game preserves slightly disturbing atmosphere (it’s night and it’s raining), the protagonist has to explore room after room searching for documents, notes, and recordings. Piece by piece they reveal the story of the house and help find the answer for the question: what actually happened to its inhabitant?
Mechanics
Gone Home PC, PS4 and XONE is hard to be categorised either as an adventure game or horror. Gameplay is based entirely on exploration and searching for traces of the protagonist’s missing family. You gain that knowledge by interacting with items you find, wchich can all be picked up, examined, and then dropped. There are no ghosts or action sequences in the game, and logic puzzles are at the minimum. All this makes you feel like taking part in a typical drama movie about common problems of an American family.
Technical aspects
Gone Home PC, PS4 and XONE is based on the popular Unity Engine reinforced by an advanced physics engine, but the graphics is of average quality at best. This is because the developer, having limited financial resources, focused not on spectacular visuals, but on narrative, therefore offering a one of its kind game, which is hard to categorize.
Last updated on August 14, 2015
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Videos and Screens
[1:01] Gone Home console version trailer #2
[1:51] Gone Home console version trailer
GAMERS Score
Average score from 962 votes. 21 players anticipated the game.
Gone Home Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows August 15, 2013
Switch September 6, 2018
PlayStation 4 January 12, 2016
Xbox One January 12, 2016
Developer: The Fullbright Company
Publisher: The Fullbright Company
Gone Home for Free in Humble Trove
The Humble Store now offers the PC version of Gone Home, an exploratory adventure game created by the independent studio The Fullbright Company, for free.
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Bart Swiatek
April 27, 2019