Our gaming family got this "snooper" game a few weeks ago based on the awesome reviews, and it was okay. The house's atmosphere was cool-- pretty detailed and sometimes spooky with a great soundtrack. We sat down as a family and played--a 12-year old, 14-year old and two parents--45-minutes a night. We got maybe 4 or 5 hours game play total. It was nice reminiscing for partner and I, and the kids liked the unique (to their gaming experiences) story line. Overall, we wanted more closure to the story and a bit more gaming time--replay value is zilch. Really though, for the price of two of us going to see a show, it was worth the dough, and it was kind of cool to see the potential of this type of game.

It's a great experience, more akin to a film or short story. I think this game will speak to a certain range of people, especially those who grew up close to the time period represented in this game or were into zine/punk culture in the early 90s. I think they should have priced it at $10, but there's always Steam sales.

Video games don't all have to be about dragons or shooting or whatever; there's room for all kinds of stories to be told in all sorts of ways. Gone Home is a wonderful game, I'm glad it exists, and I hope there's more like it on the way.

I think the game has tons of re-playability. There were a lot of little clues and notes that I missed the first time that really spoke to the secondary plots in the game. Sure, you might not replay Gone Home with the same sort of mystery of the first time--just like first love, eh?--but it there's a ton of layers that fill out the other characters' stories. I totally loved this game.

Good job spoiling the lesbian thing. Gooooood job.

Yeah, that's kinda spoiler-ish, although if you are a human being you're able to understand how telegraphed that is from very early on. I would agree it's best to go in without knowing anything, including Christmas Duck.

it costs money like a game but its really just a story that most people wouldnt care about.

Save your time and money.

Ben, great article. Thanks for the coverage on this; it's nice that other media outlets are writing up Portland for something other than the usual stereotypes (fuuuuck you, Portlandia).

I just want to say -- about Christmas Duck, it's such a wonderful device because, instead of finding the key under the doormat (which is where I looked first), it immediately shifts the tone from typical first-person horror game to a more sensible, realistic sort of fear -- family.