Becoming a Critic

I have been looking forward to writing a formal critique of this game for a long time. I sincerely dislike the game Going Home immensely. It lacks any excitement at all. In this blog, I am going to measure its formal and dramatic elements in an attempt to find some merit to this game.

Challenge/Procedures
Lets start with the challenge of the game. The game is somewhat of a mystery game as the player is tasked with figuring out what happened in the home. The game starts you off with no clues and prevalent goal. You have to think to "I wonder whats going on here" and figure it out yourself. There are a lot of items to interact with. Certain items will trigger events which make the main character's sister talk about what has been going on while she was away. The challenge of this game is quite interesting because the player isn't faced with any conflicts. The procedures in the game are also very simplistic. You traverse through the house using the mouse and WASD keys. Other than that there is just an interaction button. The clues you get can only be found by carefully picking up documents and reading through them, rotating objects you find to discover something secret to them, and find hidden passages around the house. These things take time, if you know where these things are the game isn't challenging at all, but for first time users you get immersed in the world by taking your time to find these clues.

Play
The play of the game is very unique as it is extremely simple and straight forward. You find a clue, it triggers an audio event, and then you go on your way to find the next one. You don't need to find every clue in this game to beat it. In truth though, the game isn't meant to be played to be beaten. It is used as a tool to progress a unique story through audio and immersing yourself in a believable world.

Premise/Story
The premise of Gone Home is that you're a girl named Kaitlin who has come home from an extended trip around Europe set sometime in the 90's. You arrive on a stormy night to find the house seemingly empty, no parents, no sister, just you. You explore the many unique, detailed rooms trying to find out where your family, most notably your sister Sam, has disappeared to. This premise sets a lot of shrouded mystery and atmosphere making the game more tense than it actually should be. The characters mention that this house they are living in is called "The Murder House" and there are old secrets hidden within the house to help the player discover the truth about the house. The main story though, focuses around the two sisters living in the house.



Character
You play as Kaitlin. All you really know about her is that she has returned from a trip from Europe. You find small details about her past but the game focuses mainly on her sister, Sam. Sam has been growing up  without her older sister for a while now. The game develops her character through audio readings depicted by journal entries. She seems like a normal, yet lonely youth, but when she makes a friend, things begin to change for her, she begins to face moral ambiguity with friends, family, and people at school. Through these situations we get emotionally built up which leads us to want to find out more about her life and leads to a controversial conclusion. 



Resources
Sticking with the theme of having very little and being simplistic, the resources in this game are almost non-existent. The game has no HUD. The developers really want you to think about simply traversing through the house and have no other worries. The only sign of resources is through a checklist when you pause the game,a map of the house, and a key items tab. The check list shows how many journals you have picked up but not the ones you are missing. The key items tab just shows things like keys to the rooms in the house you have found and that's it. The map just reveals rooms that are locked or you haven't been into yet as well as the layout of the entire house. I think this element makes the game feel very natural as there is no set checklist of finding the journals. Some people might miss some and others might find them all, it creates an individual experience for everyone even though the game is very linear.





Conclusion
After measuring these elements I can get a better picture of why this game has been considered by many to be good. I believe it is because its a type of game that no one has really experienced before so having such basic procedures, rules, and objectives makes it a slow paced and comfortable game for any person, not just gamers. The freedom and lack of rules helps create a different experience for players. One person might find compassion and sympathy for the player and push themselves to find out more about Sam. While another person might take their time around corners, and be weary of the legends of the "murder house" and treat the game like horror experience. Truth be told though, this game is not really a game to me. It's a digital story and the gameplay/controls are just a tool to convey it.