![]() ![]() By queering the domestic, the game intertwines these two definitions in a way that is both recognizable and potentially affirming. This older sense is important to my analysis, because, as I will demonstrate, Gone Home works to queer the domestic by making the domestic strange. In this essay, I use the word “queer” both to denote a relationship to LGBTQIA+ identities and in its older sense-to mark strangeness. The collage of celebrity photos and imagined conversations displayed on the outside of Sam’s locker. ![]() Several props and other aspects of the mise-en-scène indicate queerness or reference in-jokes about the culture of lesbians and queer women and are mentioned in the narrative or otherwise support it these include the cats, the celebrity photos in Sam’s locker, the hair dye, and Riot Grrrl cassettes and aesthetics. Although we play as Katie, Sam is the game’s protagonist, and the character whose narrative and narration shape our experience of the game. During gameplay, Sam is revealed through her notes to be queer, and ultimately leaves home to be with her girlfriend. The player plays as Katie, returned home after a long trip to Europe, as she re/familiarizes herself with her family’s home while finding and reading notes and other clues from her younger sister, Sam, hidden around the house. Gone Home (2013) is an explicitly queer videogame with an explicitly queer narrative. She recently completed her master’s in cinema and media studies and is interested in representations of memory and queerness in popular media. Brigid Kennedy is a writer and researcher based in Chicago. ![]()
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