![]() ![]() By the end of the game I felt more connected to the characters than I have in any titles in recent memory, without the use of more traditional storytelling mechanics. ![]() I won't spoil any details, but as the story develops it begins to take on some mature themes that are rarely discussed in games, and the material is handled incredibly well. You'll find notes and letters that help you to understand the family's personalities and relationships, all of which are extremely well-written. That's not to say that the characters in Gone Home aren't just as fully-formed as the setting. Audio diaries and visual clues in past games have often come across as contrived (who has time to write "HELP" in their own blood?), and while Gone Home isn't completely perfect in making every detail feel natural, it's far better than what we've seen before. The Greenbriar family home is filled with countless details like these, and while they might seem insignificant on their own, when taken as a whole they provide a deeply personal insight into the lives of the people who live there.Įnvironmental storytelling is a mechanic that has been used before in games such as Dead Space and BioShock (the team at The Fullbright Company previously worked on BioShock 2, and most closely on its DLC, 'Minerva's Den', which was arguably better than the base game) but the difference here is the way it's handled. As with any family home, every possession has a history the cheap but charming trinket that got picked up on holiday, the story written by your sister in second grade, your high school athletics trophies. The main character in Gone Home isn't Kaitlin, nor 17-year-old Sam who is the focus of the narrative, the star of the show here is the house itself. The rest of the game is spent exploring the eerie house in an attempt to figure out exactly what happened. With a vague message from younger sister Sam and no sign of mum and dad, it's clear something is amiss. Set during a stormy night in 1995, Gone Home sees you playing as Kaitlin Greenbriar, and after a year of backpacking through Europe you return to find your family home is empty. But this is exactly what has been achieved by The Fullbright Company with their debut title Gone Home. Arguably the only storytelling innovations to come about in recent years are Bastion's dynamic narration and The Walking Dead's decision-heavy branching storyline. It's not often that a game comes along and redefines the way stories can be told in our beloved medium. Reviews // 30th Aug 2013 - 9 years ago // By Matt Girdler Gone Home Review ![]()
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