A house that has a lot to tell ...

Again, a small indie project that has crept into my games. Again, it appears that beyond the Games bombast of big business still really good ideas and creativity exist, the small independent development groups, know in some cases even just a lonely programmer to realize the simplest means and a lot of love. The more of these interesting as amazing experiments, the better. An enrichment for the landscape they are all games.

Now to "gone home" (= GH).
A game that is none at all in the proper sense. It can be best described as rewrite "exploration adventure", but has a very different objective: By pure "search and find" the story of "Gone Home" composed like a puzzle piece by piece, until it is fully and comprehensibly.
It starts with the fact that we right across Europe are in the shape of the prospective student Kaitlin Greenbriar after a year traveling abroad again on our doorstep, on a July day of the year 1995. The joyful felt by the family is from, it is in fact no one home. Father, Mother, Sister Sam - all gone. Where and why, that's the big question that needs to be answered by the player apprehended and investigation of the house itself ...

GH is a title that takes advantage of the expectations of the player as a motivator and it creates many moments of manipulation. The storm that rages outside. The gigantic emptiness that emits large Greenbiar house. The disorder, which is to be found in virtually any space. News, notes, voice mail and photos, some worry that a disturbing mood. It goes quickly from the worst:
"I'm in a horror scenario? Has this crime occurred? What did it all mean?"

Avoid spoilers of any kind is paramount here, otherwise you take yourself a great deal of gradually building up tension, not to mention the element of surprise in the resolution of the whole whole. Anyone with as little as possible (pre) knowledge of "Gone Home" approach gropes, has the intense gaming experience. For one or another, the final declaration could probably look very banal, considered from the emotional point of view this indie work is implemented it masterfully.

"Search and you shall find" - which is not only an award-called quote from Dan Brown's last "Inferno" (which I inferred devour my current reading evenings), consists of more the "gameplay" of GH not fact. Almost any object can be taken up and considered in more detail, switch devices on and off as hidden paths are opened. With enough attention and observation to quickly find information on the next steps, which completes the action to another detail and reveals more information about the Greenbiars. So you get to know the family better conditions, experiencing intimate secrets - and understands why leave the house looks and urgently calls for a Pure Make-wife. ;)

As I said, GH is a indie game, hence no technical masterpiece. Mostly very edgy objects and textures of fairly blurred quality characterize the stale look, but the old-fashioned look somehow fits. GH is supposed to reflect an image of the past 1990 years, and succeeds easily. References to the former pop culture (VHS and audio tapes, video game modules, references to "The X-Files", the good old drink cans ...) we discovered almost everywhere. Thus, the design of the house, despite the unspectacular graphics quality very successful, very authentic - for connoisseurs this time a nice trip back in an old, yet very familiar decade.
Where the appearance still shows weaknesses, the sound backdrop of GH can convince more. Be it the creaking of the floorboards, the patter of the storm rain on the windows, the loud thunder, the hum of the refrigerator or the creak of old doors, all kinds of active and passive sound effects were considered and give a realistic feel when you move through the house, each room searched. The only spokesperson of the whole game, the little sister Sam lends her voice and be read short letters feel life's little sister reproduces insistently does her job very well also.

The "Collector's Edition" of GH sounds lush and precious, so please do not expect too much just by name. The packaging is reminiscent of the old SNES Module boxes, DVD bag features an extremely cheesy colorful motif, a label (the loading screen in the form of an audio cassette) and a poster (a to be discovered in the game Comic) found it also as well - and that's probably the real highlight of this edition - a notebook of the game designer, in which the basic ideas, the ideas and the individual development steps of GH were detained. An exciting look, as long as you can decipher these Sauklaue handwriting reasonably. * G *
In addition to the DRM-free version the game can also be activated via Steam. Laudable!

Incidentally, there is no reason to shy away from the completely held in English language version of GH, a simple Google search should quickly lead to German language patch, which is available from the Steam community for some time to download. Despite the one or the other early mistake when it comes to spelling a great service by gamers for gamers.

Conclusion:
A very special game. A very refreshing way of storytelling. Exciting and relaxing. Skill, responsiveness and power of deduction are not required here, and who is looking for just that, should better refrain from buying GH. But for those who value an immersive story and atmosphere, can or should take a look. As a precaution, it should be noted that GH is a very short (!) Weiliges pleasure. More than 2 hours are unlikely rumkommen here.