Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Her Story. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience. For better or worse, our reviews will help you decide whether or not to use cheats when playing the game.

In an industry full of recycled ideas and non original thought, Her Story stands out. It dares to not only try something different but try change how you think in the process. Please be advised, it's unique style of storytelling and problem solving isn't for everyone; and I'm pretty sure that a good portion of readers may end up hating Her Story, it's still an idea worth checking out and a world that I quickly became engrossed in throughout multiple playthroughs and can;t recommend it enough for anyone looking for something different.

It's really not that easy to even explain just what Her Story is. Written and directed by Sam Barlow (who you probably know from his work on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories), Her Story is less of a game and more of an experiment with just how well you can...search for things in a database. Wait, wait, I completely get how boring that sounds, but somehow Her Story makes it work and makes it work to a point where I couldn't stop searching and trying to uncover more of the story hidden inside it's files. You work for the police department and are given access to a database of interview clips of a woman talking about her missing husband. Each clip is only a few seconds long and it's up to you to figure out it's worth.

You could classify Her Story as an adventure game but just know that it doesn't behave like your typical adventure game. There aren't any breaks in the case or sudden clues dropped on your desk that you'll have to investigate; it's just you, your computer and the videos. What's key here is your ability to tag different videos yourself so they're easier to go back to and reference if you start piecing things together.  Say you search for the word murder, which you're likely to do a few times in your play through. There are a lot of videos to look through and labeling each one with something that will help make it easier to find it when you need it will help a lot. There are a lot of videos in the database and the game does give you a graph of sorts of which ones you've seen but it's best to keep notes yourself to keep reminders.

The game features a completely non-linear story and it's completely possible to see the last video in the database before you even see the first few. While you're bound to piece a few things together, Her Story is very ambiguous with what each clip means and you rarely get one that comes out and directly says what it's impact is. The key here is being able to read body language and figure out little nuances and ticks that lead you further down the rabbit hole that is Her Story. It's a lot of depth, especially when you take into account that it's currently around $5 on Steam. That ambiguity can also work against the game though if you don't really know what you're getting into.

With Her Story you never really get that Clue moment where you're able to say this is what happened, this is who did it and this is how they did it. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of twists to the story that you won't see coming but the game never tells you if you're finding out the truth or not. Her Story is remarkably uninterested in it's own end game that though it's a bit refreshing, it's also sure to turn some people off from even trying it. You never even get the satisfaction of accusing the woman of the crime since you're just watching video and the game only really ends when you feel you're satisfied with what you know about the case. How do you know when you're satisfied? You...just kind of do. It's a loose idea that should get people talking about what they found, and what they think.

With Her Story you won't get high quality HD graphics but you will get old school FMV sequences that seem like they're right out of the early 90s. It's all presented on a similarly aged computer screen and though there are some nice touches like seeing the reflection of florescent lights on the screen, it's a pretty simple setup. It's all part of the charm though and like a method actor, Her Story remains committed to it's ideas and unique style throughout your entire time with the game.

I highly enjoyed my time with Her Story and I'm pretty sure I'll end up going back through and trying to piece things together again though I'm pretty sure I know what happened. Be warned though, if you're the type of gamer who needs closure and needs some sort of official end game, you're likely to not be very interested in Her Story. It's really your loss though as this is one of the most unique detective stories I've played in years.