Hebrews 13:14
14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
Playstation Network, as does Steam, has tons of classic and indie games hidden throughout it’s catalog. PS Plus is a monthly (or annual) paid service for Playstation 3 and 4 owners that gives you a few free games a month to download. There is usually one or two good games of the 4 to 5 they offer you, but most are pretty bad.
Gone Home was one of these free games that I received a few months ago. I had heard of this game from different sources saying how well it was scored, and that it was a new gaming experience. Of course, I had to try it out!
Downloading it was easy, but I never got around to it until I needed to free up memory on my PS4 hard drive. I have a list of Playstation Network games that I have never even played, so one night it was this one’s turn.
I have to say that it was interesting, but it wasn’t as impressive as I thought. For those who haven’t picked this one up, allow me to explain the story to you. The game is very short and can be completed in about 3 hours or less, depending on how much of the house you want to explore.
You play as Katie, a girl who came back from vacation in Europe. When you get home, it’s deserted, raining, and dark outside. As you read notes and examine objects, short audio clips of Katie’s sister Samantha play. She talks about her life and different events happening to her or her family. Nothing crazy or strange, just normal teenage things.
One could be about how she doesn’t like her school, talking about a friend, or concert she went to. This goes on and on as you check out the upstairs, foyer, basement and other rooms in the house. It almost seemed like a horror game, and I was expecting something creepy to happen several times but it never did (thankfully!).
I am not going to go into details of the story because that would just ruin the whole point of playing it, nor will I talk about what happened to Samantha. What I enjoyed about the story is how normal it is, talking about situations in life that read like it really happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game was based on a true story, though I haven’t checked to verify.
The climax of the sister’s journal was a nice twist, but as a Christian, I don’t agree with her decision. I won’t ruin it, but I can see there being disagreement among believers as to what she did.
I wouldn’t recommend this game to children because it confronts a mature topic on sexual identity and uses strong language, as well as taking a few jabs at the Christian mom of the two sisters. It is rated M which is basically like watching an R rated movie.
I never like when games portray Christians as weird and not understanding. It sounds like we are a bunch of strange people who can’t function in the real world. Either way, a game is a look into the producer’s thoughts and opinions, so I am just seeing their perspective. I did enjoy the short playthrough, and I think it was the shortest game I ever beat.
If you own a PS4 or PS3, you can purchase it here.
For those that played this game, what did you think of it? What were your thoughts on the ending? God bless.
This is one of those games that I fired up, played for 20 minutes, and then quit. The hype surrounding Gone Home, the horror-like atmosphere, and ultimately the language buried the game for me. Have you played What Remains of Edith Finch? I can’t recommend Finch enough.
Hi Bryan! Thats odd, the game has no horror at all. A few cuss words but in my opinion not very heavy. The ending though…as I mentioned, was a twist I didn’t like.
I do have Edith Finch! I need to play it once I am done with a few other games but yes, totally on my list 🙂
With the horror elements… I was thinking more the lighting and feel that something was going to jump out at you.
Can’t wait to hear what you think of Edith Finch. It’s short and solid.
Ohh yeah that it does have! I felt the same, like “I hope something doesn’t jump out at me!” But nope it never happened which I enjoyed. It was just more putting together the mystery
Yeah I like these short games, they are fun and have solid stories 🙂 will definitely write a review on it