Gone Home is a mystery walking simulator created by Steve Gaynor of Fullbright Company and released in 2013. The target audience is teens and adults and it is a single player game in which the player explores an abandoned home by walking, looking at objects, and listening to narrated journal entries and sounds.
Gone Home is the epitome of an embedded narrative; the player has agency to explore the house, though the story is structured with a reveal at the end. Through the core mechanics of the game – walking and investigating objects – as well as the use of the house as space to pace the story, the narrative is woven into the mystery. The game contains simple loops that a player must learn in order to uncover the arc and reveal the mystery.
This is a single player game in which the player is a girl who just returned home from abroad. The player begins at the front door of her family’s house only to find it empty; to capture the interest of the player, the game starts with an ominous note on the door from her sister saying “don’t come looking for me.” By walking around the front porch and finding objects, the player is able to find a key that unlocks the front door. The act of exploring the front porch to gain access to the house exposes the player to nearly all the loops they must learn – crouching down, turning on lights, opening cabinets, picking up objects, and investigating objects. From there, the player can build these skills to focus on uncovering the narrative.
The arc is created through feedback in the form of Sam’s voice notes to the player. The player repeatedly performs actions (that they perfect using loops) in order to uncover this feedback and gain more information about the story. In this way, the arc is beautifully combined with various loops to present the narrative.
Gone Home effectively uses the house to present the narrative. A key resource is the player’s map of the house, and more rooms are added to the map as the game progresses. Context (such as the fact that the family just moved) is presented on the first floor, more personal details (such as Sam and Lonnie’s relationship) are presented on the second floor. The player then explores originally unmapped regions of the house that uncover more details about Sam and Lonnie’s relationship. Through this mechanic, the designers add to the phsysical space of the house in parallel to adding intimate details to the story. The ending of the mystery is revealed in the attic; the designers saved a special room in the house for the biggest reveal in the narrative arc, further illustrating their use of space to tell the story.
In addition to space, the designers set the mood of the game by incorporating sound and delivering clues in a particular order. When I played this game, I initially thought that it would end with something terrible happening; the first few rooms are full of notes about bullying and a psycho man who used to live in the house, and the only sounds are thunder and lightning. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that it is a story about Sam and Lonnie – not a horror story. This could have been a design decision to keep players interested in the plot.
Gone Home effectively balances challenge with uncovering the narrative. Because there are a few locks that require combinations and the house map needs to be uncovered, players must be thorough and analytical as they explore the house. However, no obstacles require anything beyond simply finding codes and clues. The player’s working memory can therefore be reserved for developing hypotheses for what happened to Sam.
If I were to change this game, I would consider making fewer objects clickable, as random objects like cups and coasters were inspectable and caused me a lot of wasted time. However, excess clickable objects also contribute to the challenge, so I understand why the designers incorporated them.
Gone Home effectively tells a story while maintaining “challenge” as a type of fun. Its mechanics create a dynamic in which players are motivated to explore every inch of the house in order to complete the game and uncover this embedded narrative.
