A small reprieve from Elden Ring this week as I’m starting a new series. ‘Game Pass Gems’ aims to find lesser known and missed titles from the past few years to review and discuss! Game Pass is amazing value for gamers, I miss a lot of titles on a yearly basis, and there’s been a lot of 2022 game release delays. It’s the perfect time to go back and find fun games to play and talk about!
The first entry will be Dontnod Entertainment’s, ‘Tell Me Why.’ You might remember Dontnod Entertainment from the very popular and amazing, “Life is Strange,” from 2015.
Similar to its predecessor, ‘Tell Me Why’ is an episodic narrative based game that revolves around Alyson and Tyler Ronan as they try to solve the mystery around the death of their mother, Mary-Ann. This three chapter story does a great job diving deep into sensitive topics, such as mental health and Transgenderism, and features varied and complex characters. The deep characters were unfortunately married to a drawn out story that ultimately left me wanting more.
(And kept getting a Backstreet Boys song stuck in my head..)
Born Together, Friends Forever
The opening cinematic shows a confession by Tyler Ronan in the self-defense murder of his mother, Mary-Ann. Ten years later, Tyler is picked up by twin sister, Alyson, from the juvenile detention center he was sentenced to. The Ronan twins, who share the supernatural ability to telepathically talk to one another, investigate the truth behind their mother’s death. They meet numerous characters throughout the small town of Delos Crossing, uncover heaping mounds of dirty past laundry, and follow twisty roads on their journey to the truth.
This premise alone was enough to hook me into the story, but the theme really got me thinking. Tyler and Alyson have a telepathic ‘Voice’ that allows them to talk to each other without anyone else hearing. This Voice also helps them share memories with one another. Unfortunately time has fractured the memories between them. Narrative based games usually give the player choices that affect future plot points. ‘Tell Me Why’ handles this by deciding which version of the past Tyler and Alyson should remember. Those memories influence future decisions.
I really enjoyed how Dontnod handled this. Memory is fickle. People misremember events all of the time, which then cause unfortunate decisions.
Sensitive Topics
The theme wasn’t the only thing the developers handled very well. There were two big character traits that revolved around the Ronan twins. Tyler is a Transgender Male and Alyson suffers from severe panic attacks. Both of those sensitive topics were written and explored deeply. Digging into the past makes Alyson confront what happened, even though she’s trying to completely bury it back there. And Tyler believes that discovering that he is Transgender was what sent Mary-Ann over the edge. These are both very serious topics that define big portions of the story.
Characters
The cast of “Tell Me Why” was filled with complex and well-written characters whom you meet and talk with ad-nauseum.
- Alyson Ronan– Female co-lead who loves her Brother and adoptive father, Eddy.
- Tyler Ronan– Transgender Male co-lead accused and sentenced to the murder of the Ronan matriarch, Mary-Ann.
- Mary-Ann Ronan– Deceased Mother of Tyler and Alyson. Story revolves around her death, the mystery of why she attempted to kill her kids, and uncovering all of her secret life.
- Michael– Alyson’s best friend and coworker. He’s a hilarious character whom you get to know as the story unfolds. He also cannot wait to get out of tiny Delos Crossing.
- Eddy- Delos Crossing Police Chief who adopts Alyson after Mary-Ann’s death.
- Tessa- Mary-Ann’s best friend who owns the only shop in Delos Crossing.
- Tom- Tessa’s husband who is also running for Mayor.
- Sam- Alcoholic family friend of Mary-Ann.
Each one of these characters bring something different to the table. It’s an intertwining cast loaded with dark secrets to unveil. Above all, Michael was my favorite character by far. He wasn’t in the game as much as I’d have liked, unfortunately, but he shined in every scene. By far, the deepest character was Mary-Ann. The entire plot of the story revolved around diving into her past, blemishes and all. Complicated and flawed characters create the best stories.
Gameplay
Top tier gameplay isn’t something to expect in a Narrative based game, but ‘Tell Me Why’ was really lacking in this department. Games like “Telltale’s the Walking Dead” or “Life is Strange” are generally choose-your-own-adventure type of games, but there’s a gameplay mechanic or story momentum pushing the game forward. The theme of ‘Tell Me Why’ is all about the failures of memory, which meant they developed a cool mechanic around that. Tyler and Alyson walk through the world ‘Remembering’ things that nobody else could see. That has the promise of a really cool gameplay mechanic to build around, but in reality, all it did was create long, drawn-out scenes of just standing around.
On the other hand, the remembering mechanic led to some pretty intense plot points where Alyson and Tyler remembered different things and it was the players duty to pick one or the other. I enjoyed those because there was gravity to the decision. Good stuff!
There also were some pretty cool puzzle sections as well. Mary-Ann hid all her secrets behind puzzles and brain teasers, which meant Tyler and Alyson were the only ones capable of finishing them. I’m not a huge puzzle fan, or more that I’m very bad at them, but these creative and slightly challenging.
Conclusions
My overall impressions after finishing it were not unlike a bad pizza: something in the recipe was off, but everything was good enough to satiate me. The story had its fair share of twists and turns, however the disjointed storytelling made this ride a little nauseating rather than a blast. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but it fell flat.
Too many times during my nine hours with the game did I feel like I was doing nothing. The game lacked forward momentum. I was going from the Ronan House, to the Police Station, to the lone store in town, and back to the house constantly. The story and characters were oozing with potential.
Even with saying all of that, I did enjoy my time with ‘Tell Me Why.’ It’s a good game if you like Narrative only games, the characters are great, and the story is captivating in numerous parts. I’d recommend giving it a shot if you have Game Pass!
Verdict: 3/5 (Good not great)