Critical Play: Her Story
Her Story, an engaging mystery game created by Sam Barlow, skillfully integrates a captivating narrative with the central enigma and utilizes game mechanics that reinforce the mysterious atmosphere. The game focuses on unraveling the story of a woman by searching for specific terms and watching brief video clips, with the main mystery involving her husband’s murder.
The narrative is intricately interwoven with the mystery, as the videos progressively disclose fragments of the woman’s background. These individual pieces come together to form the overall narrative that leads up to the main dilemma. The mechanics of term searching and watching brief clips augment the mystery, as players need to devise terms to discover new videos that assist them in deciphering the puzzle. The concise clips increase the challenge by providing limited information, prompting players to be more observant and attentive.
Her Story’s framework integrates both loops and arcs. Initially, the game introduces a loop where players familiarize themselves with the database and master their skills in searching terms to gain additional insight. Once this foundation is established, the game transitions to a series of arcs, where players are guided through the process of exploring the database and gather more elements and information to resolve the mystery. These arcs effectively manipulate the story by determining the information and sequence in which it is revealed to the player.
The game’s setting, primarily consisting of a video clip database, plays a crucial role in shaping the story. As players investigate and progress through the video clips, they uncover segments of the narrative that ultimately coalesce to form the complete story. This distinctive approach enables players to feel deeply immersed and engaged in the narrative, as they actively contribute to piecing together the enigma.
Her Story adeptly blends a narrative within its central mystery and employs game mechanics that strengthen the enigmatic experience. The game’s structure encompasses both loops and arcs, while the setting’s architecture significantly impacts story progression. This combination crafts a unique and engaging experience that keeps players invested in the mystery as it unfolds while they continue to play. Some possible improvements that could be made to the game could be to quantify the steps needed to progress in the game. More specifically, adding progression bars or task lists with a specific objective in order for players to feel more successful as the game progresses.
