Gone Home and Empathy | Critical Mode

Even five years removed, Gone Home is still in many ways one of a kind. So let's take a closer look at what makes it special, and what other games have failed to learn from its example.
Critical Mode is a video essay series that offers an in-depth analysis of a particular game and uses those observations as a catalyst to examine a larger topic within the world of games. Each episode may bring up other games as well as previous episodes in the series whenever necessary. These games will be discussed in detail with full spoilers. For your convenience all games and previous episodes discussed are listed below if you would like to avoid spoilers or watch the related videos first.
SPOILER WARNING
Gone Home
Oxenfree
Life is Strange
Firewatch
Tacoma
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Critical Mode: • Playlist

[@Andyhoffman98]

How does this only have 800ish* views? Great video.

[@federicomadden9236]

I get that it may seem like Firewatch was diluting its message with the psychological thriller angle, but I think if you take the ending into account it's clear that it was all done to contribute even more to the game's theming. SPOILER ALERT Firewatch, along with being a game about adult relationships, is about isolation and escape. Henry and Delilah would have loved to think that they were involved in some government conspiracy because it would have pushed the things they were trying to escape (Delilah's family, Henry's wife) into the background, but in the end it turned out that they were just being lead along by Ned. Eventually both Henry and Delilah had to go back home and face the things they were avoiding. It's a commentary on wishful thinking and how we can easily get lost in our own heads without other people around to keep us in check.

[@shawnmf2004]

Fantastic video! I loved Gone Home for all of the reasons you stated about subverting what we expect from video games. I desperately want to see more games that explore the human condition in heartfelt and honest ways. I appreciate the shout out to a bunch of smaller titles in the video. I've added them to my list of interesting games to look into. Keep up the great video series and continue to push the medium forward.

[@SelectScreen]

Thank you, and I'm happy you could get some cool new games to play out of it. Even the ones that I criticized a bit are all still worth playing, so I definitely stand by all the titles I included in the video. Thanks for watching.

[@moleshaman3040]

Finally played through Gone Home a couple of days ago and I found it enjoyable and powerful , as a transgender woman who lived through the nineties many of the items and situations were highly relatable.I wish we could have found out more about Sam's future and the subplots in the game through a sequel or a DLC. Life is Strange : Before the Storm does a better job of fostering empathy for the characters and portraying teenhood and love stories IMO but it's indebted to this game and Gone Home has secured its place as a meaningful game in the history of gaming. I completely agree about games being media that allow us to experience different ways of life and play with philosophical and sociological issues , to me that's their greatest appeal and I wish gamers were more open to the possibility of undergoing these experiences (though the increasing diversity of people who play and create video games since I started playing in the 1990s is definitely heartwarming...)

[@Ludocriticism]

Great work! There's so much physicality, and appropriate framing of that, in Gone Home. I love it!

[@davidclark765]

Another excellent, thought provoking take on this game and industry. Honestly, the idea of profitability I think remains one of the looming specters preventing games like those you're describing from happening. Although, I have to confess that I like the fantastical elements of games quite a lot, haha.

[@johnnypopstar]

The nervous feeling when approaching the final area in the game is right up there with a certain point in Senua's Sacrifice as one of the most emotional moments I've ever had in a game. I struggle with recommending Gone Home to others as "a game", y'know, given it's so different to the norm and what that word "game" typically means, but man, am I ever glad I experienced it.

[@ForEverAScorpio]

Absolutely excellent video/perspective.

[@criticalinput]

Your Critical Mode series gets better with each episode and I'm really enjoying the thoughtful approach taken towards each game. However, I can't help but notice the lack of closed captions on these videos. I'm assuming that you have a typed script for these so you can add Captions with just a few clicks. And those hand crafted captions would be greatly appteciated. Keep up the great work.

[@SelectScreen]

Thanks for watching the videos and the kind words. I had been relying on the auto-caption KZbin does because they seemed pretty accurate, but your comment has prompted me to double check and it appears they aren't showing up on every video even though I've turned them on. I'll look into this further and make sure that gets fixed. That's definitely an accessibility thing that is important to me is on all my videos when possible. Thanks for pointing it out.

[@felipejundi]

Great analysis man. I already knew gone home, but just finished today. And i fucking loved, this more intimate games is what made me love video games

[@KarolaTea]

I wonder if maybe those games that aren't 'just' about a very mundane subject like being a teenager are adding those other elements in an attempt of making the audience look at the thing with fresh eyes, instead of risking that they bring in too many of their own presumtions about the subject. After all, everybody knows what being a teenager is like... but what if you looked at it from an angle of time traveling? (There's a word for this. Defamiliarization? Alienation effect? Dear literature teacher, I am sorry, I have failed.)

[@SelectScreen]

Hmm, that's possible. Although if I'm being honest, I still mostly just see it as developers feeling like they need some sort of "hook" to get players interested in the first place because there simply aren't enough people who are willing to play/buy a game about supposedly mundane things. Then again, I've only gotten more cynical about game dev since I made this video, so take everything I say with a hefty grain of salt. 😅

[@KarolaTea]

The hook thing is also perfectly possible to be fair. I guess a lot of movies and books do the same. I can't really think of a lot of 'mundane' dramas that don't have _something_ unique about them. I'm sure they're out there, so that's probably just because that's not my main genre either way, but the most mainsteam ones seem to either use drama to spice up another genre or vice versa.

[@SelectScreen]

Not to get too pedantic, but I suppose it really comes down to how you define mundane. Is There Will Be Blood mundane? By typical movie standards no. But by video game standards, a story about an oil tycoon who sells his soul to capitalism does sound pretty mundane. I think it, broadly speaking, has a lot to do with how we define genre in the different mediums. In books or movies, we largely define genre by the types of stories they tell, but in games, we primarily define genre by what the player is asked to do. So while both mediums have, in my opinion, an equal amount of variation as it pertains to genre, video games still have much less variation in the types of stories they try and tell and the types of characters they choose to focus on, which has always been what I've been most interested in in any medium. There are an abundance of reasons why video games tend to struggle with this, too many to even try and list in this single comment, but that really is a huge part of my frustration with games today, and why I tend to spend a lot more of my time engaging in other things.

[@KarolaTea]

Hmmm, good point there about the story vs. action... Certainly lots of different factors that lead to the landscape of games and other media. Either way, I'm looking forward to how that landscape develops as making games becomes more accessible and more people can bring their ideas to life :)

[@freshboy3968]

Despite my rage, I am still David Cage.

[@Sonic2332]

Even Gone Home is guilty of appealing to a wider audience by dressing up as a horror game...

[@robertskitch]

I'm not actually sure what the point about David Cage was since I'm not actually familiar with the guy. 😅

[@superbrian7997]

You know... I've been gaming ever since I was 5 or 6 years old. And I've played every game of high quality and merit. From Super Mario Bros. Legend of Zelda. Super Metroid. Super Castlevania. Secret of Mana. Final Fantasy 7. Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. Shenmue. Sonic Adventure. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Persona 4. God of War Trilogy. The Devil May Cry Trilogy. The Mass Effect Trilogy. Along with many excellent TellTale Games. Like The Walking Dead Seasons 1 thru 3. Season 1 is the best, btw. I actually liked Season 3 a lot too. Surprisingly enough. And Fables: The Wolf Among Us. Is outstanding! As good as the graphic novels, its inspired by. But Life Is Strange 2. Is definitely a game that highly recommend you have a go at, yourself.Violence in videogames has become far to ubiquitous nowadays. Perhaps, it always was... But playing a game like LIS2 that is just a straight up Teen Drama/Romance/Family Drama. Was so refreshing and invigorating! We need more games like Life Is Strange 2. And less Free to Play: Looter Shooters...

[@SelectScreen]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of great things about the season so far. I'm just waiting for the entire season to finish up before I dive in, but I am looking forward to it.

[@superbrian7997]

@@SelectScreen nah, I'm not talking about the current season with the two brothers and their paranormal abilities. I'm talking about the previous season where Rachel Amber & Max are the dual protagonists. That's the one you need to play and possibly review. I'm on the last chapter of it now. I'm just afraid that it won't have a satisfying conclusion. So I've been avoiding, finishing it...

[@SelectScreen]

Oh yes, I actually have played through that one all the way, and ugh well... I don't want to scare you off from finishing it, but I was pretty disappointed with how it ended. I would still encourage you to play the ending for yourself, you might still like it much more than i did, but I did find it frustrating because I thought the season started off incredibly strong.

[@iug5672]

I don't know if I got 100% the meaning of this video, I think, but I'll give my opinion on the matter anyway, Ha! One thing is in my opinion a bit of a disappointment, is that these dramatic games mixed with other genres you mentioned, often don't appeal to the people of those other genres, they appeal to people who like dramatic stuff. Fans of time travel stories don't really like Life is Strange, myself included. Because they focus more on the drama; so the genre mix becomes more of a detriment to the game than anything else. I think there was almost like a step in this progressive direction that got skipped; where the interests of the "white straight male" is kept but also expanded as it brings forth perspectives you wouldn't normally have, but in a way that it doesn't diminishes it in anyway - as in, a woman being the protagonist but heyhey, she looks,acts or/and talks like a sex doll so that your average guy doesn't think twice about buying the game- The only main character I really feel like this is not the case is Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. The first tomb raider that is. Like, yeah sure, she was once supposed to be a guy and was only changed because the character looked too much like Indiana Jones; but the creator went on an epiphany trip to make Lara a very strong atypical girl to be unlike the rest of women in the gaming industry. And sure the staff kinda backstabbed him in the back and made Lara's boobs twice the size for funs and decided to keep in the game because they were retards, but I still like how much of a interesting character she is in that game. She is an anti-heroine badass, battling against another extremely powerful woman who rub her the wrong way who just so happens to be trying to take over the world. And while I'm not 100% against how much Lara changed with new installments and new reboots. I kind of miss the old one, or rather, I miss the whole concept of adopting new ideas and new perspectives without sacrificing the "male fantasy" aspect nor succumbing to it. Like, why can't we have a GoW like game that features a not-sexualized strong female protagonist with a rich story? Or a Metal Gear game with The Boss? A gay guy being a first person shooter protagonist? And such information be revealed naturally and directly rather than in a cringe way on some comic book. Adding this stuff doesn't required it to be shoehorned into games, specially not when it doesn't make much sense (like making a Wolfenstein game without B.J but rather 2 stupid girls and then say people who don't like it are intolerant because they're women, even if that might be true in some cases). I just want good stuff on stuff I like. While I appreciate that there is a game about walking in a lesbian girl's room; I think a game about a platforming or puzzle game with a lesbian girl would also make a nice addition to my library; and it would be a game much easier for everyone to enjoy and me to recommend than one that either forces you to commit to that, or feel like a cringe sellout to a certain demographic.

[@APaleDot]

Ok, this video is like 2 years old, so I'm kinda yelling into the abyss with this comment but I have thoughts: This was a great essay, and I agree with your point of view on the overall picture, but I have to strongly disagree with your point about developers using fantastical elements merely as window dressing to make the story palatable to a wide audience. I have no doubt that many games are guilty of this and adding a little supernatural, fantastical spice to a story does drive sales, but good games (and good stories generally) use these devices to resonate on a subtextual and thematic level. I can't speak for any of the other games on the list because I haven't played them (yet) but I know Oxenfree absolutely benefited from its time-travel conceit and its inclusion as the core mechanic of the game was not a mere accident or cynical marketing ploy. The game is fundamentally about Alex losing her brother and feeling responsible for his death. She is trapped on the island because she is trapped in her trauma, unable to move on with her life. The looping of time represents the reliving of the trauma. When we would have a flashback in a standard narrative, the game tells us that Alex _literally_ traveled back in time to before her brother died, so instead of watching a character struggle with regret, asking themselves what they could have done differently, we actively participate in the process. Just like a metaphor states that something _is_ another thing, not _like_ another thing but rather it actually _is_ that thing, Oxenfree says that regret _is_ time-travel. It makes it the literal truth in the story, so that a player who has never experienced a loss of that kind, can still resonate with that feeling because they are experiencing a metaphor which gives vivid expression to the feeling.

[@SelectScreen]

iirc, my point in the video wasn't that every game that relies on fantastical elements are worse off for it, and more about a frustration that games, at all levels and sizes, very rarely present stories without some kind of high concept attached to them in the first place.

[@xxedgy_outsiderxx9978]

i just finished Gone Home and it nearly made me cry I am bi and have a bunch of other LGBT friends it pains me to think some probably what Sam did but not with someone like Lonnie

[@madmachanicest9955]

Why can't you just have a game about being a teenager . (becouse everyone was a teenager and it sucked) that not in inherently in ganging or really narativel interest to most people.

[@superbrian7997]

I use to think like you too, you know. Until I played Persona 4 and Life Is Strange: Season 2. Now, I disagree. In fact I was going to suggest to the fine KZbin Content Creator of this vid, that he should really play and consider reviewing Life Is Strange 2. Its so good! Life is Strange: Season 2. Is the first videogame that I have ever played. That straight-up feels like a Teenage/Family Drama that you get to playout and nothing more. And it is amazing and I love it! No magic. No superpowers. Just teen angst. And the search to find some semblance of a safe harbor, from the storm. Now, I did not walk away from Season 1 of LIS. Liking Max, all that much. Chloe neither, actually. But getting to play the game from Max POV, truly did make her more relatable and sympathetic to me. As well as causing me to discover that I now have true empathy for her. Part of the reason why. Is because I had just lost my best friend, too. So I empathized with her a great deal. And then there is how well-written Rachel Amber is. I personally think that the game studio that makes LIS should disregard what happened to her in season one. And make her the protagonists of her game. Where she strives to become a succesful midel and actress. Building her brand and social media cache. To help make her dreams come true. And perhaps, set some new goals, too...

[@madmachanicest9955]

Statsicly streat White and Male is the largest damagraphic in the use and streat male is the largest damagraphic world wide so yes game are marked to that damagraphic.

[@Halry1]

Besides being a white male, why do you dislike David Cage?