Her Story 17+

Ok, I get that this is an innovative approach to a mystery genre, but there are some things that could be vastly improved. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing and how I completed the game, to start with, so it would help if there were more instructions or context. Unfortunately I felt that the actress was very poor, I mean a level drama class poor, which was a big let down given the brevity of the story line. At one point she plays a guitar in the interview (the actress is a singer in real life), though undoubtedly cute, it just takes away any credibility from the experience.I was able to piece the story together very quickly (within 25 minutes) after stumbling on a key piece of information, so anyone with a modicum of intelligence will be able to guess at the basic direction of the story pretty quickly. Don't get me wrong, I liked it..just not £4 worth of like...more like 0.79p like.

I was absolutely entranced by this game. It took me 2.5 hours to complete and during that time I had no idea what was going on around me, I was so sucked into the world of this game. I made pages and pages of notes. I transcribed sections of dialogue and cross-referenced my notes against them. I drew diagrams. I felt like I was doing WORK and that it was worthwhile, meaningful and rewarding work. I've never felt this way about a game before.

The story emerges organically, based entirely on what parts of it you choose to follow up. There's a real joy in making your own discoveries. The only motivation to play is your own curiosity, and to that extent you can immerse yourself as deeply as you like. How refreshing to play a game which refuses to hold your hand and present you with arbitrary goals to achieve in the face of a carefully managed difficulty curve. Instead, we have a prime example of how games as a medium can expand the realms of what is possible with storytelling. The stroke of genius here is to do away with pretty much every traditional 'game mechanic'. There is no 'strategy', nothing to 'beat', no real beginning or end. No tutorials. Nothing to collect or level up or complete... There is only Her Story.