Unlike mystery films, television series, or novels where the viewer or reader is an observer who follows the protagonist's attempts to solve the riddle at the center of the narrative, mystery games place the player directly in the shoes of the protagonist and ask them to put the puzzle pieces together themselves. Over the years, mystery games have emulated many of the mystery genre's diverse subgenres, including detective fiction, supernatural thriller, courtroom drama, and perhaps the most popular of all: true crime.
Her Story, an indie murder-mystery game released in 2015, has recently been added to Xbox Game Pass, and it's an experience that true-crime fans won't want to miss out on. With unique and rewarding gameplay and a complex but engaging mystery at its center, Her Story is a detective game unlike any other and is sure to delight anyone looking to test their investigative wits and experience a good story.
Developed by Sam Barlow, who served as the head writer and designer of Climax Studios' Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Her Story functions more like an interactive movie than it does a video game. Assuming the role of an unknown protagonist, players are presented with a 1990s-era PC that contains a damaged archive filled with fragmented clips of police interviews. These clips investigate Hannah Smith (played in live-action video footage by Viva Seifert) regarding the sudden disappearance of her husband Simon. Using the computer's built-in "L.O.G.I.C. Database," it's up to the player to sort through over 200 clips and piece together the truth about Hannah and what role, if any, she played in Simon's disappearance.
On the surface, the gameplay of Her Story is as simple as it gets. Using an in-game search engine, players must navigate the out-of-order labyrinth of video files by typing keywords into a search bar. With only five videos available from the start, players must listen to Hannah's one-sided conversations with an off-screen detective, focusing on finding new words that could lead to new video files. For example, it's established early on that Hannah got into an argument with her husband the night he vanished, so typing in words like "fight" may lead to a new set of clips, which in turn could provide new words, and so on.
While this gameplay loop may seem simplistic at first, it soon evolves into an engaging experience that rewards attentiveness and outside-the-box thinking. As the game goes on, it becomes harder and harder to find new clips that could contain vital information about the game's overarching mystery, forcing the player to get more creative with which words they enter into the search bar. While this can be frustrating in moments when it seems like every logical word choice has been exhausted, the experience of finding a new clip by inputting a noun or phrase that the player may have initially overlooked can make them feel like a true detective in a way that few other games have managed to replicate.
While the gameplay of Her Story is as addictive as it is unorthodox, the true heart of the experience lies in its nonlinear storytelling. Throughout her interviews with the police, Hannah talks about many aspects of her life, including her history with Simon and her childhood friendship with a girl named Eva. Each of these stories provides some details about what happened to Simon, but the lack of a pre-written order in which Hannah's story is presented to the player means that they could come across vital information at any time. Just when the player may think that they've figured out the truth, a new clip could turn the story on its head and make them rethink everything they thought they knew about Hannah.
On that note, Hannah herself is one of the most engaging and intriguing elements of Her Story. Seifert's performance is a grounded and realistic one that captures the many facets of Hannah's personality. At times, the charming and music-loving Hannah is a deeply sympathetic figure, and at others, her bizarre body language and ability to suddenly shift into a colder, more evasive attitude cast a thick aura of suspicion over her. While there are several clear-cut explanations about certain story elements, it's ultimately up to the player to draw their own conclusions about Hannah's guilt or innocence.
While its gameplay and the heavy focus on dialogue may alienate players who're used to the more streamlined mystery-solving experience provided by games like L.A. Noire, Her Story is a unique and engaging experience that's sure to delight fans of the true-crime genre. With an intriguing mystery and compelling lead at the heart of the experience, Her Story is a dive into the world of true crime that shouldn't be missed.
