Recent reviews by Hailz

This is a difficult game to review because it's hard to know how a game like this will effect different people. I also don't think it's totally fair to say that I recommend or don't recommend it, I wish there was a "Neutral" option on Steam, but I'll write my take on it anyway. This review was written after playing the 3 Acts available. I'm hoping I will have to come back and make some edits when the game is finished.

Art Direction / Presentation: 10/10, this is the game's best feature. As a graphic designer I absolutely love the game's visual style. There are some sequences (such as The Forest) that I would describe as brilliant from a design/storytelling standpoint.

Sound / Music: Sound effects are excellent and create a great atmosphere. This game is best played in the dark with a pair of good headphones. Music is used sparingly but when it starts playing it gives me goosebumps every time.

Writing: Good writing and fairly interesting characters (although some characters are barely introduced before they join your "party"). I don't like how characters seem to show up randomly with none of the other characters going "wait, who are you?" but I'm hoping this is a part of the mystery that will be sorted out by the end of the game.

Gameplay: Gameplay is this game's weakest point. I should preface this by saying I LOVE point and click adventure games. Phoenix Wright is one of my favorite series of all time and I also love the Telltale games. This, however, leaves something to be desired. The amount of dialogue options feels great, and I definitely expected a linear story, but there is just not enough to DO. Not a lot to explore and pick up. And certainly very few (if any) puzzles. I love PW because I have to wander around picking up clues and figuring out what to do next. This game pretty much ushers you from scene to scene. And while it is still good and entertaining, I would definitely like to see more. I love the simpicity of the game. But I found myself annoyed at how limited I was (I wanted to walk over to something to inspect it many times - you'll find yourself saying "what the heck is THAT?" often in this very odd game). I also have a big problem with invisible walls, I really prefer games like this to make it obvious when I can't go somewhere.

The lowest point playing this game were the 2 game-breaking bugs I encountered. Twice my characters were headed toward a destination I clicked on and then abruptly stopped. They wouldn't move and they wouldn't perform the actions I told them (it wasn't a cut scene). It wasn't enough to ruin the game, but I did have to restart the game to fix it.

I can't comment on the story a lot, because honestly it is all still very confusing. I'm intrigued by the premise and will eagerly play it til the end, but even for a mystery game things get pretty weird. I'm always frustrated when the characters I'm playing as don't question more of what's happening around them when things get bizarre like in this game, but again this criticism could look pretty silly once the final game is out.

All in all I enjoyed my time with this game, but to recommend it feels misleading. If you hate point and click adventure games stay far away from this one. But if you like them, this is still worth checking out. If nothing else I want people to buy this game so that it gets finished and so this studio can make more games. Because they obviously have the interesting new ideas and talent to make something great.

Do not be fooled by the cute anime art. This game is ruthless and surprisingly fun to play. Just play it, and you'll understand. (Totally worth the current sale price of $2.49, and I gladly paid $5+ for it)

Fun and addictive game that you will play for hours on end if you have any passing interest in the games industry or have ever dreamed about making a successful video game. That feeling you get when your game succeeds or fails (especially when you invested a lot of money in it) keeps you coming back again and again. Pretty simple game that can get complex pretty quick. It may not be ultra realistic to real life but it's definitely one of the more fun tycoon/sim type of games I've ever played.

Totally worh the $5 I paid for it!

A lot of the top reviews have negative things to say about this game... that is unfortunate. I really enjoyed the narrative and the amount of detail put into every aspect. It's worth it to reserve 2 hours and turn off all distractions while you experience this game. We pay upwards of $10 for a movie ticket these days, I'd say an interesting movie-length game is worth the current 50% off price of $9.99, especially if it encourages more content that is longer from this developer.

The most important thing about this game is that it demands you care about its characters and piece together their stories from the objects you find. You have to be willing to stop and read. There is definitely some fun to be had exploring this game and listening to the story, more fun than I had with Dear Esther (at least in this game you can inspect objects in the environment like Amnesia, this is far better than Dear Esther which I only played because of a Humble Bundle, although Dear Esther certainly wasn't bad).

As for the story, I got sucked in right away. I have a sister, I grew up in the 90s, and I even studied abroad for several months. So it was easy to put myself in the shoes of the girl arriving home to a creepy empty house. At the end there's a message in the game I wasn't expecting, but I liked the emotional impact of it all. I applaud the developers for taking this risk in both the direction of the storyline and the gameplay, and I hope we see more from them soon.

Now, if you don't like story-driven games, you're going to have a bad time. The gameplay involves exploring, inspecting, reading and listening. I'm sure there are details that I missed so I would probably play it again, and perhaps even a third time to listen to the Developer Commentary, but it's not heavy on the replayability (your playthrough will probably only last 90 minutes or so).

Granted, I bought this game for $6 and I might not have felt as positive about it if I had paid $20. But I'm sure the price will go down or it will end up on a Humble Bundle at some point, so it's definitely worth adding to your wishlist for later play.

In short, if you like exploration and an intriguing story, you will like this. If you have a sibling, and/or you grew up in the 90s, you will appreciate the nostalgia of it all. And if you want to play a game that has good emotional impact and a unique story, all without a lot of time investment, you'll like Gone Home.

Why haven't you bought this game yet?!

Extremely fun roguelike that's like Oregon Trail with more strategy and less Dysentery. Really addictive game, but be prepared to die a lot and lose hours of your life in the meantime. It's relentless, so don't be too proud to play on Easy!