Writer/designer Sam Barlow and Annapurna Interactive are teaming up to bring us a spiritual successor to the revolutionary indie game, Her Story.
Called Telling Lies, this title is described as a “spiritual successor to Her Story.” That seemingly indicates that it is not directly tied to Her Story in regards to the two games’ characters, universes, and any potential shared plot points.
However, it seems that the game will utilise a set-up similar to the one featured in Her Story. That is to say that it will require players to interpret the information given to them via live-action sequences in order to reach the end of a narrative (or at least draw conclusions regarding its meaning).
Whereas Her Story forced you to make sense of various interviews with a murder suspect in order to determine what happened, though, it seems that Telling Lies will be a little grander in scope. The plot details aren’t fully known at this time, but Barlow previously mentioned that the game would draw influences from the Steve McQueen sexual thriller Shame as well as the Francis Ford Coppola film, The Conversation. He also describes it as being “in the vein of a political thriller.”
Selling the increased scope of the game is a rather impressive cast of recently revealed actors who will portray the game’s four main characters. David will be played by Logan Marshall-Green (Upgrade, The Invitation), Ava will be played by Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse, Straight Outta Compton), Emma will be played by Kerry Bishé (Halt And Catch Fire, Scrubs), and Angela Sarafyan (Westworld) rounds out the main cast as Max. Vivien Lyra Blair of Bird Box also has an unidentified speaking role in the game.
We’re quite excited for this title as Her Story is not only a unique narrative experience that must be experienced by anyone who wants to see what video game storytelling is capable of, but because Barlow also worked on one of the most underrated horror games of all time, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
There’s no word yet regarding Telling Lies‘ release date, but the principal shooting of the live-action sequences is expected to wrap soon.
As we hear more, we’ll let you know.