The main character returns from a long journey to her family – her father, mother and little sister. But instead of a warm welcome, she finds an empty house where her family has recently moved in, a locked front door and a note from her little sister urging her not to look for it. Find out what happened to her family in the game.
Historical part
In 2010, Bioshock 2 appeared on the shelves of game stores – a sequel to the original Bioshock, released in 2007. The sequel was based on the original, and the developers focused on tweaking some of its elements. As a result, the gameplay was better than the original. By the time Bioshock 2 was released, publishers and developers began to realize the prospect of distributing additional downloadable content for games. For some, this prospect promised more money for less money, for others – the opportunity to tell stories in worlds familiar to players, unrelated to the main plot of the games.
In August 2010, the only single-player add-on for Bioshock 2, Minerva’s Den, was released, focusing on telling the story of one family, and what one family member is willing to do for the sake of another. Not long after the release of the DLC, Steve Gaynor, Carla Zimonja, and Jonneman Nordhagen split off from the development team and started their own studio, Fullbright.
After 17 months of development, during which the developers had to abandon the original concept of the game, otherwise – they could not have developed it on their own, Fullbright studio revealed to the world its first project – Gone Home.
Reaction of the press and community
After the release, the game raised serious controversy in the gaming community. Some of the reviewers noted the good immersion of the player in the story, as well as the display of LGBT themes.
Another part complained that Gone Home cannot be considered a game, because in it the player just walks around and reads notes and interacts with objects. There is no opponent in the game, no challenge. Gone Home was pejoratively (*at the time) labeled a “walking simulator”.
The game was also at the center of an event called gamergate, which occurred in August 2014. Proponents of this movement criticized Gone Home for not having the qualities of a “traditional game”, and various awards and high ratings received solely because of its LGBT-themed content.
However, time has put everything in its place. The term “walking simulator” was no longer a pejorative. The gamergate movement died down. Gone Home itself became an object of emulation for game developers emphasizing “narrative at the expense of environment.”
The game
Gameplay-wise, the game is a “walking simulator”. We move around the game space and interact with various objects. We turn on lights, open doors. We pick up and twirl cans, pencils, felt-tip pens, books, read notes and examine our surroundings. On the last two aspects the developers made the main emphasis when creating the game.
Reading the notes, we build a picture of past events, get the facts. But the environment gives the facts a certain coloring, thanks to which we are better immersed in the atmosphere of the game. The immersion is also positively affected by the fact that the heroine and the player are in equal positions. They both know nothing about the house in which the action takes place.
An empty mansion, with lights off in the rooms, makes an oppressive impression. Instinctively, you start to turn on the lights wherever you can to make it “alive”. At the same time, you create a map of the mansion, in which the lights are a marker that the player has already been in that room. Each room of the mansion has a specific function and is furnished accordingly. You won’t mistake the dining room for a study, or the parents’ bedroom for their daughter’s room. Each room bears the imprint of life. In one there are the writer’s manuscripts and his business correspondence with publishers, in another – a shelter of pillows, the third is the secret place of a couple of teenagers.
The environment in the game refers us back to the times of the 1990s. No, not to bros and crimson jackets, but to CRT TVs, VCRs and video cassettes, NES cartridges and various TV series and magazines.
The game also mentions the feminist movement Riot Grrrl, which emerged in the punk rock of the 90s, and for a while turned rock into an influential subculture. Moreover, the developers do not just mention the performers of this movement, but make their creativity an object of interest for the main heroines of the game. In the game you can find various audio recordings of Bratmobile, Heavens To Betsy, The Youngins – representatives of this movement.
The game is very authentic, which positively affects the immersion in it and the perception of the story. This immersion is also positively affected by the initial inaccessibility of the entire mansion. We gradually open new rooms, find keys to locked doors, combinations to locked safe locks and open secret passages and rooms. Thanks to this approach, there is a sense of mystery in the game. When you find the next page of the diary you realize: “this information is not meant for everyone”, otherwise you wouldn’t have to search for the locker code in different parts of the house for the sake of it. With each note you find, you learn more and more about the Greenbriar family. We gradually discover the story that happened during the absence of the protagonist.
The story is about the breakdown of a family and centers on Sam, the protagonist’s younger sister, who moves to a new school, faces bullying, and subsequently meets her love, Lonnie, her classmate.
The LGBT theme is the core of the entire game. Importantly, while changing the orientation of the heroines in other games (*e.g. Life is Strange or The Last of Us Part 2) wouldn’t change anything, in Gone Home the story would cease to exist. Through notes, we are told about Sam’s experiences, her actions, and the attitudes of others towards her. But the game doesn’t stop there. Along the way, it touches on topics that are relevant at all times: the search for self, creative crisis, the relationship between spouses after years of marriage, the desire for the unknown and misunderstanding on the part of loved ones.
Importantly, the developers don’t shove these issues in your face. They don’t show you a character and say, “Empathize! Her father was killed and he rescued a zebra from the barbed wire! Empathize, man!”. It’s done in moderation. A few photos, notes, and Sam’s voice narrating the events of days gone by. The rest is left to the player and the music, which immerses you in the atmosphere of the game.
However, while touching on a lot of topics, the authors do not reveal a significant part of them. The central thread of the game finds its logical conclusion in the finale, but everything else hangs in the air. Moreover, other themes do not intersect with the central theme in any way, and there is very little interaction between the older generation of the Greenbriar family and the younger. There is only one moment in the game that deals with the generational difference in views on the LGBT – theme.
What’s most disappointing is that the game doesn’t reveal itself as a game. Life is Strange, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, What Remains of Edith Finch, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter had interactive elements and the story was shown to us. The various notes that are present in these games work to immerse us more in the world of the game, rather than telling the entire story as it is in Gone Home.