Gone Home

I think this game had more impact in 2013 versus 2025. I found it to be rather tedious without any real point to picking up objects (one of the only things you can do in this game). The story is alright, and I'm glad it addressed LGBT+ issues. This game appears on so many "must play" lists, but there's now better, more engaging narrative games out there that go farther in terms of impact. At least it's short.

I recommend the game overall, but only if you can grab it for under $3. It is a very short game, and a bit underwhelming. The atmosphere of the house was very cool and I loved the throwback to the 90's (as a 90's kid myself.) However...that being said, the plot was a bit juvenile. I was expecting more of a thriller-type game, and this was definitely not it. So, accept these things for what they are, grab this game for cheap, and play it on a stormy evening to pass a couple of hours.

If you are looking for a horror game, look someplace else. Its got a cool atmosphere but once the story stared to unfold, I found myself rolling my eyes so hard I now have a headache. At least I got it on sale!

In many ways, Gone Home perfectly encapsulates the American upper class experience - incredibly self-absorbed individuals with nothing more to contribute to the world than the boringness of their own reflection. This is a story about how hard it is to be an upper class young lesbian, In a relatively tolerant household. That's it. That's the game. The only reason I can ascertain for this game ever having received any positive reviews, is that it found a target audience in others who live similarly boring, self-important lifestyles.

I usually never type out reviews because I cannot be bothered, but I really wanted to type one here. I remember being like... maybe 10-12 years old when my father bought this game for me saying it was a "murder mystery" only for me to play it and be absolutely floored by the ending. This was WAY before I came to terms with my pansexuality--hell, I didn't even know what bisexual was! But I remember being a little girl watching the credits fading with that illuminating font and just... silent. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't what I got. For days, I felt so fixated on it. The raw emotions in the vocals for the credits, the intimate details of the journal entries, the desolate yet suffocating house, the motif of facades among the family, so many things that I didn't truly understand at that age. But I understood Lonnie and Sam. I certainly did. Maybe that's why I cried days later over the ending. All I could think of was "what if I ended up being 'one of those people?" I knew gay and trans people existed as a child because it was explained to me after discovering a friend's identity. But as a child, I was still terrified of being "one of those people" because all I could think of was "would my family deny my existence?" Layers upon layers of a murky revelation swirling within me. It was one of those things that you GET as a child, but you don't quite UNDERSTAND it, yet you don't want to ask your parents because it is so taboo. Between this game, Life is Strange, and The Last of Us: Left Behind, sometimes I wonder how long it would have taken me to have the epiphany that I was pansexual had it not been for these games? All that is to say, while it isn't perfect, and while it may be a let-down for SOME gamers, I personally adore this game as it explored the coming-of-age narrative through a queer lens.

SPOILERS!! To be quite honest, this game was very boring to play. There wasn't much going on the entire time. When first starting the game, it seemed as if it would be a horror game. Turns out it's literally just a game made about a girl "coming out." In the summary of the game it quite literally says "Something's not right. Where is everyone. And what's happened here?" It makes it sound more interesting than it is. The main character's parents were just gone for the weekend, and her little sister ran off with a girl she was romantically interested in. Don't recommend unless you want a game to play before bed to make you tired.

Dear prospective player, All of this is a nicely dressed up lie of a sales pitch, we were expecting an investigation or perhaps even some mysteries written in toilet paper (those who played will know) we tried everything, we hoped for anything but we were sorely dissapointed. The story is borishly linear, an uninspired mystery on nothing. In the end there is nothing to do in this game, it's a walking simulator in an empty house that promises much but in the end delivers nothing. As for our final words, we do not recommend this game for anyone who enjoys investigations and mystery games or any real mystery whatsoever. The only positive use for this game is to buy it for your worst enemy in the hopes he may be bored to death. Sincerely, Edgar was there

Waking sim where you pick stuff up, kind of a mid reveal to the mystery