Chade on 31/12/2013 at 12:26

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I played this game through for the first time over the last two nights. I thought it was very fun for something different, and very interesting as a signpost of where a possible new genre might open up.

I would love to hear impressions on the game from IF fans. I'm sure there are games in that genre that solely focus on telling a story. How does this stack up? Is this something that the gaming industry is doomed to go through multiple times: taking iconic control schemes and ways of representing worlds and creating games where everything is stripped out except the story? I can't help but feel that there is a potentially large mainstream genre waiting to be tapped here: but probably not with a control scheme and world representation taken directly from an unrelated genre.

The game itself was two experiences in one. You had the linear spoonfed story dealing with the main thrust of Sam's story, and then you had the stories littered throughout the environment, with varying degrees of subtlety.

I can't resist comparing the spoonfed part of Sam's story unfavourably to To The Moon. Sam's main storyline was mostly noticeable because games don't generally go there. It was pretty straightforward and proceeded more or less in a straight line from beginning to end. It was told with a lot of heart, and felt very realistic, but at the end of the day I thought that it was just a too undramtic to carry the story. (To The Moon, on the other hand, takes the opposite approach, and does so extremely effectively.) Both games show that you can take a narrative and put a lot of busy work between the player and the end of that narrative, and actually use that busy work in a constructive way to make the player feel more commited and interested in the payoff at the end of the story.

The environmental storytelling was really great. In my opinion that was where the biggest emotional punches lay. I think I was pretty thorough and figured out most of the major themes, but I'm sure there's lots of subtle connections that I have no idea about. I'm pretty sure I missed some sort of significance to Sam and Lonnie's supernatural games. I look forward to reading other people's interpretations of all the details in the game.

Twist on 31/12/2013 at 16:57

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Well -- besides pedantically pointing out that a different team under the same roof is making Thief 4, so not the same fellas -- did DXHR really incorporate something as subtle and over-arching as the dark secret involving Uncle Oscar -> Terrence, and Sam's response to it? I guess I'm skeptical, but I haven't played more than a third of the way through DXHR and I haven't heard any of the commentary.



The house's main, dark secret, and how it affected its inhabitants, seems to go largely unnoticed. This spoiler-laden article does a good job outlining most (but not all) of it: (http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better) The Transgression: You Can Do Better Look in the comments for a screenshot of an important letter most people don't find.

Also, the article's author doesn't directly mention how the transgression relates to the exorcism... but his last sentence might be a hint.

Twist on 31/12/2013 at 20:34

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Oh sure -- and plenty of games do that kind of environmental storytelling well, including the LGS games, Dishonored and even BioShock. But that's not what I mean, and it's not what sets Gone Home apart.

Gone Home provides environmental details that you, the player, need to find and connect in subtle, complex ways to determine what happened and to understand the story of the house. It's not telling you a back-story with stuff you find in the environment; it's providing the possibility for you to dig into the most mundane details and really think about how you can connect them. Things like connecting the measurements on the basement wall to the date targeted in Terri's novels, to the horrifying toy train in a dark recess of the basement, to the exorcism performed by Sam and Lonnie. It doesn't tell you any of this at all, and it doesn't even ask you to see it. You find different details in completely different locations in the house, and the game let's you assemble them to piece it all together... if you want, and if you can.

I've seen plenty of games provide rich back story through environmental detail, but that's not what I'm highlighting in Gone Home. The subtle, complex archaeological story-showing (rather than storytelling) and investigative puzzle-solving isn't something I've seen anywhere else.

(I don't mean to go on and on about this game. It's not like I think it's the greatest game ever made or anything.)

Muzman on 1/1/2014 at 11:52

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Gaynor apparently got the idea for the whole game from that level in NOLF 2 where you dig through the would be Agent Goodman's empty home in Oklahoma while a tornado bears down on it. (Which is just one of the rather great uses of emptiness in that game ). People can hear a little about that over here (https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/craig-hubbard)

I don't think that "other games have used mise en scene to provide backstory before" is a particularly substantial criticism though. Or the story's relative simplicity. It's a reason jaded gamers might not like it, but that's not the same thing.

Yakoob on 2/1/2014 at 08:35

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Well, there I just finished it today. Overall, very good, very good indeed. One of the best examples of interactive, environmental and exploratory storytelling. Also very believable, the ending reminded me of my own high school crushes and "first loves". Though, frankly, I cared more about the Parent's stories than Sams - the endlessly unfulfilled and self-doubting writer/artist resonated with me a lot, and the fall of the marriage, while predictable, was unfolded in an interesting way..

Nonetheless I must echo the criticism that the story could have been a bit better and that the game is a bit too short for asking price. Glad I got it at a big discount during the sales.