Katie, I'm Sorry I... What's That Buzzing? Fly In The House

Gone Home's 'put back' command shows how much our character cares about the home she's exploring, the people whose things she's rummaging in. Why wouldn't she carefully replace her family photo? Explore-o game Fly In The House also embeds emotion in its controls, but it's more about wanting to kill a lousy fly buzzing around. It's a zany physics smash 'em up where you tear rooms apart flinging objects at that rotten fly, while also uncovering bits of a "parody" story about returning home. Hating flies is an emotion too, you know, part of the complex patchwork of this wacky adventure we call life. Come watch someone express it.

Developer Mykhail Konokh says it's about smooshing that fly, but watching the video makes me suspect this is all a big excuse to smash a house to pieces. Furniture, decorations, cherished possessions, all must be destroyed. Some objects contain hidden items though, which Konokh says will "Reveal the mysteries of main character in the parody story." I'll make a guess: they're a terrifyingly strong jackass who really just wants to smash things, because smashing things is fun.

Anyway, it's all a bit like a video game version of Finders Keepers, isn't it? Pushing the frontiers of environmental storytelling years before video games got there, that show.