How Gone Home redefines perspectives and narration

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.