Tell Me Why (video game)

Tell Me Why is an episodic narrative adventure game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was released in three episodes for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One between August and September 2020.

Tell Me Why
Developer(s)Dontnod Entertainment
Publisher(s)Xbox Game Studios
Director(s)Florent Guillaume
Producer(s)
  • Arnaud de Pischoff
  • Dimitri Weideli
Designer(s)Yoann Pignolé
Programmer(s)
  • Aurélien Caussin
  • Nicolas Sérouart
Artist(s)
  • Lucile Meunier
  • Grégory Zoltan Szucs
  • Teppei Takehana
  • Sébastien Gaillard
  • Kenny Laurent
  • Talal Selhami
  • Amaury Balandier
Writer(s)
  • Stéphane Beauverger
  • Morgan Lockhart
Composer(s)Ryan Lott
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
Release
  • Episode 1: Homecoming
  • August 27, 2020
  • Episode 2: Family Secrets
  • September 3, 2020
  • Episode 3: Inheritance
  • September 10, 2020
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

In the game, the player will revisit parts of the old home with both of the twins, and experience separate visions and memories of what had transpired, with each twin having different recollections of what happened. The player will make decisions for the pair based on which version of the past events to believe, which will impact the game's outcomes.[1] The game also features an exploration of Tlingit culture and includes several Tlingit characters.[2][3]

Plot

The game begins in 2005 in the Alaskan town of Delos Crossing. Tyler Ronan (August Aiden Black), then known as Ollie, confesses to murdering his mother, Mary-Ann, in self-defense and is subsequently sent to the Fireweed juvenile detention center, while his twin sister Alyson is adopted by Delos police chief Eddy Brown. Ten years later, an adult Tyler, who has since transitioned to male, returns to Delos Crossing and reunites with Alyson (Erica Lindbeck). The twins plan to sell their childhood home so they can move on with their lives, and Alyson can move to Juneau with her friend Michael. The house is in disrepair despite the efforts of local handy-man Sam, who was close with Mary-Ann and has become an alcoholic since her death.

Being home recalls memories of the twins' childhood, when their mother would tell them fairy tales of a runaway princess and her two goblin friends. The twins and Mary-Ann compiled these stories into an illustrated journal called the "Book of Goblins", which they find in the house. They also painfully remember the events surrounding Mary-Ann's death; Tyler had Alyson cut his hair in a more gender-neutral/androgynous fashion, and when he went to show Mary-Ann, she chased him with a double-barreled shotgun onto the house's pier. Tyler believes Mary-Ann was a transphobe who had a psychotic break when she realized Tyler was transgender.

As they clear out Mary-Ann's bedroom, they discover a book of parenting advice on raising a transgender child, alongside a leaflet for a gay conversion camp. Both were given to Mary-Ann by her devout religious friend Tessa Vecci, who runs a local café and convenience store with her husband, Tom, who is running for town mayor. From Tessa, the twins learn Mary-Ann became increasingly erratic in the weeks leading to her death. Mary-Ann came to Tessa for advice about Tyler, and reacted angrily when Tessa suggested the camp. Tyler and Alyson visit the Delos police station and meet Eddy, hoping for information on Mary-Ann's state of mind. They request to see the file for Mary-Ann's death, but are denied.

In flashback, it is revealed that it was actually Alyson who killed Mary-Ann, stabbing her with the scissors she had used to cut Tyler's hair, with Tyler opting to take the blame to save Alyson from the repercussions. Alyson begins to suffer with post-traumatic stress.

The next morning, Tyler and Alyson recall a memory of Mary-Ann arguing with Eddy outside their home. They break into the police archive and uncover files surrounding Mary-Ann, learning Tessa wanted Eddy to call social services and have Tyler and Alyson taken away. After discovering their break-in, Eddy admits his visit had been to warn Mary-Ann. The twins corner Tessa, who defends her actions by claiming Mary-Ann isolated herself from the Delos community and was endangering her children through poor parenting. Tyler can either forgive her or not.

Tyler and Alyson return home to find the barn on fire, and Tyler is knocked to the ground by the fleeing arsonist. The arsonist had tried to access a compartment beneath the barn floor containing a locked box, inside which they find letters from a lover of Mary-Ann's attempting to pressure Mary-Ann into an abortion. Tyler remembers another figure watching from afar as Mary-Ann died, and the twins to recall a memory of Mary-Ann arguing with an unseen man on a boat, threatening to kill him if he attempted to take her children.

Alyson steps away from their search due to emotional exhaustion and anxiety. Consumed with guilt for Mary-Ann's death, Alyson's mental health rapidly deteriorates, leading to a severe panic attack. At the police station, visiting Eddy, Alyson can either admit killing Mary-Ann to Eddy or not. Alyson then visits Sam and asks if he is their father. He denies it, but his old photographs of their house reveal a secret loft above the barn. Alyson and Tyler investigate the loft and find a room of complex puzzles. The twins solve the puzzles using the Book of Goblins, and realize the "fairy-tales" Mary-Ann told them were actually metaphors for her troubled past - born to an overbearing family, she fell pregnant and fled to Delos Crossing to raise the baby alone, but the baby died shortly after the move. Tyler and Alyson find a picture of their late half-sibling Leo, along with a letter addressed to them in which Mary-Ann hopes that they now understand her better, and that she did her best for them. The twins realize that Mary-Ann suffered a breakdown upon learning that social services would take her only surviving children away.

Reinvigorated by the discovery, the twins finally recall that the man on the boat was Tom Vecci, Tessa's husband. They summon him to the house and force him to admit to being their father. Alyson threatens to publicly expose Tom's affair with Mary-Ann, ending Tom's mayoral prospects. Tom reveals that he saw what really happened that night: Mary-Ann was attempting to calm the scared Tyler, not kill him, when Alyson stabbed her. Tyler rejects this as a lie to keep Alyson quiet, but Alyson suspects this to be the true sequence of events due to inconsistencies in the twins' own memories. Tyler admits they may never know the truth, but insists Alyson decide which memory to believe so she can overcome her trauma. Alyson must choose between two options - either Mary-Ann planned to kill herself and her two children to prevent social services separating them; or she had planned to kill only herself when she was interrupted by Tyler. The twins then decide to stay together and use their voice, or drift apart, depending on the strength of their bond through the player's choices.

Six months later, Tom has lost the election and Tessa has divorced him to become a Christian missionary if Tyler forgives Tessa or Tessa keeps her store with Tom, with Alyson no longer working there if he doesn't.

  • If Alyson chose to admit to Eddy that she killed Mary-Ann and/or took Tom's memory of her mother's death, Tyler returns to the house one last time, before leaving to either join Alyson and Michael in Juneau or become a ranger on Kodiak Island depending on Tyler's relationship with Michael.
  • If Alyson does not tell Eddy that she killed Mary-Ann and/or she believes their own version of the mother's death at the end, Alyson opts not to sell the house and moves in by herself, while Tyler either moves to Juneau with Michael or moves alone to Kodiak Island. Alyson then writes a new chapter in The Book of Goblins.

Development

Dontnod announced that Tyler Ronan is the first transgender playable character from any major studio, and they had worked with GLAAD to make him an "authentic representation of the trans experience".[2] Tyler was voiced by August Aiden Black, who is also a trans man.[4][5]

Tell Me Why was announced during Microsoft's Xbox London event on November 14, 2019. Dontnod stated that in response from criticism over the variable timing of episode releases for Life Is Strange, that they will commit to a release schedule for the three episodes over mid-2020.[1]

The dubbed versions voice recordings in French, German, Spanish (Mexico), and Portuguese (Brazil) were delayed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, so only subtitles were offered in different languages.[6] The dubbings were later released on October 31, 2020.[7]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable" reviews for the Xbox One and "mixed or average" reviews for Windows, according to the review aggregator Metacritic.[8][9]

Accolades
YearAwardCategoryResultRef.
2020 Best of Gamescom Awards Best Microsoft Xbox Game Won [17]
The Game Awards Game for Impact Won [18]

References
  1. Bankhurst, Adam (November 14, 2019). "Tell Me Why Is the New Episodic Game from Life Is Strange Studio". IGN. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  2. Farokhmanesh, Megan (November 14, 2019). "Life is Strange developer unveils new mystery game, Tell Me Why". The Verge. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  3. Van Allen, Eric (November 14, 2019). "Life is Strange Developer's New Game Will Explore Memories and the Trans Experience Through Twins". USGamer. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  4. Wright, Steve (February 21, 2020). "Tell Me Why's transgender lead is voiced by a transgender male". stevivor. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  5. Henley, Stacey (February 18, 2020). "Meet Tyler Ronan, the first transgender triple-A video game protagonist". VG247. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  6. "FAQ Tell Me Why". Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  7. Sirio, Paolo (October 31, 2020). "Tell Me Why mantiene la promessa: tutti i doppiatori di Tyler sono trans". SpazioGames (in Italian).
  8. "Tell Me Why for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  9. "Tell Me Why for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  10. "Tell Me Why review". August 27, 2020.
  11. Wallace, Kimberley. "Tell Me Why Review – Too Much Left Unanswered". Game Informer.
  12. "Tell Me Why Review | 'A mystery that's best left unsolved'". GameRevolution. Retrieved Aug 31, 2020.
  13. Clark, Justin. "Tell Me Why Review". GameSpot.
  14. Henley, Stacey (August 27, 2020). "Tell Me Why review: "The new gold standard for trans characters in games"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  15. Garcia, Janet (August 27, 2020). "Tell Me Why Review". IGN. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  16. Mejia, Ozzie (August 27, 2020). "Tell Me Why review: Fairy tale twin magic". Shacknews. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  17. "gamescom award 2020: "And the winners are...!"" (in German). Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  18. https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-game-awards-2020-nominees-nominations-winners/
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