Telling Lies, the follow up to the groundbreaking 2015 FMV game Her Story will be released by Annapurna Interactive on August 23rd. While not a direct sequel, director Sam Barlow has said on Twitter that Telling Lies is "as personal and as likely to divide as its predecessor."
Telling Lies and Her Story are mystery games of sorts, players are presented a database of footage in non-chronological order with the goal of filtering through all the information available and piecing together the series of events to understand the story. In Her Story, this is presented as a few hundred misordered interview clips of a woman describing a complicated murder. Telling Lies follows that gameplay style, but expands to include a full cast of A-list characters, multiple locations, and a much more intricate narrative.
Telling Lies is comprised of 2 years worth of secretly recorded footage showing conversations with 4 different people who's lives are all connected by one "shocking incident." To know anything more before playing would surely spoil all of the surprises Barlow has worked into the story. The game stars Logan Marshall-Green, (The Invitation, Upgrade) Alexandra Shipp, (Dark Phoenix, Shaft) Kerry Bishé ,(Red State, Argo) and Angela Sarafyan (Westworld, Paranoia).
FMV games are in a bit of a renaissance recently, with titles like Late Shift, The Shapeshifting Detective, and Barlow's #Wargames, picking up the mantle of 90's classics like Night Trap and The 7th Guest. These games are pushing interactive fiction and film making to new heights in order to create experiences like no other.
One of the best things about Barlow's approach to story telling is the agency he gives players to unravel the mystery on their own. There are no checkpoints or chapters in Her Story. Rather, the player is free to consume the footage at their own pace and decide for themselves what really happened based on the evidence. Her Story really only ends when you're satisfied with your own investigation, Telling Lies appears to be following that same path.
Telling Lies will be available on Steam and mobile August 23rd. If you haven't played Her Story, it's also available on Steam and mobile and is one of, if not THE best mobile game on the market. Telling Lies will also be featured at PAX West later this month.
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