What scene will you show and what will be the hook that you use to pull people into your review?
[List of visuals on screen]
start with family picture when mysterious music plays
[List of audio items]
simple music (maybe elevator)
transition to mysterious music
[Rough script/talking points]
In 2013, Gone Home was released and instantly became one of the most easily critiqued video games. Gone Home is an interactive story-based game that is only best understood if critiqued.
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You were in Europe for a year and now you are back to find your home empty on a dark, stormy night. It is your job to find out where your family is and along the way, what you have missed out on during the last year.
[[Context/ Background]] How does Gone Home relate to other items? Will you compare it to similar games? Or to stories?
[List of visuals on screen]
walking around
picking things up
journal entries
[List of audio items]
[Rough script/talking points]
You become drawn into exploring a stranger's home and as you continue walking around, pieces of the story start coming together but sadly, the game turns into you just walking around to try to advance the story.
in btwn a movie and book
hard to call a video game, but it is a game
compare to horror story
[[Zooming Out]] What genres or classes would you use to discuss Gone Home?
What are the criteria that make something successful in those classes or genres?
[List of visuals on screen]
getting key
comments of other users from ign and youtube
[List of audio items]
reading comments
[Rough script/talking points]
sucessful mystery
hesistant to call a game
not adventerous
interactive fiction not interactive movie
The game also evokes a reaction from players that leaves them hesitant of whether or not Gone Home should be considered to be a game. Some users even go as far as to call this game garbage, rather than classifying it under some work of literary arts.
[[Details]] How does Gone Home relate to larger issues in culture or with games or storytelling? Does it help you make interesting points about identity, families, or culture? Does it speak to the status of literature or the evolution of media and communication? When you think about Gone Home, what larger concerns might it illuminate?
[List of visuals on screen]
[List of audio items]
[Rough script/talking points]
the easiest thing people notice about the entire game is that Sam was looking for her identity
lgbt identity
marriage issues - counseling
female lead
[[Class and Criteria]] What elements of the game provide the best examples to support your discussion of Gone Home?
[List of visuals on screen]
Sam's bedroom
parent's bedroom
journals
[List of audio items]
Reading script
[Rough script/talking points]
voice and writings in journals are painfully real
very realistic game- Sam's bedroom feels like a bedroom of a teenager
design is very well done- you become intrigued to pick everything up along the way, even items that were irrelevant to the mystery.
[[Take Away]] What are your final thoughts on the game? Can you make a positive or negative recommendation? Are there final thoughts about larger concerns? Are there key points about the details of the game to further highlight? How might you link your conclusion circle back to the hook that started your review? How can you give the review a pointed closing without falling into repetition?
[List of visuals on screen]
[List of audio items]
[Rough script/talking points]
you can play the game again and find new things or parts of the story you had not found before
powerful themes
fantastic voice work
Overall, Gone Home is a successful mystery with powerful themes, fantastic voice work and lots of potential. You can play the game again and find new things or parts of the story you had not found before.
However, for $20 I would not recommend this game. It is not a game you would want to replay because there isn’t multiple endings or paths you can take. It is not adventurous or mind-challenging. Once you learn how to play the game and what you have to do, there isn’t anything else that makes it exciting. If the game was cheaper and had more genuine reviews, instead of the 9.5/10 rating it currently holds, then I feel like people would not hate it as much.