10 Video Games That Messed With The Player
6. Gone Home
Many of the entries on this list share a theme of expectation subversion and none convey that more clearly than 2013’s Gone Home. The expectation in question is that it’s a horror game, with many textbook horror tropes ticked off.
A lone woman, Katie, returns to her family home from overseas to find everyone missing, with a note telling Katie not to investigate. The game sees you explore the home, a classic dark and spooky mansion, in search of answers. The game is very atmospheric and you always expect a jump scare or outright horror visuals, but such things don’t happen.
The tension is felt throughout the entirety of Gone Home’s runtime, until you find the surprisingly tame answer... namely a vacation for Katie’s parents, and her sister Sam deciding to start a new life with her girlfriend after struggling with her parents about her sexuality. The game was praised for its well written story and LGBT representation, and was ultimately far less of a horror experience than it first appeared.