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Have You Played... Gone Home?

Going home again

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

Gone Home opens as Kaitlin Greenbriar returns to her family after spending a year abroad, but rather than a welcome party she finds a curiously empty house and a missing sister.

The game sees you work out what's been happening in your absence as you pick through your family's new home, uncovering old stories, school papers, newer letters, mix tapes and zines.

The space of the house, marooned in the mid-nineties has been created with incredible attention to detail - as well as the materials I mentioned above there are VHS tapes which you can tell from the labels have been re-recorded over and scribbled notes for Chun Li moves.

But there's also a delicious gothic layer. It's a stormy night as you explore the gloomy mansion and its creepy past; the content you dig through has an air of the tragic thanks to Kaitlin's father's subplot and of heightened teen emotion thanks to the unfolding story of sister Sam.

It's a great piece of work which uses space and design as part of its excellent storytelling.

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Philippa Warr: Pip wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2014-2017, covering everything from MOBAs, hero brawlers and indie curios. She also had a keen interest in the artistry of video game creation, and was very partial to keeping us informed of the latest developments in British TV show Casualty.
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Gone Home

PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Wii U, PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch

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