mikemariano

Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

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It's hard to objectively evaluate something when you have such a strong emotional connection to it. It's like trying to find flaws in the people you love.

That being said, I don't believe in traditional 'reviews'. I spent a little time writing for a site where they continually 'suggested' I write more qualitative reviews. I prefer to just outline my experience and discuss who I think would share that experience, or where differences in opinion could arise.

 

That being said, I fucking loved this game.

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 Overall, Grand Theft Auto is a game.

 

Absolutely brilliant review.

 

You've won me over good sir, fair point.

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I enjoy the fact that Chris' soundtrack is officially referred to as GH:OST.

 

I wonder how long into the creation of the OST he realized that GH:OST was a possibility :P

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Once again, Galactic Cafe improving the game industry for everyone.

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I love this game and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it. really want to play it again at some point. I hope other devs cotton on to how important this game is in terms of gameplay, and I could imagine exploratory games like this being used in schools

 

you're much more likely to internalise something if you learn it through interactivity and engagement rather than just being told the thing, and Gone Home is about as interactive as it gets (the complete opposite of not being a game. one of the Most Games i've played). this kind of gameplay would be ideal for learning about a historical environment for example, like medieval Great Britain. imagine a fully modelled (small) british medieval neighbourhood with houses etc. where you can explore and interact with the environment. there's notes and letters or items dotted around for you to check out with text overlays that have short summaries about what they are. obviously the further back in history you go the harder it would be to integrate the learning aspect, like in Gone Home audio logs were an acceptable storytelling mechanic

 

I'll be sad if I don't see more games like this come about. fortunately Gone Home was successful. really excited to see what the fullbright company does next, first person exploration or not

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It'd be hard to 'review' this game having such a relation to the story, but I absolutely loved my time with it. Thanks guys, for the recommendation, and thanks to Fullbright for the experience ^.^

 

One of the brilliant things about GH is how encompassing it is in its ability to draw in the player.  There are enough themes that most people could latch onto one of the hooks, and be drawn along for the ride. 

For me it was how each member of the family was growing isolated from one another, for different reasons. That actually had a lot of similarities to my family when I was in high school for some similar, and some very different, reasons.

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I can pinpoint the exact moment Chris realized it

 

https://twitter.com/chrisremo/status/376584336331403264

 

This was exactly what I was hoping it would be ^.^

 

 

One of the brilliant things about GH is how encompassing it is in its ability to draw in the player.  There are enough themes that most people could latch onto one of the hooks, and be drawn along for the ride. 

For me it was how each member of the family was growing isolated from one another, for different reasons. That actually had a lot of similarities to my family when I was in high school for some similar, and some very different, reasons.

 

Oddly enough I had (and currently have) a similar relationship with my family. But I guess with one theme being so standout I naturally gravitated towards it.

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I spent Thanksgiving break with some new friends of a girl I am dating. Among these people included a gay professor of queer film studies, a transgendered queer culture theorist, and a lesbian zinester/comic artist who lives in Portland (I hope that by listing this it's understood that they're much more than just those labels! It just helps to set up this discussion I had). Last night, while playing cards, I (a straight, nerdy, white male) brought up Gone Home.

 

Initially, their response was a little suspicious, and I 100% understand. The popular opinion of video games tends to be that they're primarily made for a very specific audience, and as a result people would probably not describe the average video game as "inclusive." (This turns out not to be the case, and I'm glad that Idle Thumbs has done a good job to demonstrate the breadth of people involved in the industry!) So, I discussed Fullbright, and the tone of the game, trying to explain how video games are really coming into their own as an important new medium for art and storytelling. It's strange to me to think about how so many people focus on the "game" aspects of the term "video games," so my introduction of Gone Home mostly focused on it being mostly like a very personal, interactive fiction. 

 

While it would have been weird to pull out my laptop and play a little, I did describe a fair bit of how the game worked, and how the story was told. There was some resistance regarding the game as a possible way for straight males to engage in "lesbian voyeurism," but I was quick to point out one of my favorite moments, where Kaitlin starts to read some more of Samantha's racy writing, but stops quickly, and then doesn't let the player read any more. I think one of the great successes of the game is the fact that you hardly ever feel like you're "intruding" on Sam's thoughts in any way ("voyeuristic"), thanks to the measured, and subtle approach. 

 

So, overall, I really am glad that a video game could provide for a fantastic, inclusive conversation. I'm excited for the success of this game, and any game that takes chances and pushes back against boring standard video gamey tropes, and exposes people to new thoughts, and new experiences. What a cool world we live in. 

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I would argue that the game is a way for straight males to engage in "lesbian voyeurism", but I don't see how that would devalue the game. If Gone Home presented Sam and Lonnie as some stereotype that our society actively pigeon-holes lesbians, and that creates obstacles for them, then I would see a problem with it. But chronologically discovering the blossoming romance of a couple that happens to consist of two girls, and doing so from a voyeuristic perspective is not damning.

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XFWQrZa.png

 

Hah.

 

Anyway, I really love Gone Home. And I'm actually surprised that there aren't that many reviews that go into sexist/homophobic shit (but believe me, that shit is there). But there are a lot that go on about how the game is "cliche" and "sappy" and how the "hipster game critics" are praising this game.

 

Ugh.

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English has failed us. What does sappy or cliche even mean? Romance that isn't a sexual transaction? I guess everyone learned interpersonal relationship management from Dragon Age.

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English has failed us. What does sappy or cliche even mean? Romance that isn't a sexual transaction? I guess everyone learned interpersonal relationship management from Dragon Age.

 

I'm actually trying to wrap my mind around what anyone could mean by calling Gone Home "cliche." I'm pretty sure it's "sappy" because feelings are talked about rather than conveyed through sex, but cliche? Maybe they just mean that it's cliche because the couple doesn't end up torn apart by some artificial tragedy?

 

I'm thinking about this way too much.

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Well, it's basically every teenage romance novel ever. In that sense it's sort of cliche.

 

Well, the broad strokes are, like any story, but if we're going down that road, no game (and almost no other piece of media) is going to be sitting pretty. I feel like I just don't get people.

 

"It's a love story, about someone falling in love. Ugh, how cliche!"

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Over at Backloggery I can see some of my friends that got it on sale having the "Um, where are the ghosts?" reactions, I didn't want to tell them the real story because that's how I played it and that's why I enjoyed it...

 

At first I thought it might be a horror story, but soon a thought it was just a mystery, as I was getting closer to the truth, all I cared was knowing what the truth was and it was worth it for me. :|

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This "no ghost" complaint has to be coming from Idle Thumbs fans. Especially considering that there is totally a ghost in the game.

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Well, the broad strokes are, like any story, but if we're going down that road, no game (and almost no other piece of media) is going to be sitting pretty. I feel like I just don't get people.

 

"It's a love story, about someone falling in love. Ugh, how cliche!"

Not every love story is a cliche love story where the two teens tentatively get to know each other and feel a spark there and then fall deeply for each other even though their parents disapprove and they get super dramatic about it when they can't be together then at the last minute one of them leaves a teary phone message and they run off together to live happily ever after. This is basically Ian Bogost's point and I wholeheartedly agree with him.

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I think you (and Bogost) might be underselling what actually is happening in Gone Home. Sure the romance is maudlin, but it's about teenagers! That's what relationships are like at that age, that's what being in love as a teen is all about.

 

Sorry, that Bogost essay still rankles me. I read Oranges are Not the Only Fruit because he specifically lists it as a better version of what Gone Home is trying to do. Honestly, I didn't see it. Sure, it's a great book, but it's no more unique than what is in Gone Home, and it has the same "cliched," overdramatic story beats that the game does.

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It's true that the story isn't the deepest one around, but haven't we already discussed that to death? The game is more than just the story.

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I think you (and Bogost) might be underselling what actually is happening in Gone Home. Sure the romance is maudlin, but it's about teenagers! That's what relationships are like at that age, that's what being in love as a teen is all about.

 

Sorry, that Bogost essay still rankles me. I read Oranges are Not the Only Fruit because he specifically lists it as a better version of what Gone Home is trying to do. Honestly, I didn't see it. Sure, it's a great book, but it's no more unique than what is in Gone Home, and it has the same "cliched," overdramatic story beats that the game does.

 

I think the question really is (and you kinda touch upon it already) whether there's a non-"cliche" version of the story that Gone Home is telling about two kids falling in love. For me, at least, the answer is "no," simply because the experience of love is so universal (not to mention the several people I know who are big fans of young-adult lit saying that Bogost's own picks fail to make his point) so I feel like complaints of "cliche" are not that constructive. Where Gone Home has the potential to be unique, in the punk rock and the queerness and the failures of parents desperate for love themselves, it is unique, so indicting the broad strokes for being too familiar seems as though it comes from the kind of people who think that the best stories are all about a twist every act and a dark ending, both of which are infinitely more "cliche" to me.

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I think something can be cliche and still great. Pauline Kael once wrote about director Robert Altman's skills, saying he was "able to transform fake poetry to real poetry". I think about that a lot with art. If I could say the theme of Gone Home is anything, it's about how the broad stories of our lives are made up of ephemeral details. And Gone Home gets those details so right. I don't read young adult fiction, but I can't imagine most have this level of subtlety and specificity. I do remember being a little disappointed that the storyline ended up being so cliche (mostly in it's resolution), and to an extent I still think it could have been better, but I wonder if that's not vital to the theme. 

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