And now for something (almost) completely different…

Her Story revolves around a police database full of live FMV footage, to which you are granted access. You must search through seven archived, detective-conducted interviews of a woman who reported her husband missing back in 1994.

In the game, which is non-linear, you are the person who executes the searches using a police computer, which is actually your own computer. Your queries return clips in which the woman speaks the words for which you have searched.

Sam Barlow: If you can Google, you can play Her Story. The mechanic of searching for clips in the database is so simple that anyone can pick up and play. But it’s a mechanic that quickly reveals its richness and complexity. At times it can feel like you’re engaged in a genuine dialogue with this woman and her story. It’s a unique way to interact with a narrative, a sculptural way of viewing a story — and something that can only be done interactively.

The aesthetic is True Detective via Blair Witch. I’m interested in showing that accessible technologies such as video offer a powerful way for indie games to showcase a performance. I am also putting the spotlight on the modern phenomena of the Youtube Jury, in which police forces distribute the footage of intimate suspect interviews for armchair detectives to dissect. You see it in cases such as those of Jodi Arias and Amanda Knox — cases where the suspects’ stories themselves get lost amongst the torrent of cliches and prejudices that the videos elicit.

Her Story, which has been Greenlit, stars actress and musician Viva Seifert. It will be released on PC, Mac and Linux early in 2015, exact date TBD.