Well I spent basically all day playing this, putting in 7hrs with two different play throughs. The first was completely blind using 10% logic & 90% brute force (something I think is unavoidable as logic will only get you so far in this game) and the second using a walk though so I could unveil the clips in a linear order. The result led me two conclusions.

1) From an intrigue - how well does it engage - perspective, the first play through is the only one that will achieve such a feeling and 2) From a narrative perspective - how well it flows and and how much it makes sense - the second play through is the only one that will achieve such a feeling

My conclusion? It isn't much of a mystery nor much of a detective - solve the crime - type experience. You see, I feel that it builds intrigue in one of the ways way Reservoir Dogs built intrigue, through an unstructured narrative. Because the chances are so incredibly slim that the player will play this out linearly on their first go, they will unravel things at random and be more intrigued by the things they discover. This illusion, if you will, is broken hard when you see the narrative from start to beginning, which is why I believe the game does its hardest to not allow you see it linearly easily. What annoyed me the most in my first play through was just how restrictive the interface felt. The clips - over an 1hrs worth i believe - are separated into different days - six I believe - and yet it doesn't you give you any easy way to linearly patch together the these days. They give you a way to store clips for reference but it felt like an absolute chore to organize it. There's a database that gives you a reference guide to clip order but that's it, you cannot use it to view individual clips in order. Going through my second play through I could see why. The intrigue wasn't as strong (no doubt due to the one sided nature of the story), however this time around I grasped more of the narrative and felt that it was a pretty good incomplete story - because after all it's just her story. It flowed quite nicely and I enjoyed it much more, something I could never get from the first play through as a combination of randomness and human fallacy made it quite hard to keep it all together (basically interactivity getting in the way of thoughtfully paying attention). At the end of my second play through I kind of wished it just a more robust TV miniseries, think I would of quite enjoyed that.

The verdict? I'm not to sure. Maybe Her Story is like Memento. Sure you could watch Memento backwards but why the fuck would you? Maybe it's an experience better left as a one off? idk. But I must admit, I enjoyed the second play through much more. The first, while far more engaging (in same way a thriller can be engaging), annoyed me at times and gave me a headache. Personally liked seeing the story develop naturally.

This & Roundabout are the only reason why I got this weeks humble bundle. Wonder if my absolute trash desktop - as my laptop is basically dead - can run this.

Dammit, I think I stumbled on the big plot twist just 10 minutes in...

„Her Story is the new video game from Sam Barlow, creator of Silent Hill Shattered Memories“ *throws money at screen*

I'm tempted to get this, it sounds like a murder mystery that doesn't hold your hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHw97l7-Lc