Her Story

was fun to play, just a few hours, though it was odd there wasn't a thing to watch the clips in order once you'd found them

A great game that changes our perspective on what gaming is, the importance of storytelling. Very short, I would definetly get it on sale not giving it the 5 just for the price.

I am very conflicted about this media. I don't even know what to call it. There is no fail state, no objective, and no epilogue. The premise of not being able to watch a full length interview (what kind of police department would put in the effort to store 100 separate video files when they could store 7?) provides a conflict that is satisfying until it gets in the way. I was also disappointing at the lack of resolution. You will be able to figure out the mystery, which is interesting and unique, but there is nothing that you can do in the game world with that knowledge. It would be like playing bioshock without any npc's with the goal of collecting the audio histories. And after you had collected enough to know what had happened to the city, the game ended. That may sound like I don't like...whatever this is...but I did feel like I got my money's worth and I am glad that I made the purchase. I think that you will probably find both the story and the method of revealing the story engaging and entertaining. But you may not feel the need to go back and unlock all the cutscenes and you may quickly lose interest once you have pieced together enough pieces of the mystery.

I really enjoyed this, and the lack of a true ending is the only thing keeping it from five stars for me. I played it in one session, which I retroactively feel is important to make it more like an murder mystery movie. It's not long, but I feel that if a few hours can't be committed to seeing it through, engagement would wane. I generally don't like horror games, so going into this knowing it wasn't going to try to scare me got it off to a good start.

Whenever talking about games such as these, the question always pops up: Is this an actual game? Having enjoyed FMV games on the Sega CD and such as a kid, perhaps I give these sorts of things more latitude than I should. But lets look at what Her Story does right: it is well written, reasonably well acted, and does have a certain replay value (assuming you don't cheat and just watch it like you would a movie). For a game such as this, that is all you can expect. The "gameplay" involves simply putting search terms in a computer. It works as such, and the main themes and setup are inventive, but the game as a whole is rather small in scope. The fact is that there is so many essential games on GOG that are more worth your time, but it's worth grabbing on sale as long as you keep your expectations in check.