Gone Home, a narrative game from The Fullbright Company, sets its stage with a title and premise that promise a journey through the intimate dynamics of family life. In 1995, you step into the shoes of Katie, returning to Oregon after a long trip to Europe, only to find her family’s new home deserted, with an enigmatic note left on the door. The question looms: where are everyone, and what secrets might have unfolded in their absence?
With a domestic scale that invites introspection over action, The Fullbright Company has embarked on a bold endeavor, aiming to craft a video game around the complexities of family drama. The game’s execution is commendable, albeit marred by an underlying issue that questions its sincerity and depth.
The game’s strength lies in its nostalgia for 90s pop culture, evoking an archaeological thrill as players rummage through a disordered house that captures the essence of a bygone era. Anyone who was a teenager during this period will find themselves drawn to the home-taped copies of The X-Files, the cut-and-pasted riot grrrl zines, the mixtapes scribbled in biro, the plaid-filled closets, and the gig posters announcing turns by Buffalo Tom, Lisa Loeb, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Even tracks from Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile grace the soundtrack, adding a layer of authenticity that resonates with its audience.
However, the game’s atmosphere, tinged with a mysterious and eerie tone, clashes with its primary narrative thrust, leading to an unresolved tension that feels like a crude storytelling tool. This inconsistency suggests a lack of confidence in the intimate scale that defines Gone Home’s purpose. While the game successfully holds attention for a couple of hours, its impact is diminished by this unresolved conflict.
Despite this stumble, Gone Home stands as a technically proficient piece of interactive storytelling, offering an interesting comparison to other first-person art games. It is not as groundbreaking as games like Dear Esther, Proteus, or Thirty Flights of Loving, but it excels in its use of native video game techniques to convey a compelling story of a fractured family. The Fullbright Company’s approach, drawing inspiration from the rich tapestry of first-person games like BioShock, Half-Life, and Skyrim, serves as a testament to the medium’s potential in storytelling.
While it may not push the boundaries of experimental gaming as those mentioned earlier, Gone Home is a solid example of how video games can be used to explore the intricacies of human relationships and personal growth. It adeptly utilizes the tools of interactive storytelling to build a world where players can uncover the hidden lives of the characters, particularly Sam, a young woman grappling with her identity.
However, the game struggles to connect these inner lives to each other, resulting in disjointed family dynamics and a lack of cohesive narrative development. The characters, though credible and intriguing, often dissolve into the background as the game progresses, leaving players with a sense of an incomplete story.
Ultimately, Gone Home presents a commendable effort in its storytelling ambition, showcasing the potential of video games as a medium for intimate narratives. Despite its shortcomings, it remains a noteworthy exploration of family dynamics and personal growth, offering insights into the challenges of bridging the gap between individual experiences and collective understanding.
