Telling Lies (video game)

Telling Lies (stylized as telling l!es) is a narrative video game developed by Sam Barlow and Furious Bee and published by Annapurna Interactive in August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, iOS. Ports for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch were released in April 2020. As with Barlow's previous title, Her Story, the game uses live action full-motion video of four people (played by Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan) as part of video calls made between them, and the player will need to use tools provided from the game to piece together events and what statements may be lies to determine the overall mystery.

Telling Lies
Developer(s)Sam Barlow
Furious Bee
Publisher(s)Annapurna Interactive
Composer(s)Nainita Desai
Platform(s)iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Release
Genre(s)Interactive film
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Telling Lies is played out on a virtual desktop computer screen with its own operating system. The reflection of the player-character can be seen off the virtual monitor.

Barlow describes Telling Lies as a "desktop thriller" like Her Story, where the player becomes involved in a drama that is played out through stored video clips and other information presented on a virtual computer desktop.[1] Telling Lies provides the player with numerous video segments that in the game's narrative, cover a two-year period and which have been stored on a stolen hard-drive taken from the National Security Agency. The player has the ability to search the hundreds of video segments on keywords as to piece together timelines, events, and interactions, all to try to understand why the four central people have been the subject of electronic surveillance, as well as the nature of the player-character's role in these events; this character appears female and can be seen in a virtual reflection of the in-game computer screen to the actual player. However, these clips only provide the video and audio from one side of the conversation, requiring the player to determine which clips may match the other participants, as well as potential interactions with around 30 other people.[2][1] Players can scroll forwards and backwards within segments, highlight certain words in the video subtitles to use as search, and keep notes within an in-game memo pad.[1] The player only has a limited amount of time within a single playthrough to scan material from the hard-drive, and would have to restart from scratch (losing all notes and bookmarks) if they want to see more.[3] Barlow estimated that the content within Telling Lies is about four to five times longer than Her Story.[4] There are three different endings that the player may reach through the game, depending on which character's videos they explored most frequently.[5]

Plot

In 2019, Karen Douglas, a former FBI agent, goes back to her apartment at midnight to turn on her computer and access the content of an external USB drive. She then watches the videos by searching them using keywords.

David Smith, the main character, was an FBI agent. He and his wife, Emma, have a daughter Alba. After David went undercover, Emma’s mother, Laura, moved in. During David's mission, Laura developed dementia and eventually passed away, despite medical care by an anaesthesiologist named Steven who was hired by the couple.

It is revealed that when David was Emma's then-boyfriend, he killed Paul, who was Emma’s abusive ex-boyfriend. David waited outside for Paul to enter Emma’s house. Then David went inside and used his pistol to shoot Paul, who was unarmed, in the lungs, and then watched him bleed to death, with Emma as an unwilling accomplice.

During the years of 2017 and 2018, David was an undercover special agent supervised by an agent named Mike, working on a case code-named as Green Dagger. The aim of the operation was to demonstrate the intention of environmental groups to break the law and commit acts of terrorism. The main target of the operation was a group called "Green Storm" lead by an activist named Riordan. To infiltrate this group, David was to start by infiltrating a smaller team called the "Organizing Group" led by Eric and Peter.

The Organizing group's main target was a corporation in Detroit, Michigan called Prosperen, who wished to build natural gas plants in the area. In particular the organisation was building a pipeline which the activist groups believed would pollute the water source. Mike instructed David to use the alias David Jones and infiltrate the group. They targeted Ava, who was referred to as “Snow White”. David approached Ava and developed a romantic relationship with her, based on their mutual love for music. David gained Ava’s trust and used this to get invited to the Organizing group.

The Organizing Group was initially made up of Eric, Chris, Peter, and Simon. Simon was secretly a black kite agent providing information to the FBI, an arrangement David was unhappy with as he felt Simon was unprofessional. As David begun to ingratiate himself with the group, he discovered that Peter, one of the leaders, had previously slept with Ava while she was underage, drugged her and filmed some of what they had done. David brutally attacks Peter, receiving an official reprimand from the FBI, and incurring Ava's anger. Unashamed, he then proceeds to use a contact from his past, Harry, to acquire drugs which he plants on Peter to frame him.

As David gets increasingly edgy, he decides to out Simon as a Black Kite Spy. While these actions, and his growing closeness to Ava, alarms Mike, it also impresses Eric, and David moves forwards with the plan. He invites Riordan and the Organizing Group to discuss plans to disrupt movement on a key bridge which Prosperen needs access to proceed with the pipeline. While staying on the boat, Ava reveals that she is pregnant with David's child.

David discusses with a new Black Kite employee who has infiltrated Green Storm their plan to try to trap Riordan into getting involved in a direct attack, namely destroying a bridge. However during the meeting the Black Kite employee doesn't follow the script, and David's speech is not well received. A frustrated David calls Mike only to discover that Mike has agreed with Black Kite to hold off on Green Storm, and just arrest the Organizing Group, including Ava. David argues strongly that the operation should continue, and that Ava should not be arrested, but Mike tells him to kill David Jones (His cover name).

The Organizing Group is then arrested, including Ava who is on a call with David when the arrest occurs. While David expresses anger to Mike, Mike notes that David had been withholding information in his reports, including Ava's pregnancy. David tries to continue meeting with the Organizing Group, but Karen Douglas, his field supervisor, bursts in an attempt to provide him cover to leave. David is furious with Karen, but after some discussion back and forth with Mike, he agrees to withdraw. Ava is heartbroken by David's sudden disappearance and outraged by David's decision to leave her money.

During this mission, David had been having regular conversations with a sex worker named Maxine Williams, who ran a webcam chatroom with multiple aliases. David paid her for conversation, and over time shared personal stories with Maxine including his identity as a federal special agent, and his relationship with Emma and Ava. As his life falls apart, David, believing he has a real connection with Maxine, tries to connect with her. She first bans him, and then, when he comes back with a different credit card, reveals that everything he knows about her is a lie, and that she has recorded all their conversations, and will release them if he keeps following her.

David decides to track her down, using Harry to find her, and locates her. Maxine is prepared, and has already released the videos, and shoots David in the leg, with the police arriving shortly after.

After being shot, David reconnects with Mike, saying that David Jones is dead. Some time passes, during which David is living alone, estranged from both his wife and his girlfriend. He tries to reconnect with both, but both reject him. David finally breaks down, and decides to commit suicide by blowing the explosives on his boat, potentially destroying the bridge as well.

Finishing reviewing some of the videos, Karen uploads and leaks the video content she has watched. She destroys the hard drive of her computer, bypasses the FBI agents who are searching in the area, and walks up the stairs to the rooftop. She smokes a cigarette and enjoys the sunrise.

The mid-credits scene shows one of the three women’s (Emma’s, Ava’s, or Maxine’s) fate, depending on the videos the player has watched.[5] Both Emma and Ava move on to a new life without David and continue to raise their daughters. Maxine leaves her place in Cleveland, Ohio and decides to open a cam agency in New York. Maxine goes on to become a novelist writing crime stories with ‘strong female leads’.

Development

Barlow's work on Telling Lies began in January 2016 as a "spiritual successor" to Her Story, with a narrative unrelated to the first game, though it continued to use full-motion video as its central gameplay element.[6][7] Through some had urged him to make a direct sequel to Her Story by creating another murder mystery and putting another actor in place, Barlow wanted something that was more risky, and utilising the aspects of Her Story where the player got to know more about the main character through the clips.[4] He came to the concept of electronic surveillance as a central theme in part of being a parent himself and wanting to keep track of his own pre-teen-aged son's online activities.[4] In reading up about surveillance methods used by the National Security Agency and MI5, Barlow read up on the Optic Nerve program and found that it had several similarities to Her Story, including the ability to search on stored video and audio through keywords.[4]

In July 2017, Barlow announced that the game, titled Telling Lies, would feature three to four key characters. He described the game as a combination of the films The Conversation (1974) and Shame (2011). The game was published by Annapurna Interactive and shooting for the game had been scheduled to start in late 2017 or early 2018.[8] For filming, Barlow wanted the conversations between characters to appear natural, ideally filming both actors as they conversed but from different locations. To accomplish this, they were able to rent out a compound that had a number of different homes and buildings that they could make appear like the different locations that were called for in the script, including scenes where they were moving about the compound. In this fashion, the actors recorded their lines in their separate locations over video conferencing calls, with Barlow and other directors running between the sets as needed to provide direction.[9] The shooting was done mostly in chronological order of the narrative story, with over 100 hours of footage captured. Only about ten hours of this were used for the game itself.[9]

By March 2019, Barlow released the game's first trailer.[4] The game was subsequently released on 23 August 2019 for Windows and macOS personal computers and on iOS devices.[10][11][12] Console ports to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch were scheduled for release on 28 April 2020.[13]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
MetacriticiOS: 87/100[14]
PC: 84/100[15]
PS4: 81/100[16]
NS: 80/100[17]
XONE: 80/100[18]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid9/10[19]
Game Informer9/10[20]
GameSpot7/10[21]
IGN9/10[22]
PC Gamer (US)87/100[23]
USgamer4.5/5[24]

Telling Lies received generally positive reviews.[12][25][26][3]

Awards
YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2019 Golden Joystick Awards Best Storytelling Nominated [27][28][29]
Best Indie Game Nominated
Best Performer (Logan Marshall-Green) Won
Ultimate Game of the Year Nominated
Hollywood Music in Media Awards Song/Score - Trailer Nominated [30]
Titanium Awards Best Narrative Design Nominated [31]
2020 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards Best Writing in a Video Game Nominated [32]
New York Game Awards Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year Nominated [33]
Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game Nominated
Herman Melville Award for Best Writing Nominated
Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game (Alexandra Shipp) Nominated
Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game (Logan Marshall-Green) Nominated
Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards Best Storytelling Won [34]
23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Story Nominated [35]
NAVGTR Awards Performance in a Drama, Lead (Logan Marshall-Green) Nominated [36]
MCV/Develop Awards Audio Innovation of the Year Nominated [37]
Gameplay Innovation of the Year Nominated
Narrative Innovation of the Year Nominated
16th British Academy Games Awards Performer in a Leading Role (Logan Marshall-Green) Nominated [38]
2020 Webby Awards Best User Experience Won [39]
Best Visual Design Nominated
Technical Achievement Nominated
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References
  1. Caldwell, Brendan (17 June 2019). "'I hate repeating a trick' - the writer of Telling Lies on going back to the desktop thriller". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  2. Stark, Chelsea (27 March 2019). "Her Story follow-up takes place on a stolen NSA hard drive". Polygon. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  3. Welsh, Oli (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies review: flawed but fascinating experiment in storytelling". Eurogamer. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  4. Clark, Tim; MacGregor, Jody (27 March 2019). "See the first teaser for Telling Lies, the next game from the creator of Her Story". PC Gamer. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  5. Kelly, Andy (29 August 2019). "Here's how you see all the endings in Telling Lies". PC Gamer. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  6. Morrison, Angus (25 January 2016). "Her Story 2 is on the way". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  7. Muncy, Julie (25 January 2016). "Heavily Redacted Tweet Teases a Her Story Sequel". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  8. Chalk, Andy (14 July 2017). "Her Story creator reveals new game will be called Telling Lies". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  9. Webster, Andrew (16 July 2019). "Live-action mystery game Telling Lies needed a new way of filming conversations". The Verge. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  10. Carter, Chris (16 August 2019). "Telling Lies, the follow-up to the FMV-filled Her Story, is out next week". Destructoid. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  11. Orland, Kyle (23 August 2019). "Telling Lies takes an intimate, expansive view of interactive storytelling". Ars Technica. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  12. Stark, Chelsea (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies review: a full-motion video triumph". Polygon. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  13. O'Conner, James (21 April 2020). "Telling Lies, The Follow-Up To Her Story, Is Coming To Consoles Very Soon". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  14. "Telling Lies for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  15. "Telling Lies for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  16. "Telling Lies for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  17. "Telling Lies for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  18. "Telling Lies for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  19. Carter, Chris (21 August 2019). "Review: Telling Lies". Destructoid. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  20. Favis, Elise (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies Review". Game Informer. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  21. Hornshaw, Phil (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies Review - False Faces". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  22. Horti, Samuel (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies Review". IGN. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  23. Kelly, Andy (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  24. McCarthy, Caty (21 August 2019). "Telling Lies Review". USGamer. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  25. Fahey, Mike (21 August 2019). "New Game From The Developers Of Her Story Is An Unsettling Trip Through Stolen NSA Footage". Kotaku. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  26. Bell, Alice (21 August 2019). "Wot I Think: Telling Lies". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  27. Tailby, Stephen (20 September 2019). "Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". Push Square. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  28. GamesRadar staff (25 October 2019). "Vote now for your Ultimate Game of the Year in the Golden Joystick Awards 2019". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  29. GamesRadar staff (15 November 2019). "Here's every winner from this year's Golden Joystick Awards, including the Ultimate Game of the Year". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  30. "Hollywood Music In Media Awards Announces Nominees". Shoot. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  31. "Titanium Awards 2019". Fun & Serious Game Festival. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  32. "Writers' Guild Of Great Britain Awards Shortlist Announced". Broadway World. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  33. Sheehan, Gavin (2 January 2020). "The New York Game Awards Announces 2020 Nominees". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  34. "The winners of 2020 – Mobile Games Awards". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  35. Chalk, Andy (13 January 2020). "Control and Death Stranding get 8 nominations each for the 2020 DICE Awards". PC Gamer. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  36. "2019 Nominees". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  37. Wallace, Chris (14 February 2020). "It's your last chance to vote for the MCV/DEVELOP Awards winners 2020". MCV/Develop. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  38. Stuart, Keith (3 March 2020). "Death Stranding and Control dominate Bafta games awards nominations". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  39. "Webby Awards: Games". The Webby Awards. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
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