A
fter the twitching brutality
of Hotline Miami, it’s lovely
to play something as
genteel as Gone Home. At least, it
should be lovely. But instead, I find
myself in an empty house, with a
storm raging outside, stumbling
about in the semi-gloom looking for
hidden compartments.
Gone Home maintains its restraint,
and in doing so manages to capture
something few other games do—the
persistent fear of being alone in a
familiar place. It’s not that you’ll see
anything scary, more that you know
how frightening it would be if you
did. The sense of unease is
heightened by cryptic notes
suggesting the house is haunted.
The real story, however, is far
more real and effective than any
traditional ghost story, even if the
tension and detective work feel like
they’re from the same world.
It’s a game that can’t be consumed
passively. Early on I struggled to
parse which character was which so
I had to go back and double check
names and journals. And the house
itself requires you to suspend your
disbelief. But it all slots into place in a
way that’s satisfying and sad, and the
location itself is incredible. It’s
crammed with scrawled notes and
trinkets that hint and reveal; echoes
of past events, all with diminished or
redirected significance. The
interactivity helps too. You don’t need
to open every pizza box or play every
tape, but doing so will make you feel
like you’re uncovering your own
memories, and it sets you up
perfectly for Gone Home’s elegant
ending. It’s the sort of experience
that inevitably makes you reflect on
your own choices, and one
that does an excellent job
of making personal things
seem monumental.Uncovering family secrets in GONE HOME
EXPECT TO PAY
$15DEVELOPER
FullbrightPUBLISHER
FullbrightNEED TO KNOWNo, this isn’t an accidental
Outlast screenshot.He ignored the
PA ST J U D G E ME N T warning, readers.84
I
f Gone Home is all about
reconnecting with bygone youth,
Crossing Souls is about never growing
up. It’s a celebration of walkie-talkie-
ing, BMX-riding ’80s adventures,
with obvious influences from the
likes of The Goonies, Stand By Me,
and ET. It’s honest, unadorned,
nostalgic fast food that refries old
tropes in a loving if wholly
predictable way.
The group has all the archetypes
of the era—leader, nerd, big guy, girl,
etc—and the mystical MacGuffin that
unites them is suitably perilous. It’s
nothing new or groundbreaking,
then, but that’s probably the point:
It’s a loving, if slightly clumsy
ode to the Hollywood
American childhood.
CROSSING SOULS
70
T
here are a few reasons I picked
Outdrive. The Steam reviews are
good, and it’s dirt cheap. The
premise, too, is the most ’80s thing
conceivable: The only way you can
keep your dying girlfriend’s heart
beating is by driving fast down an
endless glowing road. It’s nonsense,
but the thought of racing to a pulsing
soundtrack doesn’t sound so bad.
Unfortunately, Outdrive is wretched.
The onscreen feedback is practically
non-existent, a problem exacerbated
by some clumsy translation. Your
level of success is measured by ‘Girl
Lifetime’, which might be the most
depressing metric imaginable. Like
Hotline Miami you can press
R to restart. You just won’t
want to.OUTDRIVE
52
W
hether it’s tunneling through
walls or hacking computers,
most problems in Monaco can be
solved by walking into them. That
might make this slick, purloin-’em-up
seem simple, but it’s anything but. It’s
most entertaining when things go
wrong, and it usually reaches peak
failure when you’re trying to
coordinate a heist in multiplayer.
Much like writing a children’s book,
everyone thinks they could plan one
perfect crime. The excellent
Monaco reminds us how
wrong we are.MONACO: WHAT’S YOURS IN MINE
88
The joy of pixel games: Flies are
interchangeable with full stops.No mate. That’s not covered
under a standard MOT.The place where cutlery
and crime converge.REVIEW