Listening now…
I have been wanting to introduce gaming to my blog for awhile now, so here we go.
I am a huge fan of gaming ever since I was 7 years old and immersed myself into the world of The Sims. I still play, but don’t have nearly as much time to as I used to. I told you guys I was a big introvert, right?….[A letter from your introverted [hermit] friend]
My favorite games to play ever are point and click adventure games, where you explore a world of your own and the objects within it lead to the story unfolding.
Two of my absolute favorite games of all time do this so perfectly- Gone Home and Life is Strange.
There are just some games that leave you thinking about them for a long time after, maybe even forever. These two games had stories that made you feel, like a really good book that you sink into.
Not only that, but they are both beautifully made.
Even if you are not a gamer, I think you can still appreciate the art in the games.
Gone Home
June 7, 1995. 1:15 AM.
“You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something’s not right. Where is everyone? And what’s happened here?
Gone home is an interactive exploration simulator. Interrogate every detail of a seemingly normal house to discover the story of the people who live there. Open any drawer and door. Pick up objects and examine them to discover clues. Uncover the events of one family’s lives by investigating what they’ve left behind.”
Go home again.
The game is so well made, you feel like you are physically there, in the rooms of the house.
I sat up for hours exploring every little nook and cranny of the house, trying to find out where everyone had gone.
The other awesome aspect to this game is it takes place in 1995, and me being a 90’s kid, some of the things I found in the house really brought me back- I felt like I could relate to the game and that, for me, added even more to the personal feeling I got from it.
I am also thrilled because Fullbright Company, the makers of Gone Home, are releasing another adventure exploration style game this year, called Tacoma.
Check that out here: Tacoma
As for Gone Home, no spoilers- you will just have to play for yourself.
Life is Strange
Welcome to the world of Chloe and Max. Best friends who lost touch for awhile and came back together at the perfect time, when Max discovers her powers to rewind and fast forward time. Using this, they set out to find out about the many strange things going on in their town of Arcadia Bay.
With 5 episodes that build onto each other and differ depending on what choices you make in the game, there is plenty of time to get you hooked. And it is yet another game that I think is just stunning to look at.
“Life Is Strange is a five part episodic game that sets out to revolutionise story based choice and consequence games by allowing the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.”
Like Gone home, you pick up random objects and explore areas of the game, building onto the story.
I also love the relatable aspect of this game too, I felt like I was physically back in high school at times [which can be as scary as it sounds in some parts] but also really nostalgic.
Another aspect I love is Max keeps a journal and writes in it regularly as the story progresses, and you can explore that, too. You can also take photographs and regularly receive text messages to read.
I have also been really enjoying seeing the fan art that is made to honor these games:
I hope that even if you are not a gamer, maybe this shed some light on just how beautiful of an experience they can be… XOXO
Thanks for reading!
I have to say that you have most definitely made me want to explore both of these games – especially the first one, Gone Home – what a cool concept of a game!! Wow, I had no idea – gaming has come such a long way!!
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Thank you, gaming has come a long way since you played “The Sims,” the first one, right mom? : ) XOXO Glad you can appreciate it too.
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I haven’t played games for awhile now but when I did it was ‘just’ casual games…and my youngest niece turned me on to them. But she’s an avid gamer and plays all kinds of games ; I’ll have to ask her if she’s played these ! 🙂
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Yes definitely- if she hasn’t, she definitely should!:)
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I love your post. I am a gamer myself and the games that you posted brought me back to my uni days when I would play escape games in Miniclip.com behind my IT professor’s back. Have always loved games. I love RPG the best. I get you when you said that Gone Home was *the* game that made you a gamer. Final Fantasy IX did that for me. Anyway, awesome post and it is nice to read about a fellow gamer.
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I am glad this connected with someone- I was really hoping to find some fellow gamers as well in the blog world and was not sure how to read when the post wasn’t getting as much feedback as I’d really hoped- so I am so glad you loved it and took the time to comment to tell me so- thank you!:) Have you played these?
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Not yet. What are their platforms? Are they on PC? Hopefully not because my laptop is whack at the moment and I still have to get it fixed.
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They are both on multiple platforms I believe- I know life is strange is on ps4 now and xbox 360
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i was considering playing Life is Strange myself! 🙂
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You should definitely play it! Let me know what you think 🙂
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I love the sims too! Both these games look so interesting, thanks for writing about them! Definetly want to play them now ☺️
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Thanks for commenting zoe! I hope you play them and let me know what you think 🙂
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I love Life Is Strange. We’re currently watching Firewatchers, well, we will be when it’s fully released. That’s a great looking game too.
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I was literally just watching the lets play of that the other night! It looks awesome – i may have to get that!!
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I don’t have the pc for it, so I tend to watch a lot of let’s plays for these sorts of games. This one has me hooked already, I was so glad to find out it was coming out tomorrow and not like next month or something!
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I had not heard of these two games before, but they sound amazing! I will definitely look into them! 🙂
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I am glad! If you do play them, let me know what you think 🙂
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I will!
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Ah that sounds interesting! I had grown bored of the new games as I find absolutely no diversity in them at all. Most of the time I go shopping, I only find football, war and gangster games that were also available during previous consoles.
I’m a bit of an oldie, I used to play since I was 08 years old I think, and I went through so many games fro ps1 to 3, PC, XBOX, etc.. btu ps1 despite the lack of quality sometimes compared to ps3, it had at least a big variety of games like cards, dancing, arcade, adventure, war, etc…
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If you like computer games and go on steam- they have a huge variety and normally have indie games like these ones that i talked about and newer games that are not as talked about but so good!
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I love Gone Home’s graphics and Life is Strange’s concept art. Do you know where I can get both games?
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You can get them both on steam! Life is strange is also on xbox and playstation now 🙂
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Oh that’s great! Here is my steam profile, btw: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198257554278
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Ok thanks!! Thank you for the follow too!!:D
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