Gone Home
A first-person exploration game set in 1995 Oregon.
Gone Home is a first-person walking simulator created and released by The Fullbright Company. It launched for Windows, OS X, and Linux computers in August 2013, with later versions arriving on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2016, the Nintendo Switch in September 2018, and iOS in December 2018.
The game takes place in 1995. Players control a young woman who returns to her family’s home in rural Oregon after time abroad, only to find the house empty and her family gone. Instead of offering extensive interactivity, Gone Home asks players to explore the house at their own speed, uncovering what happened by examining items, journals, and other objects scattered through the rooms. The Fullbright team, who previously worked on *BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den*, drew ideas from that game to create an exploration-focused experience where players piece together a story through non-linear searching, while keeping the project small enough for their team to manage. The game received generally positive reviews upon release.
**Gameplay**
Players assume the role of Katie, seen from a first-person perspective, who can move around the house, look at objects, and interact with them. There are no set goals, but the game encourages and rewards exploration of new areas and discovery of messages. Most interaction involves examining objects and notes. To advance, players must find certain items that unlock access to other parts of the house.
**Plot**
On June 7, 1995, 21-year-old Katie Greenbriar (voiced by Sarah Elmaleh) returns from overseas to her family’s new home in fictional Boon County, Oregon. Her family includes her father Terry, a failed writer who reviews home electronics; her mother Janice, a wildlife conservationist recently promoted to director; and her 17-year-old sister Samantha (voiced by Sarah Grayson). Katie finds the house deserted, many possessions still in moving boxes, and a note on the door from Sam asking her not to investigate.
As Katie searches, she reconstructs events from her absence. After moving in, Samantha struggled to fit in at her new high school but eventually befriended Yolanda “Lonnie” DeSoto, a JROTC cadet. They bonded over *Street Fighter*, punk rock, grunge, and the riot grrrl movement, and after sneaking to a concert, they became romantically involved.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Gone Home
- Developer
- The Fullbright Company · BlitWorks (Switch)
- Publisher
- The Fullbright Company · Majesco (PS4, Xbox One) · Annapurna Interactive (Switch)
- Engine
- Unity
- Platforms
- Linux · Windows · OS X · PlayStation 4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch · iOS
- Released
- Windows, OS X, LinuxWW · 15 August 2013PS4, Xbox OneNA · 12 January 2016 · PAL · 12 February 2016SwitchWW · 6 September 2018iOSWW · 11 December 2018
- Genre
- Walking simulator
- Modes
- Single-player
- Designer
- Steve Gaynor
- Programmer
- Johnnemann Nordhagen
- Artist
- Karla Zimonja · Kate Craig · Emily Carroll
- Composer
- Chris Remo
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Gone Home places the player in the role of Katie Greenbriar, a 21-year-old returning to her family's new home in fictional Boon County, Oregon, on 7 June 1995. The house is empty, and the player must piece together recent events by examining items, journals, and notes left around the rooms. The narrative centers on Katie's sister Samantha, who befriended and fell in love with a JROTC cadet named Lonnie, leading to conflict with their parents. Sam ultimately leaves to join Lonnie, promising to return. Optional clues hint at additional family tensions, including possible romantic feelings of the mother toward a subordinate, the father's troubled past, and a suspicion that the house is haunted.
Reader's Guide
Gone Home received generally positive reviews at release and is considered a landmark in the walking simulator genre. Developed by a small team of three former BioShock 2: Minerva's Den developers, the game was built on a budget under $200,000 and completed in seventeen months. Its design deliberately removed other characters and combat, focusing solely on environmental exploration to uncover a non-linear narrative. The game's setting in 1995 was chosen to avoid the complexities of digital communication, allowing storytelling through physical objects. Gone Home demonstrated that a small team could create an immersive, narrative-driven experience without traditional gameplay mechanics, influencing subsequent indie titles and broadening the scope of interactive storytelling.
Did You Know?
- The Fullbright Company was founded by Steve Gaynor, Karla Zimonja, and Johnnemann Nordhagen, who previously worked together on BioShock 2: Minerva's Den.
- The game was first prototyped in Amnesia: The Dark Descent's HPL Engine 2 before being completed in Unity 4.
- The team lived together in a house in Portland, Oregon, with the office in the basement to reduce costs.
- The game's budget was less than $200,000.
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