DATABASE DETECTIVE GAMES

Sterling students of the rabbit warren school of narrative design

- Jess Kinghorn

Let's confront the soggy fish-lady in the room - yes, I have played basically all of Sam Barlow's FMV oeuvre.

Though I enjoy Telling Lies' escalating betrayals, and Immortality's big supernatural swings, Her Story's murder mystery served 30 seconds at a time remains the most successful execution of the database detective formula.

The later Half Mermaid games feature minutes-long clips that in theory players will jump around and scrub through. However, in practice, the pacing grinds to a halt as I watch the entirety of a table read or one quiet side of a video call. The arbitrary time limit on Her Story's seconds-long clips supports the investigative momentum better - however! Your investigative legwork tends to boil down to keyword searches and pressing play; though the question of how the puzzle pieces click together is always burbling away in your noggin', Barlow's live-action games are arguably quite passive experiences.