So I finished the month's Kirkus books, and my sister, who has been here helping me recover from surgery (which turned out not to have been necessary after all), is out for the night and will come back tomorrow.
Perfect time to play one of those few-hours-long exploration games that have been becoming more popular these days. And why not? They're rather like short stories. You get a real gaming experience without having to commit weeks of time. Nicely memorable too.
Gone Home fit that purpose quite well. You play as the daughter (sorry, males) of a family on the night that you return home from an extended trip to Europe--at least a year it seems. You arrive, but nobody's home. Eventually you learn where your mom and dad went, and you learn a bit about their struggles. But it's your little sister Samantha, or Sam, who takes center stage--even though she's not there.
Lots of reviews have called this a scary game. I didn't think so until the end. I was pretty well scared to walk up that ladder amid those red Christmas lights. But we're in an empty house. We spend the entire game wandering around it, opening doors and drawers and cupboards and finding objects and notes and letters that tell a story, along with voiceovers from the absent Sam in journal form.
Anything could jump out at us at any time.
Sam has abruptly left the house, and the game's goal is to find out why.
As we wander from room to room, finding a few maps noting secret passages, more of the house becomes available to us. There are no actual puzzles aside from three combination locks that need to be opened. We have to search for the combinations. We find several secret compartments as well. Once we happen upon those they're added to the in-game map, always available, that really becomes essential to navigation through the house.
The result is the slow unweaving of a love story, with an ending. We just have to find all the letters to tell us the story, slowly, piecemeal, but easy enough for any player to follow.
Following, however, requires use of the keyboard and mouse. I hated the controls. At first I didn't think I was going to be able to play the game at all. You use WASD to move around, but to look around you have to use the mouse. My Apple mouse spun the rooms far too fast, and there seems to be no way to slow that down in the settings/options of the game. Fortunately, I have a Lexmark mouse that was marginally slower. That enabled me to play, although the controls still are far too touchy. My control got easier as I got used to the game, but I found the whole setup awkward. A nice point and click would have been far easier.
That quibble aside, I enjoyed the game very much. The atmosphere remains fairly creepy throughout. There's a loud storm with lightening outside, and that no doubt is meant to contribute tension. And of course, you're wandering into dark rooms, always needing to find the light switch. The map is always available, along with an inventory (you'll use whatever you need automatically, it's just there to show you what you've got), and the collection of Sam's journal voiceovers, with accompanying text. And whoa, we really do need that map! Once we get into the basement, it's almost maze like.
But nervous players might start seeing things in shadows. Sam likes ghost chasing, and has been trying to find ghosts in the house. She's known as the girl from the "psycho house." Are we going to encounter ghosts and/or psychos? Was foul murder done? Any skeletons jumping out of all those closets?
I'm not telling.
But it was a truly enjoyable game, and an entertaining way to spend a few hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment