Her Story

UGH. You know when a game is good? Really good? And it's *this close* to being great, but is *just shy* of greatness, and it hurts almost more than if it'd just been a solid game? That's this game for me. It is such a cool proof of concept. I can see why it won so many awards, and inspired so many projects (Notably, Sam Barlow's two successor projects, Telling Lies and Immortality)... But, I'm left looking forward to those more than I am reflecting on this. The game starts on a promisingly vague premise. You are using a clunky database on a 1999 computer to interface with old 1994 recordings of a series of police interviews with a mysterious woman. These interviews, which are roughly 2 hours altogether (maybe a little more), are chopped up into 271 shorter clips, which you can browse 5-at-a-time by searching for words contained within them. A readme file on the desktop indicates that a friend got you access to these files through the British equivalent of a FOIA request, although your interest in them is left unknown, and only revealed at the end of the game. From there, the game suggests a first keyword to try searching: MURDER, which brings up four clips from four separate interviews, each with their own hints and suggestions of words you could search for to learn more... The core gameplay is unraveling a mystery nonlinearly, learning about the characters involved and what happened between them, by chasing threads of information across multiple interviews rather than viewing each interview as a whole. It's a really solid idea, carried by some awesome design choices (the imposed "limitations" of the archive system make it difficult to unravel any single event in order, but easy to ricochet from interview to interview, and subplot to subplot). So what holds it back?... I don't think it's a spoiler to say that there are "twists" in the story, but there's a BIG ONE that can be discovered at any time due to the game's nonlinear nature. Due to an unlucky set of queries, I found it EARLY. This completely sapped the thrill of the mystery. Instead of launching into each new subplot with a hunger to learn more, I spoiled myself barely 15 minutes in. This turned the gameplay from a thrilling set of related mysteries into a book I'd read and remembered in broad strokes, but had its pages all out of order, and now I simply had to sort them. It doesn't help that it's a kind of "twist" that I'm very familiar with, and that I REALLY don't like. And that is my other critique. The plot is a STELLAR video game plot for 2015. But it's JUST SHY of being something that really soars without the condescension of calling it "good *for a video game.*" On reflection, I think maybe my core gripe is that the game had such a great concept, but stumbled trying to cram a linear story into a non-linear puzzle shaped box. With a few tweaks to the gameplay formula and a plot that capitalizes on its format better, this could be an unmatched artistic experience, and I am excited to try Telling Lies and Immortality and see where this Desktop Thriller genre has gone since and continues to go! I know I have been negative for most of this review, but I stand by what I said: It's a REALLY GOOD game. Viva Seifert gives a wonderful performance, filled with emotional moments, surprises, and even original live music. The plot is, in my opinion, a little cheesy, but solid made-for-tv drama. The clunky, query-based mystery solving is a fantastic concept that keeps the player engaged--at least at the beginning! It is, without a doubt and without qualification, the best narrative FMV game I have played yet, and it gives me hope for the genres of Desktop Simulators and FMV Adventures alike! This iteration just hasn't quite reached the heights I fully believe the genre can achieve. For $10, you have no reason not to pick it up if you're at all curious. Since I have not played any of the FMV games that have come out since (Telling Lies, Immortality, Not For Broadcast, Blippo+, or other desktop mysteries like Orwell, The Roottrees are Dead, Unheard, Type Help, etc.), I can't recommend any of them over this originator (or at least early iteration) of the genre, since I don't know yet what lessons they've carried into their own projects. What I can say is that this experience has seriously whet my appetite for those other experiences, and I encourage anyone thinking about this game to look at those as well.