GONE HOME Review - Homecoming

SPOILER REVIEW

Despite dated visuals, Gone Home’s earnest love story and atmospheric storytelling have aged remarkably well.

Much like Kaitlin Greenbriar returning to her family from a year abroad in Europe, playing Gone Home again has been something of a homecoming for me as well. I remember playing it at release almost six years ago and being impressed at the game’s ability to tell a story using little more than voiceover and a meticulously crafted and highly detailed environment. In the years since, ‘walking simulator’ has evolved from a derogatory remark into a term referring to a special, respected genre of story-oriented games. The fact that some of its successors have surpassed it does little to distract from this game’s achievements. In fact, while its visuals have aged, the things that make Gone Home so excellent: its voice-acting, story and attention to detail, remain timeless. I am still just as impressed today as I was six years ago.

It’s 1995. After spending a year abroad travelling in Europe, 21-year-old Kaitlin Greenbriar arrives at her family’s new home in rural Oregon to find it empty. Her family have mysteriously disappeared, and the only clue to their whereabouts is a note from her younger sister Sam taped to the front door, asking Katie not to come looking for her.

There’s an undeniably spooky element to it all with hints as to seances and ghost-hunting taking place in the Greenbriar home, but safe to say that it’s mostly misdirection by the game’s developers. Gone Home is a game about love and family, and it depicts the mundane with earnestness and honesty. That the story is both engrossing and relatable goes without saying, but it’s a rare game that highlights the special in the seemingly ordinary. It presents the player with the rare opportunity to step into the shoes of another human being, as opposed to playing as a hero of legend character.

Throughout the game, you can find various items that trigger story narration. Sarah Grayson, who lends her voice to Sam, has incredible emotional range. As you journey through the house, you hear about all the highs and lows of Sam’s life, of her time in high school, tentative experience of first love, and her coming to terms with her own sexuality. While LGBT themes take centre-stage, Sam becomes more than a token character. Even as someone who doesn’t identify as LGBT, there were things about her that I could see in myself. She has personality. She’s a teenager, chafing against conservative Christian parents, struggling to keep her new relationship secret, and seeking comfort by writing to her absent older sister. Grayson makes Sam’s experience feel intense, honest and very personal.

The Greenbriar home is wonderfully atmospheric. It’s nostalgic, but strange and even a little spooky, especially with the storm outside lashing the windows. It’s clear that real people inhabited this unusual space. You can interact with ordinary objects, from flicking on lights to picking up a bottle of hair dye to read the label. A carefully designed map and unobtrusive UI make navigating through the house easy. Opening a drawer, you might find clutter and old letters addressed to Janice, Katie and Sam’s mother. Walking into their father Terry’s office, you might find a sheet of paper: a review he’s written for a home electronics magazine, alongside a note of complaint from his editor and a copy of his failed novel. A sticky note is pasted to the wall to remind himself that he can do better. Sam’s room is littered with cassette mixtapes and still has cushions from a sleepover gaming session on the floor. The fridge is still stocked, and the TV room has an empty pizza box complete with grease stains on the coffee table.

All the environmental details tell a story of their own; a Ouija board tucked inside a secret alcove next to scribbled notes, show Sam’s time spent hunting for the ghost of her great-uncle. All of this is accompanied by a stirring soundtrack, which hits all the right notes at the right times, instilling a sense of uneasy peace, and lending gravitas to hard-hitting moments. Dated visuals don’t leave much of a lasting impact.

While this game is often melancholy or nostalgic, its love story is possibly one of video gaming's best even now, because of its honesty and its earnestness. While there are moments of joy, trials and hardships, all brought to life by wonderful voice actors and impressive attention to detail and environmental storytelling, it understands that love is sometimes about throwing caution to the wind. It’s a game about exploration and hope, and that’s something not many video games understand.