![]() You're a cruel bastard, Gone Home, and I love you for it. What I'll remember the game for, though, is how it scared the crap out of me constantly and without mercy. Gone Home has received widespread praise for pushing the boundaries of story-telling in games. My reflexes weren't tested but my nerve sure was. There are no monsters to fight but I spent two hours locked in battle with my inner coward, willing myself to enter each new room and resisting the urge to take a break. There aren't any puzzles but my mind was racing the whole time, trying to figure out what evil lurked in this house before it came for me. To me, though, that build-up is the game. It's two hours of build-up to a game that never actually happens. ![]() If you hate Gone Home, it's probably because you feel it's a big trick. The pig-men are well-designed monsters but they pale in comparison to the unknown. In horror, locations relate to trauma deeply, and this game plays with those motifs in a down to earth way. Some of the objects that you touch in the game are inscribed with this suffering. Interrogate every detail of a seemingly normal house to discover the story of the people who live there. Gone Home is a game about intimacy, relationships and secrets, but also about trauma. But they're not nearly as frightening as that first half-hour or so before you encountered them, when you just had a vague notion that something monstrous was out to get you. Gone Home is an interactive exploration simulator. However, once you've seen the pig-men and learn their pathing behavior, some of their magic is lost. Machine for Pigs is a constant source of chills, too. A vengeful spirit accidentally summoned by a couple dumb kids? Maybe. ![]() The lack of an active challenge, like shooting robots or solving puzzles, gave me plenty of time to imagine the threat awaiting me. I was at the mercy of the developers, following a breadcrumb trail of evidence through the darkened hallways of this home. I didn't have a clue what exactly I would find in the depths of that mansion. ![]()
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