Note: This CONTAINS SPOILERS
More book or film than game….and that's not a compliment
I am at odds with this game. I went into this, not knowing what it was about really. On the one hand, it challenged my gaming expectations, the conventions in games that I have become accustomed to. It led me to believe something horrific would occur at one moment or another and sent chills down my spine as I expected a physical oppossing force to stand in my way. On the other hand, if I'm to be honest, I feel this would be more suited to the medium of cinema than videogames. The player assumes the role of a young woman, named Kate, and the game begins in darkness as you hear her leave a voicemail for her parents, informing them she will be home soon, having been away for sometime abroad. Upon arrival, the house is empty and you, the player, are left to explore the house in a bid to figure out what happened everyone. Despite implying itself to be a mystery game with possible supernatural elements (many books on poltergeists and ghosts can be found in the house) it turns out to be (MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) a coming-of-age tale about the main character's (the player's) sister, Sam, who discovers her lesbian sexuality. I found it's story somewhat pretentious and cheesy at times, feeling contrived and almost adolescent in it's attempts to tell a "deep" story. Once the finale reveals all, I had mixed feelings. I felt somewhat relieved, knowing that Sam (the main character's sister) was alive, despite never meeting her in the game (we learn of what happened her through letters and audio journals found throughout the house). I felt slighlty frustrated realising that the implied JFK time-travel angle was nothing more than a struggling writer's ideas (who also happens to be your father) and that the paronormal element would never be explored despite supernatural occurences being firmly implied and their aftermath shown in parts of the game.
This is a game that felt far too passive to be considered a videogame and what I find worse still, is how everything you investigate throughout the 2 hour experience is all retrospective, there is never an impactful action by your character. That is to say, you never ever have any bearing on the story, as you are merely discovering what has already transpired. I felt relieved that this was not a horror game. I was intrigued with how it toyed with what I, as a gamer, am used to experiencing and expecting (generally negative things, like bad guy will show up or a ghost will attack etc.) but somewhat frustrated by it's pretention, trying to be a game deeper than a game.
If you want a deep story, play a "Metal Gear Solid", "Red Dead Redemption", "Heavy Rain" or "The Last of Us". If you want a far more fun "game" that pokes holes at gaming conventions and points out how gamers think etc., go play "The Stanley Parable" which uses humour rather than pretentious misdirection to show just how predictable gamers expectations can be. This is an interactive story-telling experience and may be considered art (art being subjective) but it is not a video game (an objective term that has a clear definition)