Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

[youmeyou]

The horror element of the game is super well-done.

It makes total sense that exploring a large empty house at night in a rainstorm would be frightening. That tension remains throughout as you try and find out more about the family. It keeps the game from feeling dull or methodical, since every new bit of exploration is also accompanied by a slight sense of dread, even if there really is nothing to be afraid of. It's a great mix of emotions, that feels really unique.

[osmosisch]

I had exactly the same point of being stuck tanukitsune - somehow the layout in that part of the house is a bit confusing it seems.

[elmuerte]

I have to know, does anybody know if Pewdipie played the game?

 

What's a Pewdipie?

[SecretAsianMan]

The horror element of the game is super well-done.

It makes total sense that exploring a large empty house at night in a rainstorm would be frightening. That tension remains throughout as you try and find out more about the family. It keeps the game from feeling dull or methodical, since every new bit of exploration is also accompanied by a slight sense of dread, even if there really is nothing to be afraid of. It's a great mix of emotions, that feels really unique.

 

This game does a really good job of creating the right kind of atmosphere, even if it does play on some common tropes like

the light bulb blowing when you find the cross, red "blood" that's actually dye, TVs that are the only source of light in a dark room, etc.  When the bulb blew out, even though I knew there were no other characters in the game, I still half expected to turn around and see Slenderman.  The messages on the answering machine I also liked because at first listen, they sound ominous but after you get more of the story, they become tender and emotional.

[Tanukitsune]

What's a Pewdipie?

That guy on YouTube that screams a lot while playing "scary" games? 

[syntheticgerbil]

Check the shelf--- they were buying two different sizes of tape.  Also, most VCR's could record at different speeds with different video quality.

Heck yeah, my Dad used to fit 2-3 copied movies from video rentals on to one of his magical 6 hour tape. They deteriorated very quickly though. He also put all of our family home videos on the cheapo 6 hour recording, that also didn't work so well :/

[sclpls]

Danielle wrote another piece about this game for Polygon that really gets into her personal experience, and is all the more powerful for it.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/19/4627606/opinion-finding-someone-like-me-in-gone-home

[feelthedarkness]

Not finished yet, so I'm mostly scanning posts, but it broke the top 10 on Steam tonight. Go peoples. 

[juv3nal]

Not finished yet, so I'm mostly scanning posts, but it broke the top 10 on Steam tonight. Go peoples. 

It's been as high as #2.

[Coods]

God Jake linked these metacritic user reviews for Gone Home and some of them are baffling:

 

Whatever the critics are smoking, let me have some. With all the X-Files references and ghost stuff, I was expecting a ghost story or something interesting.

[chummer]

God Jake linked these metacritic user reviews for Gone Home and some of them are baffling:

Ha. I've been reading the #gonehome hashtag on Twitter and seeing some similar stuff. CliffyB's sister is complaining about mouse acceleration.

[chummer]

Some Metacritic user review highlights:

 

Backdatassup opines: "Who ever thought trying to experience someone else's memories by rummaging through their stuff would be a good idea clearly doesn't understand simple psychology, let alone what makes a good video game."

 

Ultach declares: "Arguably, a book has more interactivity and skill involved, since you need to possess the motor skills necessary to turn the pages."

 

Pekuken suggests: "As a visual novel, it's more of a thing."

 

Kicka55 breaks it down with: "Main plot of this "game" is basically about you returning home and finding out that your lil sis is now into girls and ran away from home to fight the patriarchy."

 

Vyvyan challenges us with this question: "You can buy 2 books for the price of this game and which has more value?"

 

Account33 draws the line with: "If you want to tell a story or make a statement, go write a book or a screenplay or something. Video games are not about narrative exposition. Absolutely disgusting."

 

Edit: Had to add this one:

 

ThomYorke shines light on Fullbright's nefarious intentions: "An awful game with a boring story, no challenge or objective and to top it off it's £/$20. But don't worry, it all goes to funding death camps for straight, white, cis men."

[Cleinhun]

I am super confused by the assertion that this "isn't a game" or is "barely interactive" or whatever. I actually found the mechanics to be the most interesting part of the game. With things like Proteus or 30 Flights, I can understand why someone might make that sort of criticism (understand, not agree with), but in the case of Gone Home, the interaction with the environment is super compelling. Even if you didn't like the mechanics, how do they not obviously exist?

[Jintor]

I do actually think the mouse acceleration was kind of a problem. I couldn't get my sensitivity just right and it was a little distracting.

[chummer]

I do actually think the mouse acceleration was kind of a problem. I couldn't get my sensitivity just right and it was a little distracting.

Fair point. It was more the manner in which she was complaining about it that I found amusing.

[pabosher]

Lauren is Cliff's wife, not his sister!

[Tanukitsune]

Geez, I'm glad I beat the game yesterday, you can't even browse any forum with some irate jerk yelling spoilers in the title of their angry post complaining this is a rip-off and not a game.

 

I assume these are all people who bought the game expecting Slenderman to pop up and scare them, oddly enough these "scary" games they expected Gone Home to be are so non-interactive that I don't see why they think is not a game. It's like a visual novel that's actually more visual than novel.

 

I'll say it again, gamers have been brainwashed to think length is more important than it should, if it's less than 10$, it better be at least 4 hours long, it's 20$, it's better be eight to 10 hours long and so on and so on...

[toblix]

So many questions.

 

So Gone Home is a critical success, but (when) will we know if the game has been a financial success? Will Fullbright be able to make their next project the way they want? Also, do they have actual future plans as a studio, or was this a one-off thing? If they have plans, what are they?

 

Also I'd like to read/hear a postmortem discussing the game design, like if concessions to more traditional video game expectations were made and how the budget informed design. Maybe someone should have Gaynor and/or the rest of FB as guests in a Gone Home Extravaganza podcast episode.

[MrHoatzin]

Yeah, just double down on the thumb nepotism. I would vote for more discussion of TellTale games as well. Double Fine shows plenty of sausage-
making so their process wouldn't necessarily be as interesting to thumb...
 
It is funny how many wrong reviews tend toward WHY DON'T YOU JUST MAKE A MOVIE IF YOU'RE SUCH A STUPID STORY QUEERDO?! It is a testament to the effectiveness of the format that for all these people exploring by-products of life in a completely empty house equates with a cinematic experience—and yet they hated it because the story is allegedly simplistic (no one got to save the world) or there is no game (but memmorpergers and jearpergers with their tissue-thin excuses for mechanics get a pass). WHERE'S MY PAINT-BY-NUMBERS MONOMYTH?! I THOUGHT I WAS PLAYING A GAME!?

Whose fault is it that these obnoxious children and manchildren organize so vocally over such stupid objections? How do we nerf this culture that screams PRETENTIOUS at everything that is not the same shit they've been eating for a decade and a half?

[KitGonzo]

How do we nerf this culture that screams PRETENTIOUS at everything that is not the same shit they've been eating for a decade and a half?

 

Point and laugh? Works for me... 

[Tanukitsune]

You mean the same manchildren who would scream anyway if they game was just like a "normal" one? I've always said that a difference between a nerd or fan and a fanboy is that only one is capable of rational thought on a regular basis.

 

In this case we have the kiddies who have to jump onto the "pretentious" bandwagon, the kiddies who don't read descriptions and thought this was a horror game and feel scammed, and the "money equals time, so the more expensive the game is, the longer it has to be" group.

 

Just ignore them, they are probably too busy complaining about everything to do anything else. *shrugs* 

 

And to make an actual legitimate very minor complaint / bug, has anybody had items "ghost" through furniture? I threw a pencil at a table and it "fell" through, the same happened when throwing a toothbrush at the wash basin.

[feelthedarkness]

I take two things from some of the negativity. 

 

One, some people just aren't at a point in their lives where something like this will resonate. I felt increasingly horrible for Katie's dad, partially because that's a lot closer to my fears. I can't expect some 17 year old CoDBlops fan, for who video games are a kind of sport to relate to a sense that you're passed mid-career and it's just not working.

 

Two, there is probably something worth considering in the complaints, if not the specific idiot complaints themselves. I have really loved some of these pure narrative games Dear Esther, 30 Flights, Gone Home, but I feel there is some validity to questioning the push/pull of pure narrative and interactivity. 

[SecretAsianMan]

And to make an actual legitimate very minor complaint / bug, has anybody had items "ghost" through furniture? I threw a pencil at a table and it "fell" through, the same happened when throwing a toothbrush at the wash basin.

 

I had that happen to a pack of cards.  I tried to throw it into a drawer but it phased through and landed on the floor under the cabinet, where it became irretrievable. 

 

With regard to the negative reviews, I take it as another clash between the "Games are supposed to be fun" and "Games can be art" schools of thought.  I loved Gone Home and while I did have a certain amount of fun with it, that's not how I would primarily describe the game.  Gone Home to me was a meaningful experience, a game of the mind and played with the heart.  The enjoyment I got out of it is different from the kind I would get out of a game like TF2, but they're both equally valid to me.  I can understand the frustration of anyone who was looking for Gone Home to be "fun", but they only have themselves to blame.

[Patrick R]

Who are these people who will drop 20 bucks on a game they know nothing about? Reading anything about what it is would dispell so many misconceptions about what it is.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I do actually think the mouse acceleration was kind of a problem. I couldn't get my sensitivity just right and it was a little distracting.

You can turn it off in the menu though.