Gone Home by the Fulbright Company provides the player with a heart pounding 3-hour game full of emotion. Every room that you enter provides a new idea of what could be happening in this family’s life. Gone Home never has a dull moment whether in fear or joy, and it will keep you entertained.
I would like to start with the goodthat this game provide with the sound, graphics and overall gameplay. From the second that the game starts, the player is faced with a challenge. This draws you into the game and makes you want to solve more mysteries. Walking into the foyer, you get your first real taste of the Greenbriar house and the eerie and strange feeling that something is not right. From the Foyer you can move to two locations in the house. I chose to go on the main floor, moving from room to room picking up new clues. Every room has interesting clues about other people in the family. However, the most prevalent person in the family is Sam, After discovering random pieces of her life, you start to realize that Sam is hiding a big secret and you start to worry about what it could possibly be. Although this seems like more of an overview of the game I put it there state how much I loved the mystery solving aspect of the game. The graphics and sound of the game are also very powerful. I loved being able to feel as though I was the one searching through this house and actual feel as though it was real because of the graphics. For example, being able to read labels on anything that you wanted to. This also speaks to the amount of time and detail put into the game. The sound really made this game for me. It always chimed in at the right time. For example when you are about to enter a dark room, thunder strikes making your palms sweat and your heart beat a little faster. This included with the first person make this a great mystery game, although this game was not perfect.
However, there are some limitations to this game. The first problem with this game are the lights. I often found myself lost in the house due to going into a room and not being able to find the light switch. I understand that this was created on purpose, but I just found it frustrating not being able to see. Another problem I had with the game was the length. I found myself so deep into the game that I beat it in two hours. I found the game to easy to be looked at on a shallow surface level. My final concern with the game was the ending. I liked the ending, but I just found that it was not quite what I was expecting. I wanted a murder or a jump scare, so this less dramatic ending left me feeling a little cheated. I felt that the ending did not build up to the suspense that the game provided with flickering lights and scribbled notes about ghosts.
For me the good outweighs the bad in this game, I would recommend this game to anyone and suggest that you take your time and study the game. I would love for the Fullbright Company to release a follow up to this game explaining what happened to Katie after this and how her parents reacted to the situation.