Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

[Tanukitsune]

It also seems to be 50% off at Steam! Is the commentary in the Steam version too?

[elmuerte]

Yes, you have to select it from the "modifiers" menu when starting a new game.

[CaptainFish]

I just played and enjoyed my Gone Home experience today, and then went through it again for the commentary.

 

Lots of fun, great attention to detail. I loved touching everything. Filling a space with so many writers was quite nice as well. It was really powerful to go to the music room and see Sam's assignment just steps away from Terrence's work. Kinda reminded me of Fun Home, with 2 major characters having similar brains, and yet just not connecting. It's kinda interesting how even though the game got rid of the violence it's still very much a similar game to ss2 or the bio games. Interesting things happened to people in an interesting space and you find out about them through the aftermath.

 

The only complaint I have is due to me being a baby. The house was kinda spooky, and I'm not entirely sure to what end. Sure, it does recreate the feeling of running around a strange mansion during a thunderstorm , but that just made me constantly on edge when I'd rather have been just focused on reading stuff. Part of it is stuff like the light flicker and house creaks, but another part of me just couldn't shake that this game is pretty much indistinguishable from one where a crazy monster would jump out and force you to run and hide. In the basement I got so freaked out I turned off my brain for the important dark corner. 

 

Also, this isn't  Gone Home related, since, as a game, it just has a very specific tone without actively scary content, but I find it a little weird that a lot of first person, interesting-space exploring games are being made, but most of them have a horror component and hard fail state death component. I dunno how well it would work, but maybe it would be nice if a game at least pulled a Space Quest and matched up danger and challenge with a lighter tone.

[TychoCelchuuu]

How spooky you find the house seems to be very specific to different people. I'm a baby gamer but I didn't find the house scary at all. Gamers in general seem to find the house much spookier on average because they have experienced lots of houses like this where monsters attack you, whereas non-gamers, who have no reason to expect a monster to show up, tend to be less scared.

[tegan]

This may be too personal, but not too long before I left home, my dad stole my computer. I decided to try to find it myself and ended up sneaking around my own house in the dead of night with a flashlight carrying a knife for protection in case he woke up. Even though it was a familiar place it was still one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Gone Home felt a lot like that.

[osmosisch]

My wife does not play that many games and I had to convince her that it was not a scary game at several points while she was playing through it.

She loved it

[SecretAsianMan]

I will admit to jumping a bit when a certain bulb burned out.  You know the one I mean.

[tberton]

After a request I made on Twitter, Chris made it so that gonehomegame.com/ghost redirects to the soundtrack's page on his bandcamp. Awesome.

[CaptainFish]

I will admit to jumping a bit when a certain bulb burned out.  You know the one I mean.

Funnily enough, that's another thing I just bypassed in my rush on my first run by simply not wanting to be in that space. Caught it during the commentary run though.

[elmuerte]

I will admit to jumping a bit when a certain bulb burned out.  You know the one I mean.

Just wait until that really happens in your house.

[clyde]

I just beat Gone Home for the first time.

 

That was cool.

[jmbossy]

I bought Gone Home when it was on sale. I don't care if its spoiler-ish or not but I can't play without knowing....
Is there anything scary in this game? I'm a massive baby, and cannot stand the feeling that something is always right behind me.

[SecretAsianMan]

I bought Gone Home when it was on sale. I don't care if its spoiler-ish or not but I can't play without knowing....

Is there anything scary in this game? I'm a massive baby, and cannot stand the feeling that something is always right behind me.

 

No story spoilers here

The game has a setting that fits into the horror genre and the beginning creates an atmosphere like seems like it's going to be a scary game, but there's nothing that's going to jump out of a dark corner and attack you.  I mentioned one moment that made me jump a little, which is in a secret passage.  There's a little wooden cross sitting on a beam and when you approach it, the light bulb in the passage goes out.  That's probably the "scariest" moment in the whole game.

[BadHat]

Snapped it up in the sale, had been eager to play since I first read that interview on Giant Bomb. I liked it a lot.

 

Speaking of scary, was I the only one who

 

upon finding the note with the secret passage in the foyer that said "we'll do it here," froze in place for like a half minute going "no, come on, don't do this to me game, don't DO this." I swear to god they drop this hint on more than one occasion, like the hair colour on the bath, and then Sam in the attic. And all the while I'm thinking back to that first note, "I can't see you because IT IS IMPOSSIBLE." Like what the fuck, game? Stupid endearing-ass game.

 

Also, has anyone discussed the note in the basement safe? I didn't read back too far but am I safe in assuming that

 

the uncle was gay or... possibly a child molester? I feel like I might be reading too far into a couple things with that second one, and it'd make the note, not to mention what else was in the safe, a lot less tragic. Still, I didn't find anything to explicitly hint at him being gay, it just seemed to fit the theme, and the way he was writing given the time period.

[pabosher]

You are correct with your second assumption.

[dium]

I bought and finished this game a couple days ago. Then I immediately played through it again with commentary. Really fantastic stuff.

 

I never got a scary or horror vibe from this game, probably because I already knew so much about the game when I started it. That's unfortunate, I think. 

I did spend the second half of the game getting more and more anxious for the game ending, however. The game convinced me something very dark and tragic would happen at the end, and it wasn't until I'd explored the attic that I felt any relief on that front.

 

Also: in a lot of superficial ways this game strongly reminded me of 7th Guest. I'm hesitant to make that comparison out loud, but I can't deny what I feel man.

[clyde]

I got a Luigi's Mansion vibe.

[BadHat]

You are correct with your second assumption.

 

Wow harsh.

 

Poor Terry.

 

Edit: Why, tomato, why?

[Erkki]

As I remember there was a setting to play the game with all lights turned on from the starts, for those who worry that the game will scare them.

[Professor Video Games]

This was a good writeup on Terry I came across while browsing around after finishing the game. I admit I hadn't quite put all the pieces together myself.

 

(spoilers, obviously)

http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better

[clyde]

This was a good writeup on Terry I came across while browsing around after finishing the game. I admit I hadn't quite put all the pieces together myself.

(spoilers, obviously)

http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better

That was helpful, thanks for posting it.

[vimes]

Interesting! If that's an accurate analysis, it's a genius decision to have made such thin links between the different threads because, otherwise, I think I would have found this side story excessively grimed.
It'd be ironic for me though, because I really appreciated Oscar story for it's uncorrelation from the rest of the narrative and for the way it withered off without complete closure - which felt fresh.

[jmbossy]

No story spoilers here

The game has a setting that fits into the horror genre and the beginning creates an atmosphere like seems like it's going to be a scary game, but there's nothing that's going to jump out of a dark corner and attack you.  I mentioned one moment that made me jump a little, which is in a secret passage.  There's a little wooden cross sitting on a beam and when you approach it, the light bulb in the passage goes out.  That's probably the "scariest" moment in the whole game.

 

 

Thanks man. I'll start playing tonight

[jmbossy]

So I just finished Gone Home.

 

I didn't know anything about the story going into it, so as I slowly discovered Sam's secret I began to actually tear up (not something many video games have done before) as my older sister is also gay. I didn't expect to have such an emotional connection to the story. As Sam discussed their happier moments I grinned ear to ear thinking of my sis. And as I found the note in the greenhouse that said "This is where we'll do it" I felt my heart plummet. Climbing the ladder to the attic I began to gag, and nearly puked with fear that i'd find Sam and/or Lonnie dead. When I listened to the last journal i felt all the pressure lift and felt a relief I hadn't in a long time.

 

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 ^.^

[clyde]

So I just finished Gone Home.

 

I didn't know anything about the story going into it, so as I slowly discovered Sam's secret I began to actually tear up (not something many video games have done before) as my older sister is also gay. I didn't expect to have such an emotional connection to the story. As Sam discussed their happier moments I grinned ear to ear thinking of my sis. And as I found the note in the greenhouse that said "This is where we'll do it" I felt my heart plummet. Climbing the ladder to the attic I began to gag, and nearly puked with fear that i'd find Sam and/or Lonnie dead. When I listened to the last journal i felt all the pressure lift and felt a relief I hadn't in a long time.

 

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 ^.^

IMO, personal experience is relevant to your review.