Gone Home: Console Edition

 PlayStation 4
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 493 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 143 out of 493
  2. Mixed: 115 out of 493
  3. Negative: 235 out of 493

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  1. MonteRAID
    Apr 25, 2023
    4
    When are we going to stop celebrating someone sexuality as an achievement! This game try to push some hidden Agenda that Homosexuality is something Big which is not, it’s just an orientation just like bisexual and any other sex inclination.
  2. Parag0N
    Aug 13, 2022
    2
    A two hour commercial for the alphabet people. If this wasn’t full of emotionally manipulative pandering woke garbage it would score a 4 at best. If you think it’s a huge revelation to learn someone is gay at this point go ahead and waste your time. For anyone else-I just saved you two hours. Your’e welcome!
  3. cdbarlow
    Mar 27, 2022
    0
    I created a Metacritic account just to warn others about this awful, awful game. The entire game consists of going from room to room, pointing at everything everywhere until something glows, then zooming in on it and turning it around. Rinse and repeat for a measly 55 minutes. That's literally the entire game. Nothing ever happens except a woke teenage love story cliché that had me rollingI created a Metacritic account just to warn others about this awful, awful game. The entire game consists of going from room to room, pointing at everything everywhere until something glows, then zooming in on it and turning it around. Rinse and repeat for a measly 55 minutes. That's literally the entire game. Nothing ever happens except a woke teenage love story cliché that had me rolling my eyes. It's basically a "look meticulously through a storage room of just tons of old junk" simulator. Ultimately, you click on a random notebook and it fades to black with a short voiceover and the game is over before anything ever happened... yet IGN gave this a 9.5 probably because it's WOKE!… Expand
  4. Badr90s
    Sep 24, 2021
    1
    It was nothing but an empty house to walk through listening to a girl describing a lesbian story, boring af if you tell me
  5. Bizancio_Askatu
    Aug 9, 2021
    4
    If you think that a silly idealized stereotypical filled with clichés story becomes great just by adding homosexuality to it, you may enjoy this game a lot. Otherwise you will probably find this walking simulator a short pretentious and infuriating experience.
    The only think I liked was OST due the female-fronted punk bands.
  6. LurkerAccount
    Jan 16, 2021
    2
    An important game because it inspired a lot of great games, but Gone Home itself is bad.
  7. TopoBerneta
    Nov 15, 2018
    3
    Walking simulator if u want to buy this, don't buy it from more than 2 bucks.
  8. Henriquez94
    Jun 5, 2018
    4
    DECEPCIONANTE, completamente vacio.
    EL juego lo puedes acabar en menos de 9 minutos.
    Exploracion muy pobre, banda sonora (no tiene), jugabilidad nula, es mas un simulador de pasear en una casa, de ir husmeando por ahi, graficamente no se puede calificar. Juego en primera persona, una historia , bueno si es que se puede decir que tiene historia. Juego lo obtuve con PS PLus, si lo se una    DECEPCIONANTE, completamente vacio.
    EL juego lo puedes acabar en menos de 9 minutos.
    Exploracion muy pobre, banda sonora (no tiene), jugabilidad nula, es mas un simulador de pasear en una casa, de ir husmeando por ahi, graficamente no se puede calificar.
    Juego en primera persona, una historia , bueno si es que se puede decir que tiene historia.
    Juego lo obtuve con PS PLus, si lo se una desgracia de servicio, por regalar titulos asi.    … Expand
  9. OwtDaft
    May 10, 2018
    0
    + Voice acting is pretty good.
    + Normally a bad thing but not in this case, It's short...
    - Considering the great reviews, it shocks me that this turned out to be the worst game I ever played. - Story sucks and doesn't fit with the atmosphere of the house. - Just a walking simulator. Without beautiful graphics or music other walking simulators have. DULL. - The story is very cheesy    + Voice acting is pretty good.
    + Normally a bad thing but not in this case, It's short...
    - Considering the great reviews, it shocks me that this turned out to be the worst game I ever played.
    - Story sucks and doesn't fit with the atmosphere of the house.
    - Just a walking simulator. Without beautiful graphics or music other walking simulators have. DULL.
    - The story is very cheesy and is basically a forbidden love story, very cliche and cringy.
    - The score of 0/10 is a serous score and not a joke. The game bored me to death.    … Expand
  10. Beckasha
    Jan 4, 2018
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. They hint horror and give you nothing. The ending sees your gay sister run off with her military deserter girlfriend. No murder. No ghosts. Nothing they hinted at. If she had ran off with a boy, it wouldnt have such a high critical score. They just didnt want to say anything bad about the game. Pandering. It certainly didnt deserve goty. By far the worst game I have ever played and coming from me, someone who has been gaming since 1986, that says a lot.… Expand
  11. Abandoneduser63
    Aug 10, 2017
    0
    Yet another useless PS Plus freebie I downloaded to see what the hype was about. I am so disappointed at all the clearly false positive reviews. Especially since Slender was a better walking simulator compared to this.
  12. User3
    Jul 27, 2017
    0
    Why do critics like this game? It shows the divide between people who play games and people who review them. Gamers want gameplay, reviewers want pandering to their politics.
  13. maggnus
    Jul 26, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. La mayor basura de videojuego, perdida de tiempo no, lo siguiente. Sin argumento, predecible, sin puzzles, una mierda de simulador de paseo por una casa vacia, sin sustos y sin suspense. Te ahorraré unas horas de tu tiempo, y espero que dinero. SPOILER: Tu hermana se ha ido. punto, no la han matado, no hay misterios, se ha largado porque le ha salido de los huevos. ARGUMENTAZO.… Expand
  14. SuperDuck23
    May 28, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When making a game like this it is paramount that the story and writing is of good quality to make it worthwhile. Unfortunately this wasn't the case for this game. The only aspect I thought was well executed was the non-linear narration reveal at the end, but that wasn't enough to make me satisfied with the experience. With a clichéd story and bland gameplay, there is little to salvage Gone Home.… Expand
  15. Rykki
    Mar 28, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Shame on the makers of this game for lying about the premise to push an agenda. This "game" has all the trappings of a horror/exploration game. It couldn't be further from the truth. You are coming home after a European trip, and everyone leaves just before you get there? Your family is a bunch of selfish jerks. And the whole point of the "game" is your sister is a lesbian, that ran away to be with her partner. Welcome home.… Expand
  16. sierick
    Jan 9, 2017
    0
    Wow the only reason this "game" gets any good reviews is because it is a Lesbian Love story. It is not a game, it is awful. Super boring, just clicking on things. Talk about Bias in the "Mainstream" media. 000
  17. zGoldenOG
    Oct 15, 2016
    4
    Game extremamente curto, com história clichê. Ambientação que supostamente deveria ser de terror,não apresenta nenhum indicio sobrenatural. Não vale a pena comprar esse game.
  18. GamesForward
    Sep 16, 2016
    1
    After 3 years since the Steam version, this game finally came to the Playstation 4, with very little graphical updates and virtually brings absolutely nothing new on the table. This is a questionable attempt to bring this game to the next gen console in any meaningful way..........

    I've played this game on Steam and frankly, I was initially thought that this game was an exploration of    After 3 years since the Steam version, this game finally came to the Playstation 4, with very little graphical updates and virtually brings absolutely nothing new on the table. This is a questionable attempt to bring this game to the next gen console in any meaningful way..........

    I've played this game on Steam and frankly, I was initially thought that this game was an exploration of wonders, it turns out to be a very underwhelming story of a lesbian sister running away, a story I read in many fanfics and dramas, had the game have a wider scope of form in storytelling I would have easily accept it, turns out that the scope is not only narrow, it is shallow at its very best.

    The story I find very reminiscence of fanfics water downed for the broader audience, story I find no area of relation. The tale of her lesbian sister running away makes the mundane story little sense. Even my lesbian friends find this game insulting as it not only did not propelled the LGBT community, it set them back to the stone edge.......

    If the weak story could not even holds water on its own, you are left with a game that walk around and interacting object which is pretty much the trash heap Steam is pilling on. The game claim it recieve a graphical update, yet I was shocked it receive little to nothing on the real deal, polygon still did not properly anti aliasing, and clunky controls? Are you kidding me, an minimal interaction game that still required to precisely aim at the object to pick it up??? The lighting are acceptable when its on PC, but holy crap its very washed out when play on the Playstation 4......

    The only reason I was able to even play this game on the Playstation 4 was its PS + membership free games, with games like Gravity Rush and Rebel Galaxy with superior gameplay, better, more subtle storytelling, and most importantly superior overall experience, Gone Home is an attempt by Sony to deliver and unwanted game that bundled together with superior games to bypass on the month of September.

    With a questionable ideal on a game that offer a poorer fanfic story, poor game-play, mediocre graphic made worse of very little upgrade to the Playstation 4 version, it is a game you would prefer to avoid spending your money, play it for free to see the inadequacy of its deliverance .    … Expand
  19. coustoe
    Sep 4, 2016
    1
    Horrible game with no game play value or story. The pro is if you want a LGBT positive message that the liberal game media loves that isn't actually fun then play this.
  20. Seaoflogic
    Aug 25, 2016
    0
    Probably the most boring "game" i have ever played. Reading boring notes, with a boring story in a boring house. Yay. Wouldn't have wished this "game" on my worst enemy. I even created an account just to put another warning out there of how bad this walking simulator is.
  21. BastaConLaDroga
    Aug 15, 2016
    3
    Thank god, it was free on PS4.

    Good graphics, good voice acting and that's about it. You basically wander around a mansion looking for scraps of paper that'll eventually let you know your sister's a lesbian. Hence the praise by the professional critics. LESBIANS!
  22. bccfire
    Aug 11, 2016
    1
    Before I played this game, I have heard so much about it and thought it was an amazing Indie game with great story, because all those high ratings from critics on their store pages. But after I beat the game, I regretted wasting 2 hours on it, even I got it for free. And what's more, I can't help but feeling all the high rating were so suspicious now.

    Talk about the "greatest video game    Before I played this game, I have heard so much about it and thought it was an amazing Indie game with great story, because all those high ratings from critics on their store pages. But after I beat the game, I regretted wasting 2 hours on it, even I got it for free. And what's more, I can't help but feeling all the high rating were so suspicious now.

    Talk about the "greatest video game love story ever told", that little sister is just some spoiled girl who really enjoyed herself being in this forbiden love tragety, whining and complaining how her parents being the villians in her love story, but at the same time she didn't even notice or care a bit that her parents's marriage was on the edge already. She is just too shallow to make me care for her and her love story, no matter who she is in love with.

    Well, since it is free on PS+ now I guess more console players can see it for themselves. I really don't recommend it and I feel sorry for those who paid 20 dollars for this game and turned out to have similar feelings like me. And I surely will stay away from the games by the developers of this game in the future.

    Whoever decided to make this game free on PS+, you might have made a mistake. You really should keep selling it at 20 dollars so less people will find out this game was over-priced and over-rated.    … Expand
  23. seriimac
    Aug 4, 2016
    0
    Sooo fun was to check the developers commentary. It's like someone cooked a bread, and you eat that bread, and he begin to tell you at what market he bought the flour, who gives the bill, what he was wearing, the sun was shining, the music was electric, he eat at breakfast eggs, served on a blue plate with a scrath...

    and so on

    story is crap, gameplay is none, commentaries are genious
  24. KoastalKhaos
    Jul 29, 2016
    0
    This is by far the worst "game" I have ever played. To think that Polygon gave this garbage their Game of the Year Award over the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, or Tomb Raider is insane. There is now way to fail at this walking simulator. There is not even really a goal, though they want you to think there is. You can literally beat the game in under a minute. Horrible. IThis is by far the worst "game" I have ever played. To think that Polygon gave this garbage their Game of the Year Award over the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, or Tomb Raider is insane. There is now way to fail at this walking simulator. There is not even really a goal, though they want you to think there is. You can literally beat the game in under a minute. Horrible. I would call it an interactive story but there is no need for interaction other than opening doors and looking at notes that poorly try to strike up a good storyline. This game got praised because the gaming journalists tried to push an agenda. Calling it the GOTY destroys their credibility. Look up reviews on Youtube. At least they are by unbiased people who aren't friends with the developers like most of these gaming websites are. *SPOILER*:
    You come home to an empty house. As you try to piece together where everyone went, you find out about 20 minutes in that your sister has come out as being a lesbian. In the end, you find out that she has ran away with her lover and your parents are on a couple's retreat. DUMB.

    If the sister ran away with a boy, would it receive such high praise? Absolutely not. This game is trying to drill an agenda and fails horribly at it.    … Expand
  25. Peartato
    Jul 25, 2016
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I downloaded this game after reading glowing reviews, praising the love story, the writing, the atmosphere, etc., but I was confused when I booted it up. Was this a horror game? It's got all the tropes: a dark and stormy night, a house full of flickering lights, creaky floorboards, white noise from a TV set... But a friend who'd played it assured me it wasn't a horror game. Despite that claim, it still felt like I was playing P.T. or something like it; like I would turn the corner and there would be a tall, shadowy figure, waiting to disembowel me. That never happened though. In fact, nothing really happened.
    The focus of the game (it's a stretch to call it a "game", per se, but whatever) is to learn about your sister's recent dealings through audio journals you pick up (somehow?) while exploring the empty house. My problem with this is that Sam (your sister) is a completely selfish and unlikable character. I found myself annoyed listening to her ramble on about this girl she's crushing on in school. I wasn't interested in her story, or even her parents' stories (you also learn a little bit about their careers and struggles in their marriage... apparently?), but the only story that caught my attention was about the previous owner of the house, your father's uncle. The few times he gets mentioned, I got excited, but then Sam would start talking about Millie or Lily or whatever her name was and it dragged me back down to the boring drudge that is the majority of this game.
    Like I'd mentioned earlier, it has all the tropes of a horror game, from the lightning crashes to the pitch-black rooms (though you can play with all the lights on). You learn that several people refer to this home as "the psycho house", referring to Oscar, the previous owner. There's a Ouija board hidden in a side panel, you find a hidden room where Sam and Filly were trying to summon the spirit of Oscar, there are a couple books referencing the occult, you see a cushion fort in front of the TV where Sam and Billie were apparently watching Poltergeist... But it's just building up to disappointment. None of it affects the plot in any way.
    All of the horror elements feel unfitting for Gone Home. It teases the supernatural, that maybe there's a killer in the house, or maybe a ghost? You even see some red splotches over a bathtub which you instinctively presume to be blood. None of it pays off. There's no ghost, no killer, and the red splotches are just from when Sam dyed Millie's hair red.
    Gone Home is a slow (and I mean sloooow) walk from room to room until you finally end up in the attic, find the last journal and the game ends. Woo. It's an anticlimactic slap in the face. You learn that your sister left the day before (or so) to be with her girlfriend, with your parents coming home the next day. Now you know that when they get home, they're not going to be excited and happy to see you, they're going to be worried about your missing sister. She ruined your homecoming (and it looks like she even ransacked the house before leaving).

    Pros:
    +the house looks nice and lived in
    +most objects in the house are interactive
    +mercifully short

    Cons:
    -the main plot and most of the side stories are not very gripping
    -the sister character (who the player is intended to connect to and sympathize with) is an unlikable ****
    -the horror themes are completely out of place
    -when going through the commentary, I realized the developers are annoying and unlikable too, go figure
    -completely obscure hidden trophies that practically require a walkthrough to figure out

    It's not 0/10 bad, but I can understand why people are leaving those reviews: it was such a huge let down. And all of the glowing reviews for it are not helping. It's also funny to me that the critic reviews are all generally positive with the lowest being around a 60/100 (seriously, IGN? A 9.5/10? And Gaming-Age.com gave it a perfect score? Jesus Christ). I'm glad I didn't pay anything for this and I feel bad for anyone who threw $20 down the drain for it. It took me under 2.5 hours to beat the game and get all the trophies. Not worth the price. If you can get it for free, it might be worth checking out, but make sure your expectations are low. Like, LOW low.    … Expand
  26. JackKasket
    Jul 10, 2016
    0
    This "game" is garbage. Do yourself a favor and spend an equal of zero dollars on it. It literally, and I mean this literally, takes 20 minutes to finish, and only reason it doesn't take 10 minutes is that the character walks so damn slow....

    Just... sigh... Horrible.
  27. FunkyGibbon
    Jul 9, 2016
    0
    This game spoilt my weekend - don't let it spoil yours! .............................................................................................
  28. thehap06
    Jul 5, 2016
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I never thought it could get worse than Twilight...boy was I wrong.

    I kept playing cause it had a horror game vibe thinking monsters were going to pop out any second but nope, you just walk around and the protagonist relives her relationship with her lesbian girlfriend, sister, and parents by finding old notes they wrote to each other around the house.

    SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! (Honestly reading below this line will save you a lot of time and money):

    The climax: Your lesbian girlfriend can't hang out with you for your High School Graduation because she joined the army and will be leaving for a post.
    The Ending: Lesbian girlfriend can't bear to leave you and drops out of army to stay with you.

    Entire story is narrated by the protagonist as she finds notes that remind her of what happened.

    At least I got it for free through Playstation plus I feel bad for people that actually paid for it.    … Expand
  29. evilfrog
    Jul 5, 2016
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. a boring walking simulator about a lesbian. wast of time and money. you are seeing everything in first person view , walking around a boring house clicking on stuff and sometimes hearing some bits of boring story.don't play it even for free. don't encourage such **** games to be made.… Expand
  30. MaxPayneIsGod
    Jun 30, 2016
    4
    A game you Participate in rather than Play.
    I knew what sort of game this was before I played it, Free on PS+. I'd heard a bit about how "emotional" it was online and for some reason I assumed it was some sort of plot driven thriller.
    Gone Home is a story driven game in which you wander around your house after coming home from an overseas trip to find your family gone. The story plays    A game you Participate in rather than Play.
    I knew what sort of game this was before I played it, Free on PS+. I'd heard a bit about how "emotional" it was online and for some reason I assumed it was some sort of plot driven thriller.
    Gone Home is a story driven game in which you wander around your house after coming home from an overseas trip to find your family gone.
    The story plays out when you pick up clues, 24 in total, which drive the narrative along. I found all but 1 of them on my first (and only) play through. After finding about half of them I figured out the story and kind of lost interest. For some reason I wanted to find out the family had been massacred or had bought it by murder suicide. I should've checked the ESRB rating before I played.
    The story is actually kind of good, its very different however it is not really aimed a "Gamers" and it should have been marketed to angsty teenage girls, which I am not. I'm not kidding either, to a 34 year old male it was next to impossible to empathise with anything that happened in the game.
    They also attempt to spin a supernatural tale into the story which ultimately falls flat (because it didn't end in the mutilation of the family) and was really just filler.
    I think the only reason I persevered was because I was waiting for something good to happen. Y'know those movies you don't walk out of because you want to see if something "Good" will happen. Well Gone Home is like that.
    Presentation-wise, it couldn't be more Indie if it tried, in fact I would be the same game with VGA graphics and made in the 80s. The sound is cool, especially the wind and thunder effects, the creaking floorboards and the other sounds the house makes add to the atmosphere however they also mislead the player into thinking that something creepy is going to happen.
    Overall I simply cannot think of anyone I would recommend this game to, because I know no one within its core audience. I understand that in the marketing they couldn't go into plot details or no one would play it but they needed to find away to make it clear that the content was not going to appeal to 90% of gamers.
    Its a shame it wasn't something very different because it could've been good.
    It's not garbage but it isn't good either.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best PS4 Game of 2016
31
#31 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
35
#35 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Gameblog.fr
    Apr 21, 2016
    80
    Gone home is a beautiful story told with talent. The total immersion and storytelling brings a sense of renewal in the world of video games. Unfortunately, its lifespan is too short: two hours are enough to see the end. This console port is, by the way, excellent.
    Read full review
  2. GameSpew
    Apr 9, 2016
    60
    It’s a shame that Gone Home is a bit of a non-starter. It has a lot of potential; the game is genuinely captivating whilst you’re playing it – it’s just unfortunate that it leaves you so disappointed once you’ve reached its conclusion. The human story it tries to tell is relatable, but it’s a story that’s so ordinary it’s barely even worth telling. By all means, play Gone Home for the exploration; for the 90’s nostalgia and for its down-to-Earth quirks, but don’t go into it expecting anything mindblowing. Expect a grounded story about a typical family and you won’t be disappointed, but anything else will leave you feeling rather underwhelmed.
    Read full review
  3. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Mar 31, 2016
    70
    Don’t look at its brevity with a frown: Gone Home is a hugely important game with something meaningful to say. [April 2016, p74]
See all critic reviews »