Her Story

 PC
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 50 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 50
  3. Negative: 1 out of 50
  1. GameCritics
    Jul 24, 2015
    60
    I'm always eager to see developers carve new territory in interactive narrative, but I'm not convinced that Her Story's format of chopping up bits of exposition and hiding them behind a nonsensical search engine mechanic is a major step forward for the medium. There's enough solid standalone writing to prevent it from being a waste of time, but I ultimately value Her Story more for its audacity than its success.
  2. CD-Action
    Sep 18, 2015
    55
    Her Story met with extremely different reactions among our staff (from “this trivial babble makes no sense at all” to “the story captivated me and is still in my head”). [09/2015, p.49]
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Jan 19, 2016
    As well as being a superb detective game, Her Story might be the best FMV game ever made.
  2. The A.V. Club
    Dec 8, 2015
    It gives us an act and a person and challenges us to understand them even as it suggests that our understanding will never be complete.

Awards & Rankings

15
#15 Best PC Game of 2015
39
#39 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
51
#51 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 484 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 234 out of 484
  2. Mixed: 120 out of 484
  3. Negative: 130 out of 484
  1. TenchuuKhan
    Jun 28, 2015
    4
    Being into unconventional games, this one caught my attention, and it sounded promising enough.
    But it doesn't work out very well.
    Here's    Being into unconventional games, this one caught my attention, and it sounded promising enough.
    But it doesn't work out very well.

    Here's what you basically do in the game:
    You are in front of a computer (in-game) and you have to search a database for keywords for which you then receive the first 5 matches.
    The clips are all about the same murder case, showing the answers the suspect has given throughout the interrogations over a few days.

    Additionally you have a DB Checker tool that displays the position of the last played clip. This way you can put it easier in order and even assign it a positional number.

    Now, I guess the idea is that you hear about new keywords in the clips, and then you search on with them so you get the complete interrogation. But that's not how it works.
    After bruting for 5 hours I noticed a major flaw there with which you can just cheat through the game really (I'll mention that one at the bottom again).

    The Story itself
    Storytelling is good and it probably wouldn't work too well if you just watched it in chronological order. But even then it would still be a good story.
    The issue is, the storytelling doesn't work at all if you spoiler ahead by accident really because you find a clip which is set on the last day.

    So really, it doesn't work either way.

    Now, your best bet in my opinion is to not play the game at all. The gameplay is crap anyway, it's just a time waster at best. Just watch a longplay on Youtube instead.
    OR - there's a flaw in the game that let's you get the clips in chronological order easily. Just reset the whole thing, search for blank. That gives you the first 5 clips because that's the default keyword.
    Change that keywords to 1,2,3,4,5 - search for blank again. Keep on going with 6,7,8 - you get the idea.

    Bottom line. Nice story, **** game. They **** it up big time.
    The game could work, I'm convinced. But not this way.    … Full Review »
  2. Tubey
    Jun 29, 2015
    4
    This is what I call "Polygon Bait" - as in a game with an interesting idea of the type that particular review site loves to laud asThis is what I call "Polygon Bait" - as in a game with an interesting idea of the type that particular review site loves to laud as 'artistic', but in reality it is, at best and being very generous, average in its' execution and, crucially, not very fun as an actual video game. Mostly because it's not a video game, but we'll come to that later.

    Her Story is exactly the above, I give it extra credit for the cheap price point I purchased it at, and to be fair this isn't the worst game in the world - but the problem is that its' concept wears thin extremely quickly and devolves into repetition. The story is the strongpoint of the title, and easily excels beyond other "Polygon Bait" titles such as the atrocious Gone Home, but everything this game has to offer can be enjoyed exactly the same way by watching a playthrough on YouTube.

    There's no incentive to play the game yourself. It is more of an interactive movie than even the likes of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. That's not a bad thing exactly, as some people like those types of things, but I'd really like to begin to see these titles labelled clearly for what they are and not reviewed on a par with actual video games. If that makes me sound elitist or whatever, then so be it, but there has to be a distinction between various media, the same way there's a distinction between television and books. They are two different things.

    So yeah, an interesting but half-cooked interactive movie concept. If you have money to burn, get it on the cheap, but you are not missing out on anything revolutionary here. I'm waiting for the first truly revolutionary title of this type; this isn't it.    … Full Review »
  3. bigdannyb
    Jun 24, 2015
    10
    Don't care if this fits into peoples definitions of a game it is an entirely irrelevant point - play it if you want and the huge majority thatDon't care if this fits into peoples definitions of a game it is an entirely irrelevant point - play it if you want and the huge majority that do seem to enjoy it. I play games to be entertained and this engaged me and entertained me more than anything I've picked up in years. Real craft and artistry pushes boundaries and does things others haven't tried before and this does that so very wonderfully, it genuinely is something unique and that is so very rare in this world.… Full Review »
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