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.

But does MIxtape?

The discourse on this game is wild. It might be the only game I've ever seen where the trophies might actually save it. The fact that there is a trophy for jumping off a car with your skateboard or knocking down traffic cones or skipping a rock through a tire swing, on its own means that yes, this is a video game in the sense that your actions can make a difference. The physics simulation of the rolls while you toilet paper a house is actually rather satisfying, and you can TP the house in whatever way you feel like.

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 main conflict is of course in Cassandra, and I don't feel like the game really characterized or gave believability to her turn towards being so much of a Miscreant that she'd start a forest fire..

These things happen gradually. Why do we not see her first transgression and the thrill? Especially in a game about memories, why was the one we saw so unconvincing?

And the finale? Her father would never do that. I have to assume this is a memory warped because it is so beyond the bounds of believable, that if played straight it would ruin the entire thing. It has to be metaphorical and not literal, given the otherworldly depictions of events and emotions.

The biggest miss for me was the music. For a game that is explicitly about this: creating a literal soundtrack for all these moments in their lives, I just felt like none of it hit? Like, was "Love" by Smashing Pumpkins really the best you could do for a segment where you're pissed off and blowing up cars?! None of it felt right to me. None of it. Out of 20+ tracks, maybe two were kinda in the right ballpark?

Forget the discussion of whether it's a game or not. I just don't think it really did the job it was trying to do.

But hey, you can paint whatever you want on the door!