Quick Summary
Her Story is an experimental crime-adventure game that tells its mystery through a non-linear collection of live-action video interviews. Players search a police database, pull up short clips, and assemble the timeline themselves by following leads and connecting statements. The experience blends investigation, puzzle-solving, and cinematic performance.
Gameplay and Structure
- Investigative search: You query keywords to find interview snippets within a police archive, then watch and cross-check clips to form theories.
- Non-linear narrative: There is no fixed sequence — every player’s path through the footage can be different, encouraging close reading and repeat play.
- Puzzle elements: Understanding the case requires attention to detail and piecing together contradictory or overlapping testimony.
Performance and Tone
Viva Seifert gives a strong, immersive performance as the main interview subject, anchoring the game’s emotional and narrative weight. The low-tech presentation—simple interfaces and real filmed footage—focuses attention on testimony and subtext rather than spectacle.
Where You Can Play
The complete version runs on macOS and other platforms (check storefronts for availability). Its minimalist setup and episodic clips make it well suited to short or extended play sessions, depending on how deeply you dig into the material.
Titles to Try Next
- Telling Lies — a similarly structured live-action investigative title that expands the concept with a larger archive.
- Return of the Obra Dinn — a puzzle-driven mystery with a different aesthetic, focused on deduction and reconstruction.
- Roblox (free) — a user-generated platform offering many community-made experiences, some inspired by investigative or narrative games.
- Gone Home — a narrative exploration game that emphasizes environmental storytelling and personal discovery.
Why Play It
Her Story isn’t just a series of videos; it’s an invitation to interrogate memory, sift truth from contradiction, and assemble a story from fragments. If you enjoy detective work that rewards careful listening and inference, this game delivers a compact, thought-provoking experience.
Technical
- Mac
- Full