Arriving at the doorsteps of your new home, Katie immediately finds herself in solitude as rain continuously pour on the surfaces of your intricately designed house. You have just arrived from traveling all around the world, visiting lovely places enjoying the foreign taste. As Katie, the player wanders around an crafty looking virtual house finding letters, reading notes, and so forth. While Gone Home may sound like your usual boring adventure game with a narrative existing to drive the game forward well, you'll be surprised. Gone Home may belong to one of those typical adventure titles but in no means does it share the same casual significance of the writing style and the sheer implications of the narrative.
The game takes place in 1995, a time period immediately defined by its abundance of rock music and the widespread of teen angst. Gone Home clearly expresses this notably all throughout your 2-hour session. Period-specific objects picked up and examined convey a very real connection to the time and space in which the game is currently set in. TV shows, cartoons, books and even video games are represented so specifically and detailed that the scavenging you primarily start yourself in becomes enthralling, enticing and very engaging. Real world references to what was once famous and rampant from actors, musicians, and figures help convince the player this world your currently involved in has been existing before; and you just happened to find yourself entangled in a real person's tragic situation.
The narrative is special. It is unique and brave, and very honest in its attempt to share a theme normally not tackled in the medium. As you scour every corner of a room, every cranny of a furniture fixture and every drawer content, a revelation will surely find itself into the eventually big story puzzle. A small hidden note, no matter how inconspicuous it mat be does well in fact, have something intricate to contribute to the perfectly written narrative. Sam's voice sounds fantastic. It is spot on gorgeous, and very believable. She audio logs herself into diaries waiting for you to uncover. And as you piece those tidbits together, you'll begin to see the wonder Gone Home has in its attempt of telling a different and bold tale of friendship, and redemption. As I've said, the voice acting, though minimal, is excellent. Listening to Sam whine and express herself is striking. Thanks to the very intimate script, Sam's thoughts as she passes through high school are very well communicated to the player, establishing a connection from the start and with its brief yet meaty length, fully satisfies to the end.
It's best approached as a storytelling device this one. As a game it doesn't offer much. But when everything comes together from the minimalist mechanics to its well written script, you'll begin to appreciate Gone Home and its unique perspective. It is crafty, ingenious and emotional. And it gives enough reason to never let Gone Home slide by. After you've seen the credits roll, Gone Home will definitely leave something behind.