5 Greatest Video Games of 2013

3. Gone Home

There’s very little prologue to “Gone Home.” The year is 1995, and you, Kaitlin Greenbriar, have just wrapped up a year-long trip through Europe, and are standing on the front porch of your family’s old mansion. You’re excited to see your parents and your little sister, but as you walk through the front door, you realize that everyone has disappeared. The lights are dimmed, windows are closed, and the only clue you have is a note from your sister tacked on the wall, imploring you to stay off her trail.

The atmosphere of ”Gone Home” is thick, layered and immaculately conceived. The game pits you against a big, empty house, full of the same tensions and warmth that color any family environment. Its story is told entirely through documents — letters, notes, magazines, books, invoices and diaries — all strewn about, and all offering a little more light on the mystery. There’s something ingenious about the way the game is able to spark the player’s insight; it lets us excavate the house slowly, on our own terms. You might pull open the drawer on your father’s nightstand to find a Bible, and later you might find a Bible buried in some neglected corner in the back of your sister’s closet. This information could easily be missed. It’s not spoken or presented; it has to be discovered. I love the way “Gone Home” gives us all the puzzle pieces, and then leaves us to our own intuition. It tells a beautiful story without ever forcing the player to relinquish control.

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