Solving the mysteries of the Greenbriar family requires careful observation and at least a rudimentary sense of how to put the pieces together. But that doesn't mean you can go on autopilot and let Gone Home happen to you. There's no combat to distract you, and only a couple of simple puzzles to suss out.
Gameplay is first-person exploration - Katie wanders through the various rooms, inspecting objects and letters, collecting useful bits of information. "It's your job to piece together clues and figure out where the hell everyone is" This is Katie's first time in the house - adding to the sense of mystery and unease that permeates Gone Home.
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Throughout, Katie's younger sister, Samantha, narrates a series of journal entries, pulling you through the main story, while other threads are revealed through exploring the house and sifting through notes, objects, photos and so on. It's your job to piece together clues in the environment and figure out where the hell everyone is. Upon arriving at the mansion - on a dark and stormy night, of course - she finds it deserted. Gone Home stars Katie Greenbriar, a young woman visiting her family's new home in 1995 after a year of European traveling. It succeeds, thanks to superb writing and a smart, story-driven approach to architecture and level design. Here you can either turn left or right.Framed as a mystery, and requiring the player to care about its characters' personal lives, Gone Home takes some big risks in a medium that famously struggles with this kind of nuanced story. Then look to the left and you'll see a bookshelf that's slanted.Head inside the path that's behind the bookshelf and keep going until you get to the next area. Examine the height chart at the wooden panel at the side and punch in the latest date onto the safe that's behind you.Now leave the room and enter the door that's diagonal from the one you just came out of.You'll find a scrap of paper on top of the table. Take the cassette tape from the floor on the right side and place it in the cassette player.Also examine the letter inside the nightstand and the note that's tapped near the back room entrance.Head towards the back room and open the light. Examine it then put it back down and it will reveal a note attached to its back.Head for the door that's slightly ajar at the end of the hallway and you'll find yourself inside a room. Open it and you'll find a small article clipping.Further down the path there's a book sitting on top of a round side table. The narrative towards the very end of the game flows essentially like this.
The developers changed the Gone Home page at some point to describe it as “A Story Exploration Video Game”, maybe to mitigate some of the (admittedly very small) criticism from journalists and gamers who point this out.What’s interesting is that you actually do have a single choice to make, and it can change the ending completely.Credit for finding this one goes to my wife Melissa, who stumbled into this completely by accident. To qualify as a game, the user’s actions would have a bearing on the narrative for example, actions would dictate branching paths, alter the choices given to the player, the ending would be different, etc. Gone Home only barely qualifies as a game it’s more of an interactive narrative where the pace is controlled by the player and can be explored non-linearly. It’s a wonderful mental snapshot that is difficult to evoke in more traditional visual media it raised genuine emotion in me, which is rare for a game.Or, rather, narrative. (This article spoils Gone Home, so if you haven’t played it and want to, stop reading.)Last year I played, and loved it - not for its gameplay (more on this later), but for its near-perfect capture of teenage girl angst in the 1990s.
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