Gone Home

[fistfulofmetal]

Hopefully there will be a few people here playing this today. It goes on sale in about 2 hours. ON SALE NOW http://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/

For those that don't know, here's the synopsis:

June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM

You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.

Gone Home is an interactive exploration simulator. Interrogate every detail of a seemingly normal house to discover the story of the people who live there. Open any drawer and door. Pick up objects and examine them to discover clues. Uncover the events of one family's lives by investigating what they've left behind.

Go Home Again.

So yeah, indie pretentious bullshit game with barely any gameplay and its only like 2 hours long.

AKA potential GOTY!!~


In the meantime, watch this Giantbomb Quicklook:

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-gone-home/2300-7813/

Or don't. I didn't watch it because I don't want to be spoiled.

Totes gonna play. Here's a thread to talk about it when it comes out!

[brob]

Interested in this, for no particular reason really. Haven't read anything about except for tweets from all the bros saying it's cool n whatevr. I like artsy fartsy stuff and if it's only a couple of hours it can't be too bad.

[Joe Molotov]

I got $10 in card monies, so if it's $10 I might get it.

[fistfulofmetal]

Patrick from GB gave it a 5/5

http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/gone-home-review/1900-591/

It's also on sale now:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/

[Joe Molotov]

Gotta sell some more cards.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Our writeup is up! http://www.thegia.com/2013/08/15/gone-home-quiet-grrrl/

[Joe Molotov]

Our writeup is up! http://www.thegia.com/2013/08/15/gone-home-quiet-grrrl/

There's no score at the bottom, so I can't tell if it's positive or not.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Our writeup is up! http://www.thegia.com/2013/08/15/gone-home-quiet-grrrl/

There's no score at the bottom, so I can't tell if it's positive or not.

DO I LOOK LIKE I SAID "REVIEW"?

[Steve Contra]

So a 7?  Pass.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Seems a bit steep at 17 euro

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Then wait for it to price drop, dummy. IT'S AN INDIE GAME HUR DUR.

[cool breeze]

Debating whether or not I should get this.  Was interested for a while, but $20 is steep for a sad em up and these positive reviews are off-putting.

[Tucah]

I'm kind of interested, but certainly not for $20. Will jump for $5 or less during a Steam. sale.

[fistfulofmetal]

I'll keep my impressions short since this is something you really need to experience yourself.

Gone Home is pretty special. It delivers an incredibly simple but affective narrative that explores the feelings of growing up in the early 90's. When all is said and done there's a chance you may have already or will begin to choke up a bit. It's a bitter sweet story that probably works better if you actually grew up during the time referenced in the story, but even if you grew up around that time (like me) it still works.

I may go back in to explore around more as there's a few things that I didn't *find*.

[fistfulofmetal]

Every year there's at least one or two games that tend to get praised to high heaven for being different or having an amazing story and people eventually backlash against it because of how many people gush over it.

I try never to allow myself to get sucked into too much hype and even when I do, I want to separate my perspective of the product from outside opinions.

Luckily with this game I was able to experience it before most of the gushing has started. And There will definitely be gushing. It'll go on top 10 lists, people will make threads calling it a masterpiece, etc etc. That will sour a lot of people on the product and that's a real shame.

At no point do I get the impression this game is trying to make a point necessarily. The guys behind this must have really wanted to make something like this... so they did. They're very good and building a setting, filling it with realistic window dressing, and attaching narrative to the objects within.

In a way, Gone Home is basically "Lost Tapes" the game. If you're favorite part of games like Dead Space, Bioshock, etc are finding the recordings and listening to people talk about stuff that happened prior to you being there, Gone Home is for you. It does that concept incredibly well.

I can understand not wanting to grab this for 20. It's kind of pricey. 15 would have been a better price. However if you're interested in the game, I urge you to play this. Play this before the hivemind builds too strong and people start talking about the various story elements and then the backlash begins.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

yeah, the backlash is gonna be awwwwwwwful

which is too bad, Fullbright Company is 4 (!) people. this is a small, personal game from a small, personal team

hopefully it's a perennial seller at $5/10 at least

[pilonv1]

In a way, Gone Home is basically "Lost Tapes" the game. If you're favorite part of games like Dead Space, Bioshock, etc are finding the recordings and listening to people talk about stuff that happened prior to you being there, Gone Home is for you. It does that concept incredibly well.

Sounds like something I'd be interested in, but not for $20.

[cool breeze]

yeah, the backlash is gonna be awwwwwwwful

which is too bad, Fullbright Company is 4 (!) people. this is a small, personal game from a small, personal team

hopefully it's a perennial seller at $5/10 at least

as lame as it sounds, supporting the team is a major reason why I'm considering it at this price.  I know some are vets from Minerva's Den, which is one of the better and best parts of the three Bioshock games. 

but it also makes some reviews and impressions untrustworthy.  If only someone opened with "Sword and Sworcery is abhorrent" or something to have a baseline going forward.

[fistfulofmetal]

There really isn't much else that can be said if 20 bucks it too much for you or you're still skeptical.

I really enjoyed it. I felt the story to be very sincere and was told really well. To me that was worth the price of admission.

As I said if you're interested, I would strongly recommend playing it sooner than later. You will enjoy it much more.

[brob]

Campster/Errant Signal was given a press copy and posted a video about earlier. No spoilers, but he does suggest people play the game before watching the video.

[fistfulofmetal]

Those were a lot of really good thoughts on the game in the grand scheme of things.

[fistfulofmetal]

http://mkopas.net/2013/08/on-gone-home/

A pretty good write up of thoughts of the game.

This line at the end is surprisingly relatable:

it’s not the 90s, I’m not a teenage girl, and neither of those things is ever, ever going to change.

It's a weird reaction to have to such a story. One that I can totally relate to.

[cool breeze]

I went through it the other night.  The long and the short of it is that I don't think the game had the follow-through it needed.  It might be an uncanny valley like effect of how right and how wrong it felt.  I'm also not going into the story much here--overall I really enjoyed the game.  I guess my problems had more to do with the form, which beyond this game I'd love to see other developers attempt.  Gone Home felt like a half-step in the right direction.  And this all could be exactly what the developers wanted to make.  What do I know.

anyway, what bothered me were the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

combinations and how you'd find them.  You just...find them.  One is a game reference in big numbers on a folder, one is split in half and hid in two secret compartments (why), and the other is just on the floor.  Considering how much time you spend reading about these people (Terry, Sam, and Oscar) there could've been a clever setup for the player to deduce the combination on their own.  Maybe they didn't want the player to get stuck from experiencing the story or something.

The other is how drip fed the story and house are to the player/Katie.  It feels like a haunted house or theme park attraction rather than a house where people lived.  Everything leads to (double spoiler )

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the attic but to get here you run all around the house to find a key to unlock a door to find a combination to unlock a locker to find a hidden passage etc etc.  When you get to the attic you learn that Sam wanted you to reach the attic in the first place.

[close]

[close]

On the story itself, it's a little on the nose.  Don't have much criticism and don't want to spoil what's there.
 
and the detail on some of the world is amazing.  You can pick up a jar of peanut butter and read how much fat it contains by turning it around.  Back to the uncanny valley thing, it's the hyper detail of the environment contrasting with how artificially it's presented that gets me.

[Positive Touch]

i enjoyed it, but i was a teen into punk rock in the early 90s so i had +1000 nostalgia points playing this

[Joe Molotov]

This game. This game...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

...is grrrrl power as fuck! Down with the patriarchy!

[close]

[Positive Touch]

big spoilers on putting together something you might have missed:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better

[close]

[fistfulofmetal]

That's pretty cool. I wanted to go back and figure out more about the Oscar stuff. But I don't think I will since the idea of *going back in* to this game seems weird to me. I like to leave it as it is.

[Positive Touch]

i just load up my finished save to poke around and see what stuff i missed the first time. there's A LOT of detail packed into every room.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

That's pretty cool. I wanted to go back and figure out more about the Oscar stuff. But I don't think I will since the idea of *going back in* to this game seems weird to me. I like to leave it as it is.

I guess it's true what they say: you can't Gone Home again.

[Stoney Mason]

Played it. It's okay. I mean its like a nice little short story or something. I'm not sure if its any better of an experience than reading a normal short story or little novella but whatever. Its interesting they decided to make the experience on this platform.

I don't know that this is a "game" so discussing it on those terms seems fairly pointless. I don't even think giving it a review score is that appropriate outside of the story. It's more like a visual novel. Which is fine.

I think $20 is probably way too much for that experience but people are different.

[Positive Touch]

Its interesting they decided to make the experience on this platform.

I don't know that this is a "game" so discussing it on those terms seems fairly pointless.

well yeah who cares if you can judge it by criteria we use to evaluate the action games we usually play. it coulda been told in a written story, but instead they made a 3d map and told it with interactive seek-and-find mechanics that other games use. its works great for what it wants to do - tell the story. i like it.

[Stoney Mason]

Its interesting they decided to make the experience on this platform.

I don't know that this is a "game" so discussing it on those terms seems fairly pointless.

well yeah who cares if you can judge it by criteria we use to evaluate the action games we usually play. it coulda been told in a written story, but instead they made a 3d map and told it with interactive seek-and-find mechanics that other games use. its works great for what it wants to do - tell the story. i like it.

I personally don't care. Some people do though as it is often gets brought up in threads for games that are more game than this one so I mentioned it. Walking Dead is basically a visual novel and it was my game of the year last year.

I didn't especially care for this experience at that level but that's where personal opinion comes in. I think its a fine little thing. I wasn't blown away by it. It's a nice little time waster I felt. I don't think it was the amazing experience vibe I'm getting from most of you guys but I didn't hate it or anything. I like it about as much as an ios game awhile back called The Room. While that was more a straight puzzle game, the vibe and exploration bit gave me essentially the same feeling.

[fistfulofmetal]

The narration itself is a fine way to tell a story but it's the combination of the narration plus the setting plus the situation in which you receive the narration that makes it all work.

[Positive Touch]

I personally don't care. Some people do though as it is often gets brought up in threads for games that are more game than this one so I mentioned it. Walking Dead is basically a visual novel and it was my game of the year last year.

I didn't especially care for this experience at that level but that's where personal opinion comes in. I think its a fine little thing. I wasn't blown away by it. It's a nice little time waster I felt. I don't think it was the amazing experience vibe I'm getting from most of you guys but I didn't hate it or anything. I like it about as much as an ios game awhile back called The Room. While that was more a straight puzzle game, the vibe and exploration bit gave me essentially the same feeling.

right, when the game is all about the story then it just comes down to our preferences in stories. like i said before this one happened to hit close to home so i ended up liking it a lot.

[fistfulofmetal]

Himu or Raban should hurry up and play this. We need a woman's perspective on this and they're about as close as we're gonna get.

[Joe Molotov]

big spoilers on putting together something you might have missed:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better

[close]

Good read. I had pieced together most of that, but I hadn't quite put it all together. I either missed or glossed over a few things.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I knew that Oscar and Terry were close at one point because of the height markers on the basement, implying that Terry used to stay with Oscar often as a kid. And obviously Oscar was leaving the house to Terry. And it was clear that they'd had a falling-out at some point (the torn up letter). But I hadn't picked up on the importance of 1963 and the wanting to go back and put things right. I knew something happened with Oscar and that he became withdrawn and sold his pharmacy, but I missed the part about the "transgression". In the end, I spent too much time thinking about Terry and his dad and "YOU CAN DO BETTER" and the torn portrait in the basement.

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

anyway, what bothered me were the combinations and how you'd find them.

For better or worse, that was an intentional design choice. Reading their website, they talked about how the game would have no puzzles because they didn't want there to be anything from stopping you from progressing.

[fistfulofmetal]

Even after reading the blog about the Oscar/Terry story I'm still not sure about

spoiler (click to show/hide)

why the house is called "the psycho house"? Unless everyone knows about Terry getting abused? Or maybe since Oscar became a recluse everyone thought he was crazy... or something. I guess that's it./

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Or maybe since Oscar became a recluse everyone thought he was crazy... or something. I guess that's it./

[close]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's kinda like in movies where you have the crazy-old, shut-in lady that all the kids think is a witch.