Gone Home

I came to this a few years later after hearing all of the hype and it does live up to it. Presented as a horror game, from the talk about ghosts to the dread in the atmosphere, it's really not that, unless you look at it metaphorically, like coming out of the closet is a terror in itself. It's the walking simulator done right.

Brilliantly written and with inspired voice work.

I really like the little details and underlying themes; the sister had my empathy right away, but the father's story is the one that really captured me. I could have easily missed all the pieces but I'm glad I looked

What a wonderful story. Not much of a game of course, but I do like the level of detail they put into the house. The story did a fantastic job developing this character and the story in such a short amount of time. Glad I played this. My score here is mostly reflective of the fact that it's super short and doesn't have a lot going on game wise.

"that's it?!" twist

This is the game that showed me how to tell stories just thru exploration. There are multiple personal tales in this house, and it's perfectly set up to let you explore them at your own pace, building up to cathartic, bittersweet revelations. It feels real in the right ways, and heightened and exaggerated in the right ways. Gosh I enjoyed it.

Treats homosexuality as a horror movie jumpscare and then won a bunch of awards for it. A lesson in why you should shove hipsters into lockers and give them swirlies.

"indie game" is generally a much broader descriptor than "indie film", but this is exactly the sort of game you'd expect from the latter phrase. fairly empty and dull.

As an interactive museum its quite fine. It just never really develops a good tone which might have made this slightly more memorable.

The single most impressive execution of interactive entertainment. I've never been more profoundly enveloped by exploring environments than in this game.

I appreciate games that try to pull the same kind of emotional punches as other art forms. It's kind of about time -- nobody should be surprised about these games becoming the hot new critical darlings. I also appreciate that this one utilizes horror game cliches to subvert expectations.

Not much of a game, but more of an okay story, told through letters, diaries and tape recorders found around the house that you're investigating. Not the most earth shattering experience, but if you want to pass the time with a little indie title, this will probably do nicely.

Good walking simulators can get away with not having invert-x.

The atmosphere presented in this short exploration game is brilliant intense at times. I won't discuss too many details but there is a decent mystery to unravel here as you slowly uncover each additional clue. Definitely not for everyone, but for some it will be a memorable experience.

A sweet simple story, don't know if this really needed to be a game.

It was sad and sweet, and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes.