Gone Home is a video game where players explore a house as if they were inside it. The game was created and released by The Fullbright Company. It was first available on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers in August 2013. Later, it was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2016, Nintendo Switch in September 2018, and iOS in December 2018.
Set in 1995, the game places players in the role of a young woman returning home to Oregon after being away. She finds her family missing and must explore the empty house to learn what happened. Players do not interact with the game in traditional ways, such as solving puzzles or fighting enemies. Instead, they move through the house, looking at objects, journals, and other items to piece together the story.
The Fullbright Company, who previously worked on BioShock 2: Minerva's Den, used ideas from that game to create a story-driven experience. Players uncover the narrative by exploring the house at their own pace, which helped the small team manage the project.
Gone Home received mostly good reviews when it was first released.
Gameplay
The player controls Katie in a first-person perspective, allowing movement throughout the house and interaction with objects. The game does not have specific goals. Instead, it encourages and gives rewards when players explore new areas and search for messages. Interacting with objects and notes inside the house is a key part of the game. To move forward, players must find certain objects that unlock access to other parts of the house.
Plot
On June 7, 1995, 21-year-old Katie Greenbriar (voiced by Sarah Elmaleh) returns home to her family’s new house in fictional Boon County, Oregon. Her family includes her father, Terry, who writes reviews for home electronics but is not a successful writer; her mother, Janice, a wildlife conservationist who recently became a director; and her 17-year-old sister, Samantha (voiced by Sarah Grayson). When Katie arrives, she finds the house empty, most of their belongings still in boxes, and a note on the door from Sam asking Katie not to look into what happened.
Katie searches the house and tries to understand what occurred during her time away. After moving in, Sam struggled to fit in at her new high school but eventually became friends with Yolanda "Lonnie" DeSoto, a JROTC cadet. The two bonded over video games, music, and social movements, and later became romantically involved. After problems at school, Sam’s parents discovered their daughter’s relationship, stopped Sam from closing her bedroom door when Lonnie was over, and refused to accept that Sam is a lesbian. Lonnie was about to leave for military service, which made Sam very upset.
Two days after Lonnie’s farewell performance, which happens on the same day Katie returns home and during the week Sam’s parents went on a trip (which was actually a counseling trip, not a camping trip as they told others), Lonnie left for her assignment. Later, she called Sam from a payphone, saying she had arrived in Salem and wanted to be with her. Sam’s final journal entry to Katie explains that she packed her belongings and took her car to find Lonnie, hoping to start a new life with her outside Oregon. She promises she will see Katie again someday.
Other clues suggest that Janice may have started developing feelings for a coworker, Terry received a letter from his father criticizing his writing, and Sam and Lonnie believed the house was haunted by Oscar Masan, Terry’s uncle and the house’s former owner. It is also suggested that Terry’s idea to write about a character traveling back to 1963 to stop the Kennedy assassination may have been influenced by his own experience of being sexually abused by Masan, which either happened or ended in 1963 when Terry was 13 years old.
Development
Fullbright was created by Steve Gaynor, Karla Zimonja, and Johnnemann Nordhagen as "The Fullbright Company." These three individuals had previously worked together at 2K Games on a game called BioShock 2: Minerva's Den. They wanted to make an exploration game inspired by Minerva's Den, but they chose to work as a small independent team instead of a large company. This decision led them to leave 2K Games and start Fullbright. To save money, the team moved into a shared house in Portland, Oregon, and set up their office in the basement. Their first game, Gone Home, was developed there. Gaynor believed their earlier work on BioShock games was like the early planning stage for Gone Home, which helped them finish the game in seventeen months. They used the HPL Engine 2, a game engine Gaynor had experience with, to create a basic version of the game before completing it in the Unity 4 engine. The game had a budget of less than $200,000.
The original idea for Gone Home was for players to explore a smart house controlled by an artificial intelligence with robots performing tasks. Players could change the house's state through their actions, and Gaynor compared this idea to a non-combat version of System Shock. However, the team realized their small size made this concept too complex. They simplified the idea by making the house a regular home with no visible characters, which made development easier. This change focused the game on the player being alone in a single environment. With this smaller scope, the three team members handled programming, storytelling, and 2D art, while Kate Craig, working remotely, created the 3D models. Craig’s wife, Emily Carroll, a comic artist Gaynor admired, helped design some of the game’s art and logos.
The story of Gone Home centers on family. Gaynor said that, like Minerva's Den, the game’s core story was about a man and his wife and how the man’s past affected their relationship. The player is placed as a family member to avoid making the player feel like an intruder. The game is set in 1995 because the team believed this year had not yet made most communication digital, which made storytelling easier. Another influence was haikyo, a Japanese term for abandoned homes. Gaynor said the game’s mysteries could be solved by examining the state of an abandoned home.
Gaynor said Minerva's Den focused more on storytelling through the environment than action, which influenced Gone Home’s design. Elements from BioShock, such as non-linear levels and audio logs, also helped shape the game. Gaynor studied how Looking Glass Studios made immersive games. One challenge was ensuring players could understand the story even if they missed some clues. Gaynor wanted the game to feel natural, not overly experimental, and to prove that such games could be engaging.
The game’s music includes songs from riot grrrl bands Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile. Fullbright worked with Kill Rock Stars, a Portland-based music label, to secure the rights after choosing the game’s setting. After showing the game at Grrrl Front Fest, a local music festival, a band called The Youngins created the music for a fictional band in the game called Girlscout. The game’s original score was composed by Chris Remo, Gaynor’s friend and co-host on the Idle Thumbs podcast. The music includes over 30 minutes of tracks that accompany the main gameplay and unique music for each audio log.
A developer commentary mode was added as a free update in October 2013. A console version was being developed by Midnight City, but the project was canceled when the company closed in March 2015. Later, Majesco Entertainment took over the console ports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which were released on January 12, 2016. These versions included improved graphics and audio using the Unity 5 engine.
Gone Home was released for the Nintendo Switch on September 6, 2018, with support from publisher Annapurna Interactive. The Switch version includes artwork from Super Nintendo Entertainment System games on in-game objects, replacing fictional cartridges used in other versions. To celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary, Annapurna Interactive and iam8bit released a limited physical version of the game for the Switch and a limited vinyl record of the soundtrack in 2019.
Reception
Gone Home received very good reviews from game journalists. At Metacritic, the game has an 86 out of 100 score based on 56 reviews by critics.
Emily Morganti from Adventure Gamers said the game has a realistic and interesting story told through clues in the environment and audio narration. She noted that many people read books to see life through another person’s eyes, but few games do this as well as Gone Home. Matthew Braga from The Financial Post said the game shows how games can be considered art. He added that the game explores experiences outside of the usual audience for games, which often focuses on young, white, male players. Oli Welsh from Eurogamer said Fullbright Company created a good setting for storytelling, but the story itself was not as strong.
The game’s themes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues were praised. Fullbright received feedback from both LGBT players, who appreciated how the game showed how people deal with rejection from family, and from players who had different views on LGBT rights, who said the game helped them change their opinions. Some players criticized the game for focusing too much on LGBT themes and not enough on other parts of the story. Because of comments made by PAX Prime organizers that Fullbright found disrespectful to LGBT people, the company decided not to show Gone Home at the Indie MEGABOOTH showcase during the 2013 PAX Prime event. This led PAX to create Diversity Hubs at future events to provide information about issues like women, LGBTQ people, people of color, disabled individuals, and mental health in gaming.
Some reporters questioned whether Gone Home should be considered a video game because it lacks the usual interactivity found in most games. Gaynor, a developer, said the game was made specifically for the video game medium and described it as an "edited discussion" between the player and Fullbright. He explained that the game’s interactivity makes the experience unique for each player, such as the ability to turn lights on or off in rooms to track where players have been. This feature helped players know if they had explored a room before. Because of its limited interactivity, the game was called a "walking simulator" when it was first released. Over time, the term "walking simulator" came to describe games with little direct action but strong storytelling, such as The Stanley Parable, Firewatch, and What Remains of Edith Finch. Gone Home’s storytelling influenced parts of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Prey. Polygon named Gone Home one of the most important games of the 2010s for its unique way of telling stories through objects and its focus on relationships between LGBTQ characters.
Because of its unusual style and focus on LGBT issues, Gone Home became a major topic of discussion when the Gamergate controversy began in August 2014. Some players who supported Gamergate criticized games like Gone Home and Depression Quest for not having the usual features of video games while receiving praise from critics and including topics like LGBT issues. Others argued that these elements show how video games can be considered an art form and how the medium is changing.
By September 2013, Fullbright said the game had sold more than 50,000 copies. By February 2014, sales had reached 250,000 copies. By the time Fullbright released its second game, Tacoma, in October 2017, Gone Home had sold more than 700,000 copies.
The game was nominated for "Best Narrative" at the 2013 Independent Games Festival. Polygon named Gone Home their Game of the Year for 2013. It was also nominated for several categories at the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards, including "Game of the Year," "Innovation Award," "Best Narrative," and "Best Downloadable Game." Fullbright won the "Best Debut" award for Gone Home. At the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the game was nominated for "Downloadable Game of the Year." It won the 2013 British Academy Games Awards for "Best Debut Game" and was also nominated for "Best Story."
Date
Gone Home is a video game where players explore a house as if they were inside it. The game was created and released by The Fullbright Company. It was first available on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers in August 2013. Later, it was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2016, Nintendo Switch in September 2018, and iOS in December 2018.
Set in 1995, the game places players in the role of a young woman returning home to Oregon after being away. She finds her family missing and must explore the empty house to learn what happened. Players do not interact with the game in traditional ways, such as solving puzzles or fighting enemies. Instead, they move through the house, looking at objects, journals, and other items to piece together the story.
The Fullbright Company, who previously worked on BioShock 2: Minerva's Den, used ideas from that game to create a story-driven experience. Players uncover the narrative by exploring the house at their own pace, which helped the small team manage the project.
Gone Home received mostly good reviews when it was first released.
Gameplay
The player controls Katie in a first-person perspective, allowing movement throughout the house and interaction with objects. The game does not have specific goals. Instead, it encourages and gives rewards when players explore new areas and search for messages. Interacting with objects and notes inside the house is a key part of the game. To move forward, players must find certain objects that unlock access to other parts of the house.
Plot
On June 7, 1995, 21-year-old Katie Greenbriar (voiced by Sarah Elmaleh) returns home to her family’s new house in fictional Boon County, Oregon. Her family includes her father, Terry, who writes reviews for home electronics but is not a successful writer; her mother, Janice, a wildlife conservationist who recently became a director; and her 17-year-old sister, Samantha (voiced by Sarah Grayson). When Katie arrives, she finds the house empty, most of their belongings still in boxes, and a note on the door from Sam asking Katie not to look into what happened.
Katie searches the house and tries to understand what occurred during her time away. After moving in, Sam struggled to fit in at her new high school but eventually became friends with Yolanda "Lonnie" DeSoto, a JROTC cadet. The two bonded over video games, music, and social movements, and later became romantically involved. After problems at school, Sam’s parents discovered their daughter’s relationship, stopped Sam from closing her bedroom door when Lonnie was over, and refused to accept that Sam is a lesbian. Lonnie was about to leave for military service, which made Sam very upset.
Two days after Lonnie’s farewell performance, which happens on the same day Katie returns home and during the week Sam’s parents went on a trip (which was actually a counseling trip, not a camping trip as they told others), Lonnie left for her assignment. Later, she called Sam from a payphone, saying she had arrived in Salem and wanted to be with her. Sam’s final journal entry to Katie explains that she packed her belongings and took her car to find Lonnie, hoping to start a new life with her outside Oregon. She promises she will see Katie again someday.
Other clues suggest that Janice may have started developing feelings for a coworker, Terry received a letter from his father criticizing his writing, and Sam and Lonnie believed the house was haunted by Oscar Masan, Terry’s uncle and the house’s former owner. It is also suggested that Terry’s idea to write about a character traveling back to 1963 to stop the Kennedy assassination may have been influenced by his own experience of being sexually abused by Masan, which either happened or ended in 1963 when Terry was 13 years old.
Development
Fullbright was created by Steve Gaynor, Karla Zimonja, and Johnnemann Nordhagen as "The Fullbright Company." These three individuals had previously worked together at 2K Games on a game called BioShock 2: Minerva's Den. They wanted to make an exploration game inspired by Minerva's Den, but they chose to work as a small independent team instead of a large company. This decision led them to leave 2K Games and start Fullbright. To save money, the team moved into a shared house in Portland, Oregon, and set up their office in the basement. Their first game, Gone Home, was developed there. Gaynor believed their earlier work on BioShock games was like the early planning stage for Gone Home, which helped them finish the game in seventeen months. They used the HPL Engine 2, a game engine Gaynor had experience with, to create a basic version of the game before completing it in the Unity 4 engine. The game had a budget of less than $200,000.
The original idea for Gone Home was for players to explore a smart house controlled by an artificial intelligence with robots performing tasks. Players could change the house's state through their actions, and Gaynor compared this idea to a non-combat version of System Shock. However, the team realized their small size made this concept too complex. They simplified the idea by making the house a regular home with no visible characters, which made development easier. This change focused the game on the player being alone in a single environment. With this smaller scope, the three team members handled programming, storytelling, and 2D art, while Kate Craig, working remotely, created the 3D models. Craig’s wife, Emily Carroll, a comic artist Gaynor admired, helped design some of the game’s art and logos.
The story of Gone Home centers on family. Gaynor said that, like Minerva's Den, the game’s core story was about a man and his wife and how the man’s past affected their relationship. The player is placed as a family member to avoid making the player feel like an intruder. The game is set in 1995 because the team believed this year had not yet made most communication digital, which made storytelling easier. Another influence was haikyo, a Japanese term for abandoned homes. Gaynor said the game’s mysteries could be solved by examining the state of an abandoned home.
Gaynor said Minerva's Den focused more on storytelling through the environment than action, which influenced Gone Home’s design. Elements from BioShock, such as non-linear levels and audio logs, also helped shape the game. Gaynor studied how Looking Glass Studios made immersive games. One challenge was ensuring players could understand the story even if they missed some clues. Gaynor wanted the game to feel natural, not overly experimental, and to prove that such games could be engaging.
The game’s music includes songs from riot grrrl bands Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile. Fullbright worked with Kill Rock Stars, a Portland-based music label, to secure the rights after choosing the game’s setting. After showing the game at Grrrl Front Fest, a local music festival, a band called The Youngins created the music for a fictional band in the game called Girlscout. The game’s original score was composed by Chris Remo, Gaynor’s friend and co-host on the Idle Thumbs podcast. The music includes over 30 minutes of tracks that accompany the main gameplay and unique music for each audio log.
A developer commentary mode was added as a free update in October 2013. A console version was being developed by Midnight City, but the project was canceled when the company closed in March 2015. Later, Majesco Entertainment took over the console ports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which were released on January 12, 2016. These versions included improved graphics and audio using the Unity 5 engine.
Gone Home was released for the Nintendo Switch on September 6, 2018, with support from publisher Annapurna Interactive. The Switch version includes artwork from Super Nintendo Entertainment System games on in-game objects, replacing fictional cartridges used in other versions. To celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary, Annapurna Interactive and iam8bit released a limited physical version of the game for the Switch and a limited vinyl record of the soundtrack in 2019.
Reception
Gone Home received very good reviews from game journalists. At Metacritic, the game has an 86 out of 100 score based on 56 reviews by critics.
Emily Morganti from Adventure Gamers said the game has a realistic and interesting story told through clues in the environment and audio narration. She noted that many people read books to see life through another person’s eyes, but few games do this as well as Gone Home. Matthew Braga from The Financial Post said the game shows how games can be considered art. He added that the game explores experiences outside of the usual audience for games, which often focuses on young, white, male players. Oli Welsh from Eurogamer said Fullbright Company created a good setting for storytelling, but the story itself was not as strong.
The game’s themes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues were praised. Fullbright received feedback from both LGBT players, who appreciated how the game showed how people deal with rejection from family, and from players who had different views on LGBT rights, who said the game helped them change their opinions. Some players criticized the game for focusing too much on LGBT themes and not enough on other parts of the story. Because of comments made by PAX Prime organizers that Fullbright found disrespectful to LGBT people, the company decided not to show Gone Home at the Indie MEGABOOTH showcase during the 2013 PAX Prime event. This led PAX to create Diversity Hubs at future events to provide information about issues like women, LGBTQ people, people of color, disabled individuals, and mental health in gaming.
Some reporters questioned whether Gone Home should be considered a video game because it lacks the usual interactivity found in most games. Gaynor, a developer, said the game was made specifically for the video game medium and described it as an "edited discussion" between the player and Fullbright. He explained that the game’s interactivity makes the experience unique for each player, such as the ability to turn lights on or off in rooms to track where players have been. This feature helped players know if they had explored a room before. Because of its limited interactivity, the game was called a "walking simulator" when it was first released. Over time, the term "walking simulator" came to describe games with little direct action but strong storytelling, such as The Stanley Parable, Firewatch, and What Remains of Edith Finch. Gone Home’s storytelling influenced parts of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Prey. Polygon named Gone Home one of the most important games of the 2010s for its unique way of telling stories through objects and its focus on relationships between LGBTQ characters.
Because of its unusual style and focus on LGBT issues, Gone Home became a major topic of discussion when the Gamergate controversy began in August 2014. Some players who supported Gamergate criticized games like Gone Home and Depression Quest for not having the usual features of video games while receiving praise from critics and including topics like LGBT issues. Others argued that these elements show how video games can be considered an art form and how the medium is changing.
By September 2013, Fullbright said the game had sold more than 50,000 copies. By February 2014, sales had reached 250,000 copies. By the time Fullbright released its second game, Tacoma, in October 2017, Gone Home had sold more than 700,000 copies.
The game was nominated for "Best Narrative" at the 2013 Independent Games Festival. Polygon named Gone Home their Game of the Year for 2013. It was also nominated for several categories at the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards, including "Game of the Year," "Innovation Award," "Best Narrative," and "Best Downloadable Game." Fullbright won the "Best Debut" award for Gone Home. At the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the game was nominated for "Downloadable Game of the Year." It won the 2013 British Academy Games Awards for "Best Debut Game" and was also nominated for "Best Story."
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