Gone Home

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2245 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 939 out of 2245
  2. Mixed: 433 out of 2245
  3. Negative: 873 out of 2245

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  1. Fre
    Sep 7, 2013
    0
    This is not a game this is a one this is a first person lifetime movie with no real game play this is over hype and not worth anyone time unless you want a 2 hour 20$
  2. jl1108
    Sep 13, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Two girls fell in love and ran away! The parents went to couple's counseling for an affair the wife had. That's why no one's home! That's it! I just saved you an hour of your life! The entire game is just exploring the house and listening to some girl monologue about her budding romance with a girl named Loni. Yes, you can open doors, turn on lights, pick stuff up and shallowly toss them aside. You can read countless bits of meaninglessly pieces of paper.… Expand
  3. Pannox
    Jun 26, 2014
    2
    Hello there childrens, join me today for the most boring, akward, not-interesting journey about Sam, some girl with no personality whatsoever!

    As first, let's get this through: this is a first person adventure, so I wasn't expecting much action or big stuff goin on since it's all based on the plot. But why do you even make a game like this if your plot it's usless? We'll focus more on    Hello there childrens, join me today for the most boring, akward, not-interesting journey about Sam, some girl with no personality whatsoever!

    As first, let's get this through: this is a first person adventure, so I wasn't expecting much action or big stuff goin on since it's all based on the plot.
    But why do you even make a game like this if your plot it's usless? We'll focus more on this later.

    The map it's surprisingly good looking, and there are lot of stuff you can interact with, and most of them will bring you back the 90s feel (such as VHS, cassette tapes etc). Most of the models looks very good, and the graphic is fine.

    I don't really know what to say about the soundtrack. Sometimes it's really really good and it work well with the moment, sometimes well.. it's just silly. A sad song pops up almost out of nowhere, or you find a cassette tape with a song that will make your ear bleed and grow a mouth that will ask you to stop playing the game.

    The voice acting it's good, but in the end, there is just 1 actress, the main protagonist talking. She's good, but doesen't help the story to look interesting. Also, her laugh makes me unconfortable.

    And now, the main thing about the game. The story. Short, predictable and pointless. ****

    You have this setting: you're Sam, a girl that it's coming back home after a while to find out that no one it's home. But why? We'll see that later on.
    You have to explore the home to find out more about your past and to what happened to everyone. Turns out you're "not attracted to men" and you had a long complicated story with your partner. A love story that for most of the time it's **** akward to listen and really made me unconfortable BUT NOT because of the sexual iterest into someone of the same gender, don't get me wrong, it was akward BECAUSE IT GET REALLY **** RIDICULOUS FOR MOST OF THE EVENTS SHE'S NARRATING. And most of this event ends up with her crying. What a surprise.
    In the end, to be honest, the story could have been interesting or a little more enjoyable if something big whould happen, like some trama plot. But nope, in the end they tear apart, they never saw each other, teh edn. Boo-hoo ending I guess. Not working at all.
    Oh and what happened to the family, why they leave the house? I dunno. Why, do you care? Should we care? I think the story it's already good without some explanation. Effin-great.

    Also, this game looks easy as it can gets. There are almost no puzzles, just a bunch of combination or paper that tells you where to find hidden spots (just 2 or 3 in the whole game) and it's super short. I've beat this game in 77 minutes. And what's the best part? If you like to mess around, you could easly find the main hidden spot, get the key, go to the attic and beat the game in 3 minutes! Who designed this **** Aha!

    Final rating: 2/10

    You probably need to be some Tumblr feminist girl to enjoy this story. Probably even them find this game offensive.

    Oh, almost forgot, this won "Best PC game" over "Paper, please" and "Stanley Parable". Good.    … Expand
  4. KwaNilius
    Dec 1, 2013
    0
    This is not a game. This is a scam for money. The programming is so crappy you could glitch the game and finish it in a matter 60 seconds.

    The critics here are liars, they are paid to the bones to make this game look good. Please steer clear and save the video game industry by not touching anything like this.
  5. Halberd96
    Dec 28, 2013
    0
    Absurdly overpriced (20$) for a game that only lasts 1-2 hours and has very simplistic gameplay. I kind of wish I had some sort of warning about this before I bought it. The story is engaging at first until you realize nothing really interesting is going on and they may as well have made the story into a short movie or at least cut the price down significantly, I mean for a game that hasAbsurdly overpriced (20$) for a game that only lasts 1-2 hours and has very simplistic gameplay. I kind of wish I had some sort of warning about this before I bought it. The story is engaging at first until you realize nothing really interesting is going on and they may as well have made the story into a short movie or at least cut the price down significantly, I mean for a game that has story as its main focus the whole thing felt very underwhelming and when I figured out what the game wanted me to figure out I thought there had to be more to the story but I was wrong. I think I'd have appreciated it a lot more if the price was significantly reduced and there were more gameplay mechanics besides walking around a house looking at things but unfortunately Gone Home just didn't do it for me.… Expand
  6. technophobia
    May 25, 2014
    2
    The reviews would have you believe this is worth your time and the price of entry - critics are meant to be critical, sadly, this game got a free pass for tackling a coming of age story with a mundane, predictable twist. Save yourself the trouble - read a book instead.
  7. Danny350
    Jun 30, 2014
    0
    This is not a game, it is an audio log with the ability to walk around. "Unravel the mystery for yourself" Your sister is a homosexual, mystery solved, and I saved you $20.
  8. GanymedeJupiter
    Oct 20, 2013
    0
    Prior to playing this I had heard so many praising it as one of the greatest stories in any video game. Upon finishing I questioned whether those people had any idea what a good story actually is, because Gone Home; despite it's reputation as a great story-focused game; is executed so poorly that it barely qualifies as a game or even a story.

    There is nothing of interest to discover    Prior to playing this I had heard so many praising it as one of the greatest stories in any video game. Upon finishing I questioned whether those people had any idea what a good story actually is, because Gone Home; despite it's reputation as a great story-focused game; is executed so poorly that it barely qualifies as a game or even a story.

    There is nothing of interest to discover here but a teenage girl's struggle with her friend. It's different sure, but in the end it's a conflict that has already been resolved and means there is nothing to become involved with or witness here. After 30 minutes to 2 hours of nothing but wandering this empty house, your reward is minimal emotional payoff, and then you're greeted with the credits as trashy 90s punk rips through your ears.

    I'm upset to see this proclaimed as a good story when the only reason to care for it is if it resonates with your life in some way. There are no events to behold or become hooked by, or even a narrative to experience. It's the artistic equivalent of a poetry piece posted to tumblr. No craft has been put into making this something genuinely great or interesting. It feels like a self-serving vanity project that possesses no substance as story or game. The only merit I found in Gone Home is that it is a display of how terrible something in this medium can be without being broken or offensive.    … Expand
  9. egn
    Aug 20, 2016
    0
    Pretentious, hipster nonsense. Presents itself as "art" but really feels more like a proof-of-concept for the real game they intend to build, but never did nor will ever actually create.

    Again: Pretentious, hipster nonsense.
  10. Myelinated
    Aug 27, 2013
    0
    Short stories aren't games, especially when they have no game play. If the story didn't take advantage of lesbians, no one would care about the story.
  11. QOO
    Nov 16, 2013
    0
    I'm sorry, but Walking Simulator 2014 (Gone Home) should not be sold. What you get for 20 bucks is a 2 hour game at the most, with a boring story.. The gameplay is non-existent, so if you wanted a game, you'll be disappointed. There really is no appeal to this game, and no one should be buying this. There are adventure games out there that give more story and interactivity. Play them.
  12. Rocker
    Oct 23, 2013
    1
    I LOVE adventure games so I really wanted to give it a shot. What I didn't expect was the terrible storyline. It feels like a LGBT organization created the story to push an agenda. While politics aren't the main focus of the game, the constant jabs are there. I would stay away if you don't like leftist politics jammed down your throat the whole game.

    I'll give it a 1 instead of a 0    I LOVE adventure games so I really wanted to give it a shot. What I didn't expect was the terrible storyline. It feels like a LGBT organization created the story to push an agenda. While politics aren't the main focus of the game, the constant jabs are there. I would stay away if you don't like leftist politics jammed down your throat the whole game.

    I'll give it a 1 instead of a 0 because other than the political slant, it's mildly entertaining.    … Expand
  13. MorganFreeman
    Oct 4, 2013
    2
    This is one of the good sample of "ridiculously overrated short story types" which shouldn't be released to cruel and very elective PC platform. Especially for 20 dollars. Really?! You can buy bundles by that money. PC gamers expect much more than this however just because of it's an emotional story-even though it's a bad and very very histrionic one, so that i would almost puke- playersThis is one of the good sample of "ridiculously overrated short story types" which shouldn't be released to cruel and very elective PC platform. Especially for 20 dollars. Really?! You can buy bundles by that money. PC gamers expect much more than this however just because of it's an emotional story-even though it's a bad and very very histrionic one, so that i would almost puke- players want to experience it.
    Actually producers of this game can tell us what they want to in 2 paragraphs instead of making 1 hour game. Besides it is short, it is so boring, overly histrionic, average graphics but nothing.
    Terrible.    … Expand
  14. dasparado
    Aug 30, 2013
    2
    Felt a bit cheated on this one. I was pretty disappointed at the end. I played the entire thing in a few hours as my wife watched behind me which she like to do. She likes horror games and kept joking on the fact that nothing in this game is scary at all. It seems to try to be, with no payoff......ever.

    The entire thing seemed to be a tribute to girl-power homosexuality. Everything    Felt a bit cheated on this one. I was pretty disappointed at the end. I played the entire thing in a few hours as my wife watched behind me which she like to do. She likes horror games and kept joking on the fact that nothing in this game is scary at all. It seems to try to be, with no payoff......ever.

    The entire thing seemed to be a tribute to girl-power homosexuality. Everything else in the game was just filler, or more like red herrings which tried to convince you that this was actually a game. I laughed when I saw all the critics giving it 10's. To the masses that are asking why, allow me to opine...Replace the name Lonnie with Lenny and the scores all drop by 3-4 points. It all has to do with being PC and our modern day politics. I have nothing against these issues, just stay out of my games.    … Expand
  15. MireMare
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Not worth the money on Steam, inferior to something similar like Dear Esther. Resonated even less since I am from the UK and it's very USA specific in it's attempts to evoke nostalgia. Don't buy it.
  16. sdi
    Sep 27, 2013
    3
    This finely crafted interactive movie can be hardly considered a game and definitely does not resemble what the deceptive marketing made it out to be.
  17. nobynobygiant
    Oct 22, 2013
    2
    This is an interactive story dressed as a game. The story is not that good and the interaction barely scratches the surface of what's possible inside a game world. Paying 9,49 euros on it during the 50% off period still feels like being ripped off. Also, Idle Thumbs can really hype the out of a bad experience.
  18. giffdiretidee
    Jan 29, 2014
    0
    A poorly written story that received undeserved positive praise because of its themes. Just because something tackles difficult issues in society does not automatically make it a good literary work or video game. The critic reviews reflect very poorly on the current state of video game journalism.
  19. mysteriousfleas
    Dec 7, 2013
    0
    You can't even call this a game, it's a pretentious media presentation which presents a narrative wank job for those with a persecution complex to satisfy themselves with. Utter crap.
  20. kurcinamasna
    Dec 29, 2013
    1
    If you are unbearably board,and like mild a ass storyline this is a game for you.Who made this crap should unninstal all programs related to programing and buy a
  21. PapaKronos
    Jan 14, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. $20 for a boring 1 hour game with a bad story....great. No idea why it's being showered with the critical praise it's been getting.
    The story is sub-par, the game is technically/graphically average, and it doesn't really bring anything "revolutionary" to gaming (we've been discovering stories by finding clues for a long time now...)

    The entirety of Gone Home's "gameplay" consists of walking around a house and looking at/ touching objects...seriously...that's the entire "game", no puzzles, nothing. Don't waste your time with this poor excuse for a "game".

    Again, I don't get why it is getting showered with praise unless it's some sort of industry-wide prank by the "professional critics" who, apparently, are so out of touch with gamers that they are giving this trash near perfect/GOTY scores while the majority of users are giving it near 0 scores... Is it the subject matter of a lesbian girl? I mean, who cares?? That doesn't make the story any better because the teenage sister is a lesbian and it doesn't improve the bare bones graphics and lack of gameplay!!! So what if people are gay??? Does it really matter that much? If so, why?    … Expand
  22. Tubey
    Dec 5, 2014
    2
    It's awful! Genuinely, utterly awful! I didn't check the score for this one before playing, and I am flabbergasted at this title getting 100 from the likes of Polygon.

    Don't get me wrong, this ISN'T about the LGBT theme. You know what, a good game with this idea, executed properly, would be interesting, and I have to stress my review isn't a reactionary score to "social justice    It's awful! Genuinely, utterly awful! I didn't check the score for this one before playing, and I am flabbergasted at this title getting 100 from the likes of Polygon.

    Don't get me wrong, this ISN'T about the LGBT theme. You know what, a good game with this idea, executed properly, would be interesting, and I have to stress my review isn't a reactionary score to "social justice warriors", whatever they are exactly.

    But, seriously, this is at best a demo of a game. You know those demo discs you used to get on the PS2 etc.? One of those. Because it's clearly not a finished game.

    Or it may be, actually. Maybe the intention of the devs was to create a pretentious short story, completely devoid of any semblance of reality. Who knows. But what I can't understand is how a game I finished in just over ONE hour can be a full priced, retail title. No exaggeration either, one hour.

    But let's pretend it could have been the best one hour of pure gameplay ever. Was it? Hell no. No, no, no. It's so painfully bland. The visuals are bland (yes, they're very 'nineties', but also quite blocky and unappealing), the gameplay consists of walking in first-person, picking something up, going "oh, look at that", putting it down, picking something else up, and so on.

    Immersion isn't there because the whole concept is so utterly stupid. Yeah, you go home, nobody is there, you find a note warning not to look in further, so what does your average teenager do? Well, without spoilers, if you asked 1,000 teenagers who were 15 years old in the mid-90s what they'd do, you wouldn't find one who'd do what this game portrays.

    So there you have it. A game that has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever, getting perfect scores from respected review sites. So you have to look at the reasons why, and I can only conclude that the subject matter dealt with by the tedious narrative has resulted in reviewers who WANT flawless games about these subjects deciding that it IS the perfect game about this subject.

    It's not. It scores a 2 as there's no bugs to speak of and it wasn't stupid enough to charge $60 etc. But as a game, it's unplayably tedious.

    I hope a good dev out there plays this title, realises the inherent potential and comes up with a great game that deals with the issues this title wants to address but fails miserably at doing so. Avoid at all costs.    … Expand
  23. PtolemyAFX
    Dec 26, 2013
    4
    Gone Home is a disappointing experience. While the throwbacks to the 90s are nice, and the house itself is nice to look round, the game's core is its story, and it's here where it fails to impress. Without revealing too much, the story is very pedestrian, and you'll find yourself becoming quite bored; you'll either stop playing about two thirds in or just get it over with as quickly asGone Home is a disappointing experience. While the throwbacks to the 90s are nice, and the house itself is nice to look round, the game's core is its story, and it's here where it fails to impress. Without revealing too much, the story is very pedestrian, and you'll find yourself becoming quite bored; you'll either stop playing about two thirds in or just get it over with as quickly as possible. Not to mention the whole thing takes a few hours to get through and has no replay value whatsoever.

    For a game that has nothing else going for it other than its plot, this is a fatal flaw. There's nothing to really recommend here. Avoid.    … Expand
  24. TheNapier
    Dec 23, 2013
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The year 1995 was a very special year in my life, one that I, as a teenager, remember quite fondly. Among my memories of that time, I spent several days at my uncle's large house during the final week of October. His house has always been a place that has stimulated my imagination due to its size, design, and atmosphere a house not unlike the one featured in "Gone Home". From the moment I first heard of the nostalgic setting and period for "Gone Home," I knew I just had to have it.

    First, the positives. Although some have taken issue with the graphics, I actually thought they greatly contributed to the game's overall sense of isolation and eeriness. I almost believed I was back in my uncle's house. The game's sound effects are equally beneficial to setting the mood. Playing the game with headphones on, I found myself wondering "What was that?" when I thought I heard someone in another room. And the control, though very basic, is pretty much all you need for a game like this, though I would've liked a "run" feature to help me get around faster.

    Now, the negatives. The game is incredibly short. Three hours, done. Once you beat the game, you could replay it, but probably only once. Really, I don't see any point to replaying it even one time. The game's storyline was also very disappointing. I went into this game spoiler-free, so I was really let down that what seemed to be a thriller-mystery quickly revealed itself as a sappy love story that I had zero interest in. At first, I was thinking that maybe Samantha and Lonnie, two outcasts in their school, were going to form a suicide pact and were already dead, but revelations from Sam's diary gradually reveal that the two are lesbians who want to run away together. It's obvious that the game's makers are making a social commentary on homosexual relationships, but it just seems really weird to have that subject matter in a setting that feels more like "Resident Evil" than an after-school special. I also had a major problem with the inclusion of an actual Ouija board in the game. Though you never actually use it, it's there, hidden behind a wall panel. For those who, like me, are very sensitive about such things, this factor alone prevents me from recommending the game to anyone.

    For over twenty years, "Battletoads," for NES, was the most overrated game I ever played. Within a few short hours, a new dubious champion was crowned. I really, really wanted to like this game. But, due to its length, story, and mediocre gameplay, I cannot agree with the critics who are singing its praises. In a year full of great independent games, "Gone Home" is not even in the same league as "The Stanley Parable" or "Papers, Please," two games that are not only worthy of their acclaim, but are already modern classics in my eyes. Is this the worst game I've ever played? No, not even close. I wouldn't say it's a bad game, but it's not even good enough for me to call it "just good". It's average. That's all "Gone Home" is, a critically acclaimed, average game. Way to kill my 1995 nostalgia trip, Fullbright.    … Expand
  25. Stormy_alpha
    Sep 12, 2014
    2
    If i ever get asked to demonstrate what a anti-climax is, i'll glady point to this game. Everything it could have been, it failed miserably at.
    It was 20 minutes long for me, so, it's incredebly short. There is no carachter development, actually, there are no caracthers, the main protagonist could be a man, a women, a goat or an alien and the game would have been the same. The rest could    If i ever get asked to demonstrate what a anti-climax is, i'll glady point to this game. Everything it could have been, it failed miserably at.
    It was 20 minutes long for me, so, it's incredebly short. There is no carachter development, actually, there are no caracthers, the main protagonist could be a man, a women, a goat or an alien and the game would have been the same. The rest could be same or the other "caracthers" who are only present through messages "ex: notes".
    I get that it tries to send a message of oppresed love wich drove the girls to run away, but because off the lack of emotional development, it fails at that too.
    It does create a horror like mood, but doesn't act on it.
    I guess were supposed to feel bad or emphathyze with Sam, but that doesn't happen either, not because she's a lesbian, or because she's a women, not only because she was not present, but because the story did not change due to her influence. Furthermore, between games with an absolutely amazing capabilyty of playing with the emotions of the one playing it (Ex: The Walking Dead series, ...), games with amazing storylines and worlds, worth exploring and diving into (Ex: TWD, Shadow of the Colossus, TES ...), Gone Home felt like it didn't even try to make it worth while, it didn't try to compete.

    TL;DR - 20 minutes of boring yet eerie gameplay that leads to no character development, no climax, only the revelation that two girls ran away together because of social stygma.

    PS: How did paid critics give this an average score of 86? I mean, i would get a 50 or even go as far as a 60, but a 86? How can this get a 86 while Alan Wake, a game much better crafted and tailored, with a much more interesting story and a much more lore friendly world, gets a 8.3?    … Expand
  26. EDPVincent
    Oct 28, 2014
    0
    I like stories in videogames. I even like videogames that are nothing but story, like The Stanley Parable. But this """game""" is one of the worst I have played recently.
    The story? Boring, cliched, and predictable. The ending? Boring. The atmosphere? Boring. The gameplay? What gameplay?
    Even if this was a movie instead of a videogame, it would be bad. Do not play it.
  27. Showtime22
    Dec 3, 2014
    0
    Ya man...this is totally a game...In opposite land...Because nonviolent games where you don't do anything and nothing happens is so much fun... Get that trash off my screen...Hipsters
  28. MarianneWB
    Jan 29, 2016
    4
    Gone Home
    Gone home was about a girl named Kaitlin Greenbriar that returns home in June, 1995 to a mansion in Arbor Hill, Oregon. When Kaitlin enters the house she realizes that nobody is home. Kaitlin investigates the house and try to find out where the family is. Her mum Janice, her dad Terry and her sister Samantha (Sam) Greenbriar. The player, Kaitlin, find objects which open other    Gone Home
    Gone home was about a girl named Kaitlin Greenbriar that returns home in June, 1995 to a mansion in Arbor Hill, Oregon. When Kaitlin enters the house she realizes that nobody is home. Kaitlin investigates the house and try to find out where the family is. Her mum Janice, her dad Terry and her sister Samantha (Sam) Greenbriar. The player, Kaitlin, find objects which open other area in the house. She found a lot of letters in drawers and secret rooms. It was most letters about her sister Samantha, and her journal. You have to search for information and keys while you exploring. You have to find a key to the attic.
    Kaitlin didn’t find her family when she came home, and then I think this is the message. That it is not funny to don’t find her family. She didn’t understand what have happened whit them.
    The game was a bit fun, but it was difficult to find out what I search for, but it was easier when I find more and more information. You have to use the map and the information you have found a lot to find secret rooms.
    The photography was very good. The game was more realistic when the photography and pictures was good. It looks like you was in the game. It was also good music and sound effects, for an example thunderstorm. So that was a plus. It was also cassettes that was very fun to play.
    I didn’t like the game so much, because it was very much information to find. It took a lot of time to find all information’s and keys to open the attic. I was very excited for the end, but the end was very bad and boring. In the end I didn’t get a result on what have happened with the family, special Sam. I expected to find a dead body of Sam or something, but the only thing I found was a book. Just one little book. When I opened it, the game was over.
    Because of that I think I will give the game a 4/10.    … Expand
  29. fikeus
    Aug 26, 2013
    0
    I don't think I've ever purchased a game before, then after finishing wanted my money back. This would be the first. At least if you purchase Kindle novel you have 7 days to return it for a full refund. The same should apply for this Gone Home, as after all it's more of a very short novel, than a game.
  30. daemongar
    Dec 27, 2013
    0
    There is no game. Saying there was a game here is a joke. The only reason critics like it is because of the lesbian empowerment angle. Yes, the game review industry is that sad. It's not fun, nothing happens, it ends and then you get angry for having spent money on this. Hipsters may like it, critics have NO CHOICE but to like it, but game players shouldn't be tricked into spending moneyThere is no game. Saying there was a game here is a joke. The only reason critics like it is because of the lesbian empowerment angle. Yes, the game review industry is that sad. It's not fun, nothing happens, it ends and then you get angry for having spent money on this. Hipsters may like it, critics have NO CHOICE but to like it, but game players shouldn't be tricked into spending money on this.

    Dear Esther is a much better game if you like this sort of "game." At least it has atmosphere and beautiful graphics. This allows you to explore a house I last saw in U9.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Best PC Game of 2013
11
#11 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
3
#3 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 56 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 56
  3. Negative: 0 out of 56
  1. JeuxActu
    Feb 10, 2015
    85
    Grow Home is an interesting surprise from a publisher who get used to mismanaging his own IP's. This platformer like no other has everything going for you and for a very low price tag. You can easily give it a try.
    Read full review
  2. IGN Italia
    Jan 5, 2014
    95
    A beautiful, emotionally engaging, artfully crafted game, completely centered around exploration and telling a mature story through interaction.
    Read full review
  3. RPG Fan
    Dec 2, 2013
    75
    A story that will move some and alienate others.
    Read full review
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