I've read compelling critiques of Her Story based on its overall plot. The story that writer Sam Barlow tells is, frankly, a little absurd, requiring a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief. But it's the last part that the game gets so damn right. If the mystery genre is about satisfying a desire to piece together the truth, Her Story is the purest distillation of that. The search for the truth is everything. Figuring out the details, understanding the implications of each new bit of evidence — it's all on you and you alone.

It's no surprise that Her Story caught on so strongly with our staff in a year that's seen a meteoric rise in popular culture's interest and investment in true crime stories. Polygon deputy managing editor Megan Farokhhmanesh — who reviewed the game for us back in June — calls Her Story "the closest thing to a Serial video game that exists."

And yet there's also something that feels more ethical, less creepy about embracing the fictional mysteries of Her Story. Like many people, I've just finished binge-watching Netflix's shocking Making a Murderer, a documentary series detailing a horrific failure of the justice system centered around a murder in rural Wisconsin. I loved the experience of watching it and think that it's vital viewing, but there's also something disturbing about turning a real-life tragedy — arguably multiple real-life tragedies — into "can't-stop-watching" entertainment.

Moreover, though, Her Story gives its players a safer space to perform the mental gymnastics encouraged by so many true crime stories. I won't lie: I followed the Serial subreddit religiously while listening to the first season of that podcast, and I've checked in with the Making a Murderer subreddit more than once since wrapping up that show. But it feels wrong watching amateur (and very fallible) detectives try to crack mysteries that have a serious, powerful impact in real peoples' lives. I felt much more comfortable with my hours spent on the Her Story subreddit poring over everyone's wildest theories.

The joy of sharing theories also played into something that came up over and over as I discussed Her Story with my coworkers: How sharable an experience it is. So many people on staff told me how they had played the game with a significant other watching, how it had slowly morphed into a co-op experience.

So it was with me; after being confused and mystified for the first 10 minutes or so, my fiancé got extremely interested. Within an hour, she was shouting out suggestions for keywords to search. After every new video snippet, we'd talk through our evolving theory on what was happening and update our personal timeline. For a game with no multiplayer at all, this was still hands-down the most interesting cooperative gaming experience I had all year.