Mixtape and the Interactive Movie (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Thursday, May 14, 2026, 08:16 (2 hours, 25 minutes ago) @ Cody Miller

Does Gone Home conceptually work as a game? I'm not asking if you like it. I'm asking if it makes sense to exist as a game. Does the fact that you are interacting directly enhance the experience? Would 'Gone Home the Movie' be a functionally different experience?

Because while you could probably craft such a film to be better, it wouldn't be the same experience. The direct investigation and examination of items and the house does lead to a certain kind of intrigue that you can only have when directly controlling it. So, conceptually yes, I would say that Gone Home is in fact fine as a video game. Your choices and the fact that you are doing it makes it work.

I think games like Gone Home, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, and other walking simulators of that level of interaction work great as games, because the method of interaction is integral to the way you experience the story. The slow ingestion of details, the piecing together of moments, objects, and narration to build a timeline and understand the relationships between characters, it’s integral to the experience. I found Gone Home to slowly turn into a horror story the deeper I got into the house and realized I’m going to have to go into the attic eventually, as the dread slowly crept in as a result of my actions and interactions. 10/10

It’s different from something like What Remains of Edith Finch, where there is defined gameplay that isn’t “you” in the world, but the the wildly different segments are used to tell their own story about each character and how they perceived life itself. 10/10.

And then you have Mixtape, where the “gameplay” exists to just give you something to do so you don’t get bored while you are fed a movie. I’ve seen it described as “jingling keys”, which isn’t too far off the mark. Still, it’s technically a game, but there isn’t really a point to its interactivity outside of triggering nostalgia for certain things, as the kids, story, and your understanding and level of context will continue exactly the same, regardless of your input.

So the real question is: How was the experience?

This year, I want to ride a flaming stallion of delinquency

Nobody would ever say this.

The Diablo Cody school of teenage writing strikes again! Boy that can definitely be hit or miss.