Topic: Gone Home Spoiler Thread

Hi all,

Gone Home is free on PlayStation Plus this month, and I thought it would be fun if we had a spoiler thread. This game really surprised me when I played it earlier in the year, and would love to hear what others think of it.

My advice:

• Go in knowing as little about the game as you possibly can;
• Keep an open mind and interact with everything/explore everywhere;
• Play it through in one sitting.

Really eager to hear your thoughts about the game, and whether you got into it or not.

Played it when it first came out on pc but I remember really enjoying it. Finished in two sessions I think and it was pretty gripping. Started very intense discussions on whether it deserved all the accolades, whether it was a true GOTY etc. There is a space for games like this that sort of turn what we recognise as typical game mechanics on it's head. You're not driven by points or exp, but by mystery and curiosity. I thought the game was excellent, from a story perspective and atmospherically. Haha I went in without knowing anything, so I started playing the game thinking it was some Amnesia-type experience. Pleasantly surprised that rather than experiencing the fear of moving walls, I just got a glimpse into an important period in someone's life, a family life without any walls. Something we can all relate to. Hopefully Sam's happy

Thank for info sammy, i'm going to enjoy this game for sure. Will post my thoughts if @tasuki doesn't delete them of course!

@get2sammyb: Played it through for the third time last night.

My opinion on what's happened in the house has changed a bit. I always considered that the mum and dad had split up, but I think after last night that they have reconciled their differences after going through a rocky patch. No idea what's happened to the uncle if anyone can shed some light. What did he do that was so bad? The sister lives apart in the house away from mum and dad, most likely because they struggled with their relationship for years - and finds solace in her partner.

I still find the game a bit spooky although no one ever jumps out at you, possibly due to the moody lighting, thunder, rain and weeji board.

I normally like "walking simulators" , but after playing through 30 minutes (abeit tired) last night , I'm not quite sure about it. So far, in my limited playthrough, it seems I am walking around what is indicated to be a haunted house/Marie Celeste "Where are they all?" scenario, but the diary entries and actual plot seem to be more akin to Max Caulfield's journal from Life is Strange, and I guess I just feel a little cognitive dissonence between the setting and plot, if that makes sense?

EDIT > Should say that i don't feel any peril or dread from the setting, was curious to see what is happening, but I don't get the "horror" vibe that perhaps was the angle, akin to "Everyone has Gone to The Rapture" where the setting was horror, but the characters and their little stories/lives you pieced together were the compelling parts that dragged you around an abandoned place.

Will give it another go though.

@Kidfried: Aha, I just haven't felt that "uncomfortableness" that I did in EGTTR, played about 30 minutes, got inside, opened a filing cabinet and gone upstairs. if it's two hours, will push on through.

I played this on PC a while back. I knew nothing about it going into it either. Nice and story driven like a short comic. But I'll tell you what, To The Moon smashes it. That is a gem of gems and should get a console release.

@Kidfried: It did get better, I must admit when I turned the corner in the top hallway and saw the red glow, I froze momentarily which says the setting did it's job.

I suppose having finished it, I'd agree with you. Your 'home' is essentially a haunted house, or an ex child molestor's with your family missing, fractured, whereas your postcards are writing to the family you knew.

You were right about the "finish and reflect", it was better upon completion and thinking about it.

I think that, for me, makes it art. I didn't get a sense of a high sense of pleasure while doing it, but it made me think and feel glad I experienced it and left things open to my interpretation which can be discussed.

Played it through in one session. Will probably go through it again. Loved the game and the story, started thinking one thing, turned out to be another.

I think that the ending is everything. At some points, I was frustrated at the pace, but in reflection it game me the right doses of story as progressed and I found the ending very moving.

I liked the vibe of coming home and it not being home anymore. I need to play through again, in retrospect I only got the hints at the abuse from the uncle, I need to go through and read the clues again.

Excellent PS Plus game.