Gone Home Console Edition Review – Empty House | The Koalition

Tony Polanco from The Koalition writes:

"I’ve been playing and reviewing games for a while now, and I usually know exactly how I’m going to go about writing a review for a game even before I put pen to paper… or fingers to keyboard. Occasionally though, I’ll have to review a game that leaves me befuddled with how I’m going to approach it. It’s been a while since this has happened but Gone Home is now the latest game to have this honor."

[Profexxion]

I've yet to play it, so I have no opinion on the review score itself, but I'm learning that many people don't have the patience and understanding to enjoy these types of games. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.

[BenRage3]

Everyone I've heard who didn't like the game completed it. I like these types of games, but I didn't like this one. It was boring. What understanding is required to enjoy this game? Please enlighten us on what we don't understand?

[GruntboxWizard]

I finished it and really enjoyed it. I was creeped out the whole way through.

[Profexxion]

Did you completely skip everything else I said in the message? "I have NO OPINION" on this game because I haven't played it. But "I'm learning that many people don't have the patience and understanding to enjoy these types of games". An observation. Walking sims are not for everyone. That's a pretty simple premise yea?

[BenRage3]

Your argument makes zero sense. People do not have the patience<-- you said that and my counter was everyone who played it completed it, therefore your argument has a false conclusion. Again you didn't even address what needs to be understood, instead you respond in a snarky way. Why so touchy?

Your argument is invalid. I'm not attacking you, I'm just countering you argument. Where do I come across as missing what you said? I never said anything about your opinion--so capitalizing those words just comes across as shouting for no reason whatsoever.

Not everyone is going to agree with the things you say; it's life, no reason to come across like an a-hole. Your argument is arrogant when you imply that some of us just lack understanding, yet you cannot come up with a single reason to back it up, especially considering you haven't played it.

Maybe I misunderstood your point, but the arrogance of coming across lecturing people on a game you haven't played is narcissistic and contributes nothing to the discussion. Why don't you play it and then offer your opinion, and maybe then you can contribute to the discussion like a grown-up.

[HisRoyalFlyness]

These types of game are always very interesting when they get reviewed and it's always nice to hear other peoples opinions

[Germany7]

Finally a fair review for this overrated trash, the score is still high though. :)

[BenRage3]

Finally and honest review spoken from the lens of objectivity instead of the lens of a political leftist.

[KosherNostra]

"Political leftist"? Uh, This is the Department of Redundancy Department calling, we have an award for you.

[BenRage3]

Explain your comment please?

[KosherNostra]

A leftist is someone whom supports the politics or policies of the left. I was joking that because you doubled-up with "political leftist" that the fictional "Department of Redundancy Department" called. Department of Redundancy Department has "department" in it, twice. "Redundancy" means something is superfluous, or unnecessary.

[BenRage3]

Oh, I see, the sentence police. Thank you for your contribution to the discussion.

[KosherNostra]

I don't wanna get into a quien es mas macho circular firing squad about it, it was a joke and that's that.

[IanTH]

I'm curious. What about previous reviews make you believe them to be "Leftist"? And from that statement, should I take it that you are a Rightist? (Not a judgement, just a curiosity for the lens you are looking through given the comment).

This is one of those games that is really more an experience, and will obviously draw a lot of different opinions given it is almost solely story focused in a category of software normally dominated by mechanics and gameplay.

I'm not sure why you can consider this review more objective than what has come before it. Because you agree with it? I suppose that would inherently make one believe it is more objective than something they disagreed with, but I'm not sure that it is right to use "objective" here.

It may be a fair score. It may be one I'd agree with if I had played it (got in a bundle, haven't launched it yet). But given the overwhelming agreement among nearly 60 reviews on Metacritic, I'd be curious to hear why you think the near-entirety of Gaming Journalism lacks objectivity for this game.

[BenRage3]

What about previous reviews make you believe them to be "Leftist"?

Excellent question. Long answer (sorry): Take the hypothetical scenario. The revelational twist in Gone Home is that the girl discovers she is a Christian after being raised by a family of lifetime Atheists. Would the gaming press still be gushing over the game? Answer: not a chance. In fact the game would have been overwhelmingly dismissed. Why? It's the same experience in every single way but one.

That's why I say the gaming journalists are not objective. They didn't review the game based off it's merits and instead based if off of the "boldness" of tackling a social issue. It's not the game itself-it's the content of the story that made them gush, which alone should not be enough of a criteria to give the game a perfect ten--the game does nothing interesting--it's a walking simulator.

I have no idea what the political leanings of this reviewer are, maybe the person is a democrat, but if they are and still chose to review it on it's merits and found them lacking, then it's objective.

Journalism whether it's fox news or cnn are not objective anymore and the gaming press has fallen into it as well. No longer can people see outside of their doctrine in order to objectively assess anything. It's either right this or left that--which is why very few people trust the media imo.

I'm not saying that a biased reviewer cannot write and unbiased review; it happens all the time. But with the recent new stories involving a bizarre obsession with the sexual preferences of a person, it's no wonder that the press (largely democratic voters, look it up it's a fact) jumped on the bandwagon to praise what is largely an empty experience.

But you're assumption that I am a rightest couldn't be further from the mark, and shows a very narrow perspective. Oh, so you didn't take the red pill, you must have taken the blue pill. There are always more choices than that, ask any philosopher. I'm not even attacking left wing politics if you pay close attention (not trying to be snarky)I am simply pointing out the lack of objectivity.

I do not care if theme contains lesbians; I am a sexual libertarian and could care less what someone does in the privacy of their own home. I enjoyed a Tale from Borderlands, which featured a lesbian couple. And I do not care if you liked Gone Home--it's not that either. My issue is all of the 9's and 10's this game is scoring, when similar experiences like Dear Esther, a game from the same genre, was largely ignored by the press. Why is Gone Home better than Dear Esther?

It is subjective to a point, but reviewing game or a movie is not entirely subjective. Production values, interface, controls--these are objective qualifiers that belong in any review, and if a game does nothing to stand out in these regards--well it doesn't deserve a ten, unless it's minecraft which went for the artistic choice of using blocky graphics and other games like it.

It's ok to say, you enjoyed the game, but the reviewers praising this as some incredible experience --a perfect ten--the experience cannot justify such a score. Give it an eight, ok I can live with it--but nominating it for game of year? Absurd.

[IanTH]

I'm not sure if I reply to myself, since your comment is nested under the one I'm replying to, do you get notified? Wish there was a clear way to reply to someone elses message after it has reached the max number of comment nests.

Anyway, thanks for the comment. It's rare to run into another person on here interested in giving coherent, even lengthy, answers and take questions as questions rather than attacks. Was gonna make another comment, but not sure if you'll see it or not or if I'll just have to PM you or something.

[iistuii]

The games a joke. I paid £1.49 in steam sale & that was too much. Could have been good if it was jumpy or eerie, but the political correctness & dullness ruined it. Also i wont ruin it but if you push the wrong switch in the first 2 mins its all over....

[Romudeth]

I think I know what you're talking about. There is actually a trophy for beating the game in under a minute so... yeah lol

[IanTH]

I haven't played this game, but I have to expect that it is in the same vein as Dear Esther. And all I could muster after playing that was "Dear God! What an utterly boring experience." I spent a buck and change on DE when it came out and was similarly disappointed. I even knew what to expect - neither DE or Gone Home ever purported to be a creepy/jump-scare game - but I was left utterly baffled by it's universal praise.

Do you normally like "experience" games? Or do you tend to find them all meh? Just curious if you find this game failed due to it not truly being a game, or if it is terrible even when rated among other "experience" games.

[neocores]

Its not about gameplay for this game. Its about the story and the spooky atmosphere around. It will have u at the edge of youre seat just waiting for a jump scare

[Romudeth]

It's not a scary game though. You're not supposed to wait for jump scares because that's not what this is about.

[BenRage3]

Exactly. There are no jump scares so how is waiting for something that never occurs a good thing?

[rainslacker]

If this game is about story, then this score is too high because the story was dull and mundane. If it was about the spooky atmosphere, then the dev failed hard on delivering that aspect of it. While playing it, I never thought to myself it was supposed to be a spooky game...just some game that was supposed to make you think introspectively about stuff, which it also didn't do well.

As to the score. I'd probably say 5 is fair enough. Game worked OK. Story while not all that compelling, was at least complete. I feel it was too short for what the dev is asking for it, thus, I'd probably knock a point off for value's sake if I were doing a review for prospective customers because I couldn't recommend it at $20. $5...maybe $10....I'd be ok with though.

[neocores]

I'm not saying it has jump scared I'm saying is it feels like something would. That's what i mean my atmosphere.

[iistuii]

Yeah I was waiting for just that moment, but it never happened, that's the point, nothing ever happened..

[_LarZen_]

It's a critical acclaimed title from reviewers and the industry in general to be a great game. So excuse me if I don't even bother to click on the link with a score like that.

9840 positive reviews on Steam. And 2980 negative.

It says it all. It's the "it's not a game" people that don't understand to this day that their little boys club is gone. And that games today is so much more then running around shooting dumb Ai.

[PeaSFor]

some games are panned and others are over praised by some media bandwagons, yet it doesnt mean their opinions is more valid than someone else, no matter how you want to spin your agenda.

btw, no need to be salty.

[_LarZen_]

Thousands of gamer's and reviewers say it's great so I'm not salty. Everything is as it should be with all the good reviews the game have and are still getting.

[PeaSFor]

"Thousands of gamer's and reviewers say it's great so I'm not salty"

Thousands of gamer's and reviewers ALSO say it's average and overpraised.

"That's salt folks!"

[NarooN]

"A great game"? A game where you walk around a house for a little over an hour triggering voice clips is great in what way? Just because you're not bunnyhopping around the map blowing peoples' brains out doesn't mean a game is thought-provoking or deep. This guy's review was justified. And Steam reviews are garbage since 95% of them are terrible meme joke reviews.

[_LarZen_]

"A game has to have X and X and X. If not bla bla bla".

Games can be anything today.

[NarooN]

What a nice non-point you have there.

[Romudeth]

If you'd actually bothered to read the review instead of going off what everyone else says then you'd see why the score is what it is. But I can't make you read something you don't want to so I'll wish you a good day.

[rainslacker]

so if 35% of people didn't find the game to be very good, does that mean that the sites giving it 9's and 10's are also worth ignoring?

Have you played the game? If not, why are you ignoring any review?

The game got plenty of bad reviews too from the regular press as well, but since it got a lot of pandering high scores as well, the meta score is skewed.

I could see the game hitting 7's, but anything above that just shows that reviewers were grading with an agenda. Game is fine in mechanics...what little there are, but the story is crap, it's short, and it's over priced.

I'm in this little boys club, and I could easily enjoy a game that was written for a more SJW market if the story was good, the character's meaningful, and the game itself actually compelling enough to play instead of the constant monotony of walking around to ispect things and hear some voices once in a while. Other games of this nature at least try to make the content compelling, and the ones that are highly acclaimed actually do have decent to great stories.

Also ever consider that the people reviewing it highly were probably pre-disposed to liking it because it was hyped up with the SJW agenda? Maybe they felt they had to like it because it was supposed to be what was good for them. Some people lack critical thought, and this trait isn't confined to the boys club.

People/critics panned The Order for a shallow story, short play time, and lack of game play. Gone Home has all those things, and in comparison makes The Order look like The Last of US. Why has Gone Home held to such low standards? It's not like it's a particularly cheap game for the content it delivers.

[PlatinumGX]

You can have more fun watching paint dry than playing Gone Home.

[donwel]

I did, it was an exhilarating experience.
11/10
(Sponsored by Dulux©)

[rainslacker]

ummm...he said watch the paint dry...not inhale the paint....:)

Although, if you were inhaling paint while playing Gone Home, you may actually be able to see something worthwhile in it. I can think of many bad movies which become much better on certain types of mind altering substances.