Great story hampered by overly minamalist game design

Ive got to admire this games ambition. The developer dared to do something original, and, in that sense, this game is a success.

But for narrative-driven games to really work, they have to allow players to become emotionally invested in the characters and their situations, and I found that this game lacked the necessary breathing room. The acting is very good and carries real nuance. Its difficult for one person to carry a movie, play, etc., but Viva Seifert pulls it off. Unfortunately, the power or her performance is hindered by the clunky, excessively minimalist game mechanic.

All you can do in this game, basically, is search for video clips using keywords. This type of minamalist design sometimes works in narrative-focused games, but, with Her Story, the lack of interactivity made it difficult for me to connect with the story. Interactivity can establish context: who am I and why am I watching old police interviews? You find out at the end of the game, but if you had been able to somehow uncover this context earlier, I feel it wouldve made for a more emotionally-engaging experience.

I also found that being able to uncover clips in random order reduced the impact of story. I imagine that this was done to make the narrative more mysterious and open-ended. But it means that how the story unfolds for you depends on what keywords you enter. I learned the main twist pretty early on through a fluke search, and that interfered with the narrative tension for me.

The story is well-written and fascinating. Its worth checking out if you can get past the game design..

IHeartTheiPad about Her Story, v1.1