They say that Batman is the world’s greatest detective, and in the slick and enjoyable Batman: Arkham Knight, the caped crusader gets the chance to solve all number of conundrums. But in June of 2015, Her Story proved that Batman has nothing on you: you the game player, you the deep thinker, you the investigator. Her Story may seem simple enough, asking you to input keywords and thus revealing short related video clips of a woman’s police interrogation. But like many good puzzle adventures, most of Her Story actually takes place not on screen, but in your mind. As you watch and rewatch the videos you uncover, you begin to piece together a picture, a picture that becomes even clearer as you consider potential keywords that might uncover even more truth to this intriguing murder mystery.
Yes, Her Story is special, but it was joined last month by a number of laudable games, including the aforementioned Arkham Knight, which depicts the most beautiful and grim version of Gotham in a video game thus far. Then there is Heroes of the Storm, an online arena game that reminds us that when it comes to taking proven concepts and streamlining them into their most intense but welcoming forms, Blizzard has no equal. Heroes of the Storm is the MOBA distilled into its most primal and excellent form, keeping match length short and focusing you not on a large list of purchasable items, but on talents. And let’s not forget Tales from the Borderlands, the excellent (and still in-progress) series that so far has peaked with June’s episode, remaining both hysterical and dramatic, and making a case for itself as developer Telltale Games’ best episodic series to date.
Is it… her?
It’s only fitting, however, that the game that continues to dominate our minds even after we stepped away from it is Her Story. It’s not a game that has a conclusion, per se; you simply decide when you know enough to walk away, confident (or not so confident) in your theories. Sure, you can ultimately uncover every video, but even when you’re armed with as much information as the game offers to you, you are left to ponder the specifics. You play Her Story even after you have closed the window, making it its own kind of portable game, the kind that you stow away into your brain, poking and prodding it even when the software isn’t open and in front of you. For its originality, for its outstanding performance, and for its perfect balance of clarity and vagueness, we name Her Story GameSpot’s Game of the Month for June, 2015.
Editor’s note: we welcome all discussion related to Her Story and June’s other games, but please use the spoiler block option when posting Her Story spoilers. Also, be aware that the above video is a spoilercast, and by nature reveals important story elements of the game.
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