“Her Story” is a mystery game Sam Barlow created for PC, iOS, MacOS and AndroidOS. The game’s target audience consists of adults who enjoy mystery, as it contains mature content unsuitable for younger audiences. The game is primarily designed for single-player use but can be played by a group as a single entity if desired.
The main objective of “Her Story” is to piece together the clues and arrive at the truth behind the story of the protagonist, Hannah Smith, concerning the murder of her husband. The player must parse through a series of scattered video clips from fictional police interviews and sort them using keywords entered into a database search tool. Each video may provide insights for the next probable word, allowing the player to access more videos and information. The player must use the current set of videos to access more videos later on by using keywords.
“Her Story” intends to provide players with the fun of discovery and narrative. The game’s designers chose to keep a minimalist design with a 90s electronic feel to make the player feel like an actual detective finding clues and answers through the familiar computer system of the 20th century. The game’s setting streamlines the player’s focus on the game’s goal and emphasizes the intellectual exploration of the evidence present in the database. As a result, the player can better understand events with fewer distractions and within the relevant context, crafting the narrative in a winding way due to the ambiguous nature of the videos.
The ordering of the videos and the mechanics of searching aid the player in their search for the truth, adding more flavor to the fun of discovery. The story is presented in fragments, which helps the player assemble the narrative. The game involves a seemingly ambiguous core loop of searching for a word, watching the accessed videos, using those videos to find more words, and repeating the loop again. The narrative arcs may involve the different sections of the story spread across different sections of videos, like the nature of her relationship with her husband.
Adding a tutorial and providing context on the characters would benefit players who are unfamiliar with the game, as the learning curve can be challenging. Developing a backstory for the characters could also enhance emotional attachment and create a more immersive experience. Additionally, I recommend including a visualizer component that displays the player’s progress in discovering the truth. This would aid in better understanding the sequence of events and reduce frustration during the learning process.
