We reviewed Tell Me Why

Driftwood
Thursday, August 27, 2020 | 6:00 PM
2 comments

GSY Review PC Xbox One

Developer DONTNOD is back with yet another episodic adventure game, this time exclusively for Microsoft, on Xbox One and PC. The game is set in a fictional small town in Alaska and it introduces us with Tyler and Alyson, 2 siblings with a complicated family history. Inside, you will find our review of the first episode (out of 3), entitled Homecoming. We'll update the review as the next embargos lift between next week and the one after. As usual, you can also check out the videos of the first 20 minutes of the adventure we recorded for the occasion. Note that the review code was quite logically provided by Xbox.

Verdict - Homecoming

It's always quite difficult to review an episodic game before it has been fully released. The fact that Tell Me Why will only be composed of 3 episodes might lead you into thinking that it could be easier, but having only completed the first one so far, we can say it isn't. The main reason is that this first chapter is the introduction to the story, we are presented with the main characters, Alyson and Tyler Ronan, and though some revelations are made in the course of this first part, it remains difficult to see the full potential of the game. If you know DONTNOD and their previous games, you won't be surprised to find out that Tell Me Why is an interactive story much like Life is Strange and the Telltale games. As a result, expect a lot of dialogues, choices that can affect the different relationships as well as some exploration and a couple of simple puzzles. The decisions you will make here won't have direct consequences, so it's hard to be sure how they will affect the future events of the story. That being said, DONTNOD has once again managed to create believable characters whose reactions look a bit more nuanced than they are sometimes in video games. The relationship between Alyson and Tyler is at the core of the plot but their mother and the past events linked to her are too. The 2 siblings have a special ability which allows them to communicate telepathically and to see memories of the past, which will make it possible for them to understand what happened. Sometimes, they will have a different perception of one same memory, forcing the player to make a choice and side with either Alyson or Tyler. The mechanic works well but it's nothing we haven't seen before really, at least in this first episode. For now, Tell Me Why is looking like an engaging title, but we wonder if only 2 more episodes will be enough to develop an interesting plot. Homecoming is still rather short considering it's supposed to be one third of the full game. We didn't check exactly how long it took us to complete it, but it felt pretty much like any chapter of any episodic title. We should find out soon enough though as the next 2 parts will be respectively available on September 3 and September 10. We already have access to them both, but since we couldn't discuss anything outside Homecoming, we decided to only play the first episode before reviewing it. We should have a verdict of the second episode by the end of next week, so stay tuned for more.