Telling Lies (video game)
A desktop thriller using full-motion video to uncover surveillance secrets.
Telling Lies (presented as telling l!es) is a narrative video game from Sam Barlow and Furious Bee, released by Annapurna Interactive in August 2019 for iOS, macOS, and Windows. Ports for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One followed in April 2020. Like Barlow’s earlier game Her Story, it uses live-action full-motion video featuring four actors—Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan—portraying characters in video calls. Players must use in-game tools to reconstruct events and identify which statements are lies, ultimately solving a mystery.
**Gameplay**
Barlow calls Telling Lies a "desktop thriller," similar to Her Story, where the player engages with a drama presented through stored video clips and information on a simulated computer desktop. The game offers hundreds of video segments spanning two years, supposedly taken from a stolen National Security Agency hard drive. Players search these clips by keyword to piece together timelines, events, and interactions, aiming to understand why the four central characters were under surveillance and what role the player-character plays. This character appears female, visible as a reflection on the in-game monitor. Clips show only one side of each conversation, so players must find matching clips from other participants, as well as interactions with roughly 30 additional people. Players can scroll through segments, highlight words in subtitles to search, and keep notes in a memo pad. A single playthrough has limited time to scan the hard drive; restarting erases all notes and bookmarks. Barlow estimates the content is four to five times longer than Her Story. The game has three endings, determined by which character’s videos the player explores most. It also includes a version of solitaire that is unwinnable because the deck lacks the king of clubs.
**Plot**
In 2019, former FBI agent Karen Douglas plugs a USB drive into her computer and watches videos by searching keywords. The footage tells the story of David Smith (Logan Marshall-Green), an FBI agent working undercover in 2017 and 2018, supervised by his handler Mike, on a case called Green Dagger. The operation targets potential terrorism by the environmental group Green Storm, led by activist Riordan.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Telling Lies
- Developer
- Sam Barlow / Furious Bee
- Publisher
- Annapurna Interactive
- Platforms
- iOS, macOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Genre
- Interactive film
- Modes
- Single-player
- Composer
- Nainita Desai
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Telling Lies is described by Barlow as a 'desktop thriller' like his previous title Her Story, where the player becomes involved in a drama played out through stored video clips on a virtual computer desktop. The game provides numerous video segments covering a two-year period, stored on a stolen hard-drive from the National Security Agency. The player searches hundreds of video segments using keywords to piece together timelines and events, trying to understand why four central people were under electronic surveillance and the player-character's role. The player-character appears female, seen in a virtual reflection on the in-game screen. Clips show only one side of conversations, requiring the player to match clips from other participants and interact with around 30 other people. Players can scroll, highlight words in subtitles to search, and keep notes in an in-game memo pad. A single playthrough has limited time to scan material, and restarting loses all notes and bookmarks. Barlow estimated the content is four to five times longer than Her Story. The game also contains a version of solitaire that lacks the king of clubs and is unwinnable.
Reader's Guide
The game's significance lies in its continuation of Barlow's approach to narrative through full-motion video, building on Her Story with a larger scope and more complex story. The plot involves FBI agent David Smith, undercover investigating the environmental group Green Storm, and his relationships with Ava, his wife Emma, and sex worker Maxine Williams. The player, as former FBI agent Karen Douglas, accesses videos on a USB drive to uncover the story. The game offers three different endings depending on which character's videos the player explored most frequently. Development began in January 2016 as a 'spiritual successor' to Her Story, with Barlow wanting a riskier project that used surveillance as a central theme, inspired by reading about NSA and MI5 methods. Filming involved actors recording lines in separate locations over video conferencing, with over 100 hours of footage captured, of which about ten hours were used. The game was released in August 2019 after a trailer in March 2019.
Did You Know?
- The game's solitaire deck lacks the king of clubs and is therefore unwinnable.
- Over 100 hours of footage were captured, but only about ten hours were used in the game.
- The player-character appears female and can be seen in a virtual reflection of the in-game computer screen.
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