It feels like an age since the fad of Full Motion Video hit Video Games.

“How can we make the games as realistic as possible?”

“I know, we record video of real people – actors perhaps – and put THEM in the game.”

“You’re a genius”

It seems like a smart idea on paper, but we know that it didn’t turn out quite as planned, and a mixture of bad acting, poor production, and not being able to fit a decent game around the concept – FMV games quickly died out, never to be seen again.

It may come as some surprise then to see a game take the concept of FMV and try to make it work again here in 2015. It will probably come as even more of a surprise to see it work so well, and to give you an experience that sticks in your mind days after you’re sure you’ve finished it.

Her Story puts you behind the screen of an old 90’s computer in a police station. You’re given access to a database of short video clips following the police interviews of Hannah, a woman linked to the murder of Simon Smith. It’s your task to piece together the story based on the videos you have to hand, but it’s not as simple as it might seem.

The videos are all out of order, and can only be accessed by searching particular words in to the database. The words you type in have to be words that are said by Hannah in the videos, so you need to listen and pay attention to each one you watch and try to decide what to search next to follow the paths you wish to follow.

The game starts you off with four videos under the search term “Murder”, and from here you’re given enough clues and suggestions of where to head next in your endeavors.

“So why don’t I search something that will bring up all the videos, like ‘the’ or ‘and’?” you may ask, and this is where the “game” part comes from.

Due to the database being old and basic it can only return five search results for each search you put in, even if there are 60 videos that include the word you searched. So while “Cat” may bring up a hundred results (it doesn’t, but i’m trying to avoid spoilers) “Cat flap” may bring up significantly less, and give you some much needed clues and hints on where to press on next.

The game requires your full attention as a player, you really need to listen and think about what you’re hearing and try to apply that to everything else you’ve seen. It’s good then, that the presentation of the information draws you in and makes you feel a part of the world it presents. The glare on the computer screen from the lights behind you, mixed with background noise of passing police cars, lights flickering, and the odd reflection of your character’s face helps bring the world alive and make you feel that you’re there sat behind this dusty old machine. The occasional musical flourishes set a terrifically moody and, at times, sinister tone to the whole thing.

The real shining star is the writing of Sam Barlow and the performance of Viva Seifert. In old FMV games it would be impossible to care what was going on because the acting was cheesy, everything was poorly laid out, games that were meant to be horrors became comedies.

That’s not the case here though. Viva does a terrific job in making you believe that Hannah is a real, living person. Someone you care what happens to and what she’s been through. The different nuances to her speech depending on how she’s feeling at any part of a given interview, the odd ticks she has in the way she moves her hands as she talks, holds her cup when she’s nervous, or shuffles uncomfortably in her chair creates an investment and connection with the player. You spend the few hours that the game lasts just watching her and listening to watch she says and if the acting wasn’t spot on then the whole game would fall apart. Taking any given clip on its own may seem weird, or unnatural, but as you start to piece together the clips and see her story from beginning to end, you see the plight and troubles of this woman play out before your very eyes.

I found myself caring more about what was happening to Hannah than I have done about almost every character in a game before. She feels real, and so with a notebook in hand (in the real world) I set out becoming a detective not just because the game wanted me to, but because I wanted me to.

The game is smart and twisted, and encourages you to take one path only to surprise you with something you didn’t expect. At one part I felt it’d be best if I searched for the term “sex”, because the conversation Hannah was having in one clip led me to believe this was a path worth checking. The first two clips I found under that heading was Hannah simply saying “My Sex life? Why on earth would you want to know about that?” – well played game.

This a game that can only be experienced once, all of the surprises and twists will only get you the first time, but what you see and learn will hold your thoughts for much longer. It took me about four hours to see all of the videos, but countless more have been spent thinking about the story and what it all could mean, having discussions with friends and online acquaintances. It’s a game that works well for an internet water cooler style discussion and certain revelations within will be the topic of much debate around forums for months, I’m sure.

In a time of blockbusters and exciting explosion-filled narratives about the end of the world where everything ties up with a satisfying conclusion before you move on to your next great adventure, Her Story plays it differently. It’s slow, methodical, and most importantly ‘Sticky’. The game claws at your brain in a way that it’s impossible for others to replicate. Everything you do in the game is because of you, and your thoughts, nothing else. It seems so simple and yet ends up feeling wholly new and fresh.

Sure, you could watch all of the clips in order on youtube, or look at a lets play where someone else works everything out for you but the excitement of this game comes from experiencing it yourself, writing down words on a notebook, thoughts, trees of connected characters, trying to make sense of the lack of linearity of it all. You’re tasked with playing a game not just on the screen, but playing it in real life, on paper, and in your head.

Personally I found Her Story to be a special experience. I described it to a friend as one of the most original gaming experiences I have had in recent years. It’s weird that a game that’s basically using a search engine to watch videos would have that sort of grip on me, yet here we are. I found it would play mind games with me in the real world, at one time believing one thing was going on, and the next another. Like any good detective story, it’s ambiguous, you’re constantly updating your thoughts with new evidence which can take your brain on a roller-coaster of emotions. It certainly did with mine, anyway, as i tried to piece everything together.

So if you have a few hours spare, if you have the patience and commitment to get lost in the role of a detective looking at the story of this woman with absolute dedication, then I highly encourage you to chuck yourself in to Her Story and see where it takes you.

(And then please contact me so we can share our thoughts!)

Her Story is available on Steam, gog.com and the iTunes appstore. Further info can be found from http://www.herstorygame.com