Her Story

Do you like FMV games? Do you like non-linear storytelling? If you answered a booming, thunderous, resounding YES!!! to both those questions, this game is most likely made just for you. The premise is that you're investigating an old police database of snippets of videos to construct a narrative, however the database itself isn't organized and has a pretty limited search function. The thrust of the narrative is you picking through these short videos looking for search terms to find more videos. The videos themselves are well acted and well executed, and I thought the story was decent enough, however, once you figure out the big reveal, it rests on a pretty silly trope that I won't get into here. Don't look for any kind of resolution or definitive answer from the ending, either. It's weird, introspective, lonely, and sad, but there's also not much to it once you figure out the magic trick they're trying to pull. All in all, I didn't have any expectations going in, I enjoyed it enough and the price is good. 3/5.

If you like to investigate, and research, research and research 'til you find some kind of answer, this might be a game you'll love. But i'm about to warn you, this game could be surprisingly short (especially if you are good at making conjectures). I was close to an hour of gameplay when i figured out what was actually happening. Then something appeared on screen (no spoilers forward), and then the credits. So, you shoukd buy it? for sure, even when it isn't for everyone, i think you would feel very satisfied with scripting, acting and game mechanics. That are actually the strong points in this game. Just make sure this isn't the only game on your cart. But, if you are looking for an extensive, full-circle story and fast paced kind of experience, this isn't maybe the game you're looking for. Anyway, look for Barlow's post-Her Story games, specially Inmortality. That's a piece of fine art and kino for sure.

This is an extremely well acted FMV game. Initially I thought the acting seemed weird, but eventually you see just how intricate the acting is. Or... you don't! Because when I finished playing the game it still felt incomplete and it was only after reading up and reflecting on the clips more in retrospect that things finally clicked. Some of the discussions I read online noted that initially there might have been a plan for this to be a more interactive detective game where you had to scrutinize statements and point out contradictions etc. I think that would have added a lot to the game, and the outstanding acting suffers from not having this level of in-built scrutiny applied to it, and no method within the game itself to review already-discovered video clips in chronological order.

As someone new to the FMV genre, this was a truly unique experience for me. And I say "unique", because the story develops depending on your own way of thinking, making it individual for the person who plays it. It got me hooked immediately and I couldn't stop playing and later lurking in forums long after I finished it. So, why only 4 stars? Well, while "Her Story" is a near perfect example of storytelling, there are a few minor flaws that got me frustrated in the first half of my playthrough. I am speaking about the unclear "win condition" of the game, and a few confusing UI decisions. One of these is the Session Videos function that allows players to add and sort manually the video segments they discover. Unsure what the goal of the game is, I thought that I am supposed to arrange all videos in the right order to complete a certain interview and ultimately the game. This, combined with the inability to delete videos from the session and the clumsy rearrange mechanic made the game for me rather frustrating at some point. Also using the "delete session data" option will delete your whole progress and restart the game, instead of wiping your saved session videos. The other issue I had was that the game felt anti-climatic and does not reward you for opening all videos, even though uncovering some of them can be rather time consuming and almost impossible without the help of google. But as I said these are minor things and I could have easily given it 5 stars. The reason that I didn't do it is because I believe that fixing these confusing UI decisions can greatly improve the experience for some players. Considering the attention "Her Story" got and the awards it received, I think it is worth the investment. So was "Her Story" worth its price and even more importantly - my time ? The answer is a resounding YES! So if you like me enjoy a well told story, please do yourself a favor and get this game!

I wasn't expecting this kind of story, it was a plot twist for me, at least the way I discover the truth. I've never played an FMV game but I really like this one.