Gone Home
| Gone Home | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Studio | The Fullbright Company | ||
| Publisher | The Fullbright Company (digital) Merge Games, Headup Games (store version) |
||
| Senior Developer | Steve Gaynor | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Download: August 15, 2013 Download version: July 3, 2014 |
||
| platform | Microsoft Windows , Mac OS , Linux , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Switch | ||
| Game engine | Unity | ||
| genre | Adventure | ||
| Subject | Mystery | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard , gamepad | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
Windows XP (SP2) or newer, 1.8 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 2 GB storage space | ||
| medium | Download , DVD | ||
| language | Audio: English ; Text output by fan translations in other languages available | ||
| Current version | 1.01 | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
Gone Home is an Adventure - Computer game from the year 2013, selected from the first-person view is played, telling an interactive story. Gone Home was developed and published by The Fullbright Company. The focus of the game is on exploring the area. The action takes place in June 1995, in a house in the Pacific Northwest , to which the young adult returns to her family after a year abroad and does not find them there. In January 2016, versions of the game were released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One . In September 2018, a variant for Nintendo Switch was also released .
action
After a year abroad in Europe, Kaitlin Greenbriar returned home on June 7, 1995 at night during a storm. She discovers a note from her sister Samantha on the front door telling Kaitlin not to look for answers about where Sam is. Kaitlin quickly notices that her parents are not at home either and that she is home alone. She goes in search of clues about their whereabouts. Through a series of letters written by Sam during Kaitlin's year abroad, Kaitlin learns what happened during that time.
Sam and her parents have moved into a large house that her great-uncle Oscar Masan bequeathed to her father Terence Greenbriar after his death. While Sam had at least one boyfriend with her neighbor Daniel at her old home - albeit mainly because of his Nintendo games - she finds it difficult to make friends at the new school. Sam is referred to by her classmates as the "Psycho House Girl" because her great-uncle died in the house. During the first few weeks of school Sam discovers a girl in her senior year who sometimes wears military uniforms. However, Sam does not manage to start a conversation with him at first. When Sam finally manages to do this, she learns that this girl is called Lonnie and that she has always wanted to see the "Psycho House". Sam therefore invites Lonnie over. In the next few weeks and months, they both do a lot together. Their relationship grows closer and closer, until one day Lonnie Sam confesses that she thinks they are beautiful. After a movie night together, they spend the night together in a bed and keep getting closer. After a few days they kiss for the first time and begin a secret love affair.
Katie finds old books by her father Terry among her parents' belongings. While these received good reviews, the sales were disappointing. The novels are about the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy . His publishing house then ended the collaboration with Terence and later went bankrupt. Terry stopped writing due to persistent writer's block . She also finds evidence of an extramarital relationship between her mother Janice and one of her subordinates, as well as a possible abuse of Terence by his uncle Oscar.
Sam and Lonnie get to know each other better and better and for fun they start looking for ghosts around the house. Two months later, while Sam prepares for college and the creative writing class , Lonnie reminds Sam that she will be drafted into the military on June 6th. Sam realizes that they don't have much time together anymore and wants to spend as much time with Lonnie as possible. A little later, Sam and Lonnie have problems at school because of their relationship.
Sam's parents try to talk about their behavior and Sam tells them about her relationship with Lonnie. They call it "a phase" and don't believe Sam is homosexual , they "just haven't met the right boy yet". A few weeks later, Daniel comes by to pick up his Nintendo Games. Sam mourns the old friendship with him. She tells him about her father's problems and her own with Lonnie. Daniel cheers her up and tells her that everything will be fine.
Two days before Lonnie's draft, Sam is devastated. They spend one last night together and promise each other that it will be the happiest night of their lives. They have fun for a while, but they both start crying when Sam tells them that they couldn't live without Lonnie.
During the year of absence, Terry received a letter from an unusual publisher that would like to republish both of his novels. He is happy, accepts and even starts working on a new book, 20 years after his last novel. Katie learns that her parents are taking a few days off to celebrate their anniversary. However, she does find a brochure about a couple counseling course that is taking place at the same time.
The next day Lonnie has disappeared and Sam only finds an excited message from Lonnie on the answering machine. When Lonnie calls again, she explains to Sam that she can't join the military because of her and has got off the bus. She asks Sam if she would like to run away with her. Sam then packs her things and drives to Lonnie. In her final words, Sam apologizes to Katie for not being able to meet her in person and hopes that once Katie reads the diary, she will understand why she ran away. She concludes her story: “ I love you so much, Katie. I'll see you again ... one day. With love, Sam. "
development
Gone Home is the first published game by The Fullbright Company, which was founded by Steve Gaynor, Karla Zimonja and Johnnemann Nordhagen. The three developers previously worked on the Minerva's Den DLC for 2K Games ' BioShock 2 , but left the company to start their own.
They chose 1995 as the time period for the game, as they believed it was the last year that much of the communication was not yet digital.
During the game, tapes can be found that play music from the Riot Grrrl bands Heavens to Betsy, Bratmobile and The Youngins.
The 30-minute score of Gone Home was composed by Chris Remo, which runs partly in the background of the game and at the end of the audio recording.
The total playing time is approximately two to four hours.
Withdrawal from the Penny Arcade Expo
In June 2013, The Fullbright Company announced that they would not be showing Gone Home at the Penny Arcade Expo computer game fair. As a reason for these decisions, the Fullbright Company referred to certain cartoons and statements by Mike Krahuliks (author of the webcomic Penny Arcade ), in which he commented on sexism , rape culture and derogatory about transsexuality . The members of the Fullbright Company stated that against this background they would not feel comfortable at the fair.
reception
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Gone Home received mostly positive reviews. The game has a rating of 86% based on 56 reviews by the critics aggregator Metacritic . In GameRankings, the game has a rating of 87.39%. Gone Home was largely recognized for its engaging plot. Oli Welsh from Eurogamer disagreed and praised the house itself, but complained that the plot was not enough.
Within a month of its release, Gone Home sold about 50,000 copies. By February 2014, over 250,000 copies had been sold, around 80 percent of which via Steam.
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Tobias Unterhuber: (Don't) go digging around - Gone Home, the game as theory, space as archive and the 90s (German) In: Paidia - magazine for computer game research . May 6, 2015. Accessed May 20, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ Steve Gaynor: Gone Home is Available NOW! The Fullbright Company, August 15, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Gone Home - Indie Title Receives Collector's Edition on GameStar , accessed June 25, 2014
- ^ Leigh Alexander: Road to the IGF: The Fullbright Company's Gone Home. In: Gamasutra . UBM plc , March 20, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ^ Localization. The Fullbright Company, accessed August 28, 2013 .
- ↑ Steve Gaynor: Patch 1.01 now available. The Fullbright Company, August 26, 2013, accessed August 27, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c Charles Onyett: Gone Home is Undiluted Adventure. In: IGN . Ziff Davis , November 15, 2012, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Jeffrey Matulef: Gone Home transports players back to 1995. In: Eurogamer . Gamer Network, November 15, 2012, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Tom Francis: Gone Home preview. In: PC Gamer . Future plc , November 21, 2012, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Tyler Wilde: Gone Home trailer announces music from '90s riot grrrl bands Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile. In: PC Gamer . Future plc , March 21, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Steve Gaynor: The Music of Gone Home! The Fullbright Company, August 14, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Benjamin Filitz: Gone Home. In: Superlevel. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Jeff Wright: Gone Home: Tugging at all the feels. In: Spawnd. August 16, 2013, accessed on August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Steve Gaynor: Why we are not showing Gone Home at PAX. The Fullbright Company, June 21, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Kris Ligman: Gone Home devs pull out of PAX Indie Megabooth. In: Gamasutra . UBM plc , June 21, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Gone Home - PC. In: Metacritic . CBS Interactive Inc. , accessed February 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Kimberley Wallace: Gone Home. In: Game Informer . GameStop , August 15, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Marty Sliva: Gone Home Review. In: IGN . Ziff Davis , August 15, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Oli Welsh: Gone Home Review. In: Eurogamer . Gamer Network, August 15, 2013, accessed August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Ryan Stevens: Gone Home Review. In: GameTrailers . Viacom , August 15, 2013, accessed on August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Eike Cramer, Benjamin Schmädig: Test: Gone Home. In: 4Players . 4Players GmbH, September 4, 2013, accessed on September 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Gone Home for PC. In: GameRankings. CBS Interactive Inc. , accessed February 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Emily Morganti: Gone Home review. In: Adventure Gamers. August 16, 2013, accessed on August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Matthew Braga: Gone Home review - A startling and unexpected storytelling triumph. In: Financial Post. Postmedia Network , August 13, 2013, accessed on August 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Steve Gaynor: Updates: IGN, Fantastic Fest, Indiecade, and initial sales numbers. The Fullbright Company, September 11, 2013, accessed September 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Rachel Weber: Gone Home sells 250K. GamesIndustry International, February 7, 2014, accessed February 8, 2014 .