Gone Home

Witty and melancholic, Gone Home is a triumphant exploration of a beautifully textured family space.

Despite there not being many engaging elements, I find that Gone Home is still a superb example of a narrative journey. We'll have to see in another five or fifty years just how Gone Home has set the stage for future immersive simulators.

Thoughtful, clever, and articulately composed, Gone Home is the sweet sort of story that games typically tend to shun. Katie's homecoming is emotionally charged, cleverly plotted, and impressively authentic. And while it may not quench the thirst of those anxious for action, it tells a tale that practically everyone will be able to identify with – as long as you give it the chance.

While it is a five-year-old game, there's no denying the cultural and developmental impact Gone Home has had on the game industry. Both as a near-perfect exercise in interactive storytelling and an example of how to handle complex and very real ideas in a game, only Life is Strange has ever come close to matching its significance. While there still isn't much ‘game' to be found here, the story you unravel through exploring an empty home will stay with you long after you've put down your Switch. Essential.

Gone Home is a game that can be played by anyone, and should be played by everyone.

Ultimately, Gone Home is the same game no matter what platform it is played on. It brings the same emotions, anxieties, and intrigue to the table now as it did years ago. There is no denying, however, that the versatility offered by the Switch version fits the calm nature of the walking sim, whether it is played docked or not—plus it's just plain cool to experience the story in such close quarters.

Don’t let this game’s short time to completion turn you away. Gone Home is a wonderfully told tale that should be experienced by everybody. You should be able to complete this in one sitting and it’s well worth the effort.

Gone Home stands out in its genre and is one of the most recommended proposals within it, whether we like the genre or not. With a great narrative and playing with the player in a suggestive way, it manages to catch us from the beginning to the end. It's not without its flaws, but the whole thing is so attractive that it's like drops in an ocean.

The Fullbright Company knows how to tell a story and they succeed at making the player feel that he or she is part of that story. If you want a narrative experience that demonstrates what the video game medium is truly capable of, play this game, but do so slowly. Gone Home is not a game to hurry through, but one to savor and remember.

Gone Home feels like a tech demo more than anything else, as if it's put together to test lighting effects, map layout, being able to pick up and examine objects, and so on, but even then it fails. The storytelling isn't bad, but it's for a story that's hardly even there or worth telling in the first place.