5punk

http://www.gonehomegame.com/ - I played this last weekend and feel the need to tell people about it.

Set in 1995, a young woman returns to her family home from a trip around Europe, it's 1AM and there's a violent storm outside. She finds a note pinned to the door and her parents and sister are nowhere to be seen.

This is a first-person exploration game based entirely inside the family home and it's heavy of the story. You slowly explore the house, picking up and examining items, reading notes (all very detailed and expertly rendered) and there's an excellent voice-over now and then.

Usually I don't give a shit about the story in games, as it's often generic tedium, but the story in this game is quite powerful and multifaceted. Also it has refreshingly strong female characters, which is rare. And there isn't even a boob slider. This reminds me of Dear Esther, but the story is much more coherent and there's a little more to do. There's probably not much more to say without spoiling things. I thought it was great. Video games are growing up and some deserve the same respect as good quality books and films.

An RRP of £15 may put some off, but I was happy to pay the slightly reduced price. Especially after I'd seen the love and care that'd gone into the game. If you're not sure,as always, wait for a sale.

That's off my chest now ...

Journos have been raving about this, and I've been wanting games which put story over combat for ages. But I really struggle to get the quiet time to play them, so I've been reluctant to buy it.

Sounds most pleasing, aside from the price. I'll wait for the humble bundle.

Slight hijack, but relevant: To the Moon is the daily deal on Steam. If you're looking for story you can't get much better than that.

I was looking at this a few days and was quite interested in it but at this moment I can't really afford that price. It's in my wishlist though, so I'll pick it up sooner or later.

Dear Esther was a strange beast, I sat at my GFs shoulder watching as she played it but neither of us had a fucking clue what was going on. The story may be incredible but I just didn't get it, it was like watching Donnie Darko for the first time only you are shitfaced drunk at the time (which I did actually do) and whilst I welcome story in games it needs to be appropriately balanced against gameplay - that said DE DID have the pair of us watching intentley to see what happenedso perhaps these games are a good thing. I dunno, I'm climbing back on the fence.

That does look very interesting, when it gets cheaper I'll put my cards money towards it

Dog Pants wrote:But I really struggle to get the quiet time to play them, so I've been reluctant to buy it.

This would be a problem. The atmosphere and the way the narrative is spun requires that you immerse yourself, headphones are a good idea. It can be finished in a day, I estimate 3-5 hours depending on how carefully you search. I spent 4.7 hours apparently. But I did spend 10 minutes studying an empty cassette case. There's physics and I was flopping the lid about trying to see writing hidden inside. It wasn't worth it.

Thompy wrote:Slight hijack, but relevant: To the Moon is the daily deal on Steam. If you're looking for story you can't get much better than that.

Purchased, ta! I played the demo and wasn't sure, but to £1.49 I might as well.

Anery wrote:Dear Esther was a strange beast, I sat at my GFs shoulder watching as she played it but neither of us had a fucking clue what was going on.

The story element of Dear Esther seemed more of an art piece. To some extent I think you make your own interpretation from the fragments of story given to you in a random or (semi-random) order. Story aside, it's still well worth it just for the visuals and atmosphere. Gone Home has a very definite story, which is revealed as you explore.

Not to say that this is the best game ever, it's unexpectedly well written.