Category: Student Posts

When you dropped into a game in media res its hard to get your bearings what to do and what your task actually is. Combined with the creepy backdrop of an old mansion and earth shattering thunderstorm, when I first started the game I was immediately overwhelmed and originally thought this was some indy horror game where there’d be multiple jump scares. I started off hesitant not knowing where I should go literally feeling the gloomy ambience rattle through my bones. However, within 10-20 minutes I had finally gotten the hang of exploring the house and finding clues to pice together the story of Lonnie and Sam. Not only does this game challenge the LGBT issue head on, but introduces a unique narrative where we continue to dive into the emotion of Sam, the protagonists little sister.

Upon revealing the first couple of audio clips the user got the sense that Sam was a typical 90s teenager. She was into the new video games, rejected the ideals of her parents, and was obsessed with grunge a punk rock. However, what really sheds light on her situation is when you start to infer that Sam is lesbian and has feelings for her best friend Lonnie. This quick;y explains why Sam had all these girl magazines scattered around the house and why she thinks Daniel is so weird even though he probably was a nice guy who enjoyed playing nintendo. It was entertaining to see the love story develop between Lonnie and Sam and also how they snuck around in order to see each other. At the end true love prevailed cause even with the disapproval of Sam’s parents and the stigma with LGBT couples at the time Sam goes off to live with Lonnie. IT brings relevance to a large issue but also reintroduces that not long ago the LGBT was really discriminated against.

What also has to be said about this title is the idea of perspective as we, the user, construct the narrative of the game. It reminded of classic noir films of finding clues, similar to the directing style of David Lynch. In video games the protagonist the user controls already has a general sense of self and the user simply watches without control. However, Gone away puts the digital protagonist in the shoes of the user or vice versa as both people are in the same situation. Neither the user nor protagonist know anything about the relationship and it takes both people in order to uncover the mystery.

The first seconds of Gone Home made me regret playing it at night, for the game instantly created a spooky atmosphere. In fact it reminded me of another game, Slenderman, a game that took away my sleep for many nights. Thus I turned on all the lights in my room and wrapped myself in a blanket before I could continue. However as the game progressed, no monsters, cursed dolls or slender people jumped out of the closets. Instead what the game was full of was the dirty laundry of a family living in the house.

The game kicks off with a woman calling her mother and saying she will come home late from the airport. It took me a while to understand that the whole game is presented from that woman’s perspective. She returns home (I guess this is why the game is called Gone Home), only to find it empty. However as she goes around she sees small pieces of evidence that show what happened while she was away. The final picture does not seem bright at all. Each member of her family has a lot going on and there is a huge question whether the ‘family’ even still exists. The members do not seem to care for each other and are caught up in their own business which turns the game from scary to bitter and sad.

The sound effects and poor lighting do a great job of creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. However as you get used to it the excitement withers away. After a few rooms the only thing that kept me going was the question: will I find a corpse of her sister somewhere in the house? Yet nothing as atrocious appears within the game. Thus after a while all you do is examine various items that belong to family members and put together a picture of what happened while the woman was away.

Overall I would say that this game has a great start as it creates a lot of confusion and a great spooky atmosphere. Yet this does not last long and the process of going through the game becomes repetitive. I would say that the most interesting point made by the game was the showcase of how much our personal belongings represent our lives. Of course most of the items found in the game were diaries, journals and recordings, which gave a pretty easy explanation of the situation. However there were many small things that help create the big picture and putting all of them together made me feel like a detective. However I at the same time felt uncomfortable in intruding the other people’s business and learning all of their dirty secrets. Thus I would say that if you like puzzles and watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians, this game is for you.

As the thunder sounds and the rain pours, the developers of Gone Home have, very successfully, used pathetic fallacy to create a distraught environment. At first, it appears as though the game would be a horror game, with a few jump-scares here and there, indicated by, mostly, the weather and thunder, and also by the scattered references to the “insane” uncle Oscar as well as the Ouija board and some notes. But, as the story progresses it isn’t difficult to realize that there is nothing to fear at all. The story is about a not-so-perfect family and the troubles many families actually have to face every day.

We find ourselves as Katie Greenbriar in 1995 (shown by the various notes, letters, and tags scattered around) in a not-so-recently moved-into house. The story unfolds as we find clues and objects around the house. Each clue triggers a “Journal Entry” read aloud to us by our little sister Sam who is a 17-year-old high schooler. This read-aloud style is the reason it’s seemed so easy to connect with Sam. You can hear the emotion in her voice when she is talking about people she loves and her new experiences. She isn’t just a voice; she is a person with emotions very similar to ours.

What is also interesting about the game is that, even though we don’t get to interact with any of the other characters, we are made aware of their lives as well. The mother working for the state forestry service and being rather successful, possibly having an affair with a co-worker, the father being a mediocre author and obsessing over the assassination of JFK, and Lonnie being a rebellious teenager who did what she pleased, are all brought out by letters and notes left around the house.