Telling Lies Reviews
Telling Lies is one of the best experiences to make use of FMV on PS4, telling a fascinating narrative that'll have you guessing what revelation will come your way next. What's more, the star-studded cast of characters does an excellent job of bringing the script to life, but it is held back by a perplexing rewind function. Had it been implemented better, the game would be on the cusp of greatness. Although, in its current state, Telling Lies is still a very safe recommendation for fans of the genre.
When compared to other games, Telling Lies is a massive accomplishment, bringing unheard of levels of talent.
The Telling Lies video game is engaging yet not without flaws.
Telling Lies may borrow its core mechanic from Her Story, but shifting from monologues to two-sided conversations brilliantly expands the investigative gameplay, and a pivot from murder mystery to political thriller gives director Sam Barlow a much richer set of ideas to explore. A few storytelling hiccups and awkward edges do little to detract from a thought-provoking look at the modern surveillance state—delivered not through soapbox lecture but by forcing you, unsettlingly, to participate.
Telling Lies is an absolute masterpiece. It offers some brilliant writing and acting that drive us to passionately discover all of its secrets through its very simple but effective mechanics.
Review in French | Read full review
Without a sense of feedback or progress, the rambling, leisurely narrative of Telling Lies comes across as unfocused.
Whether you call it an interactive movie game or desktop thriller, Telling Lies is a gratifying and authentic-feeling fly-on-the-wall experience. For the most part. Exceptional performances and an intriguing, topical story are undercut by a jarring gameplay choice that forces you out of the game when you least want it.
Some people will absolutely love Telling Lies. The type of person who can watch five minutes of a movie and then has to watch the entire thing will surely be absorbed into this game's mystifying world. However, for other people, sifting through hours of footage and being forced to jigsaw a narrative out of it will just feel like a chore, even if the characters are well depicted. It's up to you to decide which category you're most likely to fall under.
On paper, searching a large database of phone-filmed video clips doesn't sound too exciting, but Telling Lies offers an exhilarating few hours of detective work thanks to clever construction, strong performances and exceptional polish. Given that the game takes place almost entirely in windows on a virtual desktop computer screen (and would therefore seem 'at home' on PC), it survives the transition to Switch entirely intact. While there's not much incentive to reopen the investigation once it reaches its climax, uncovering Telling Lies' web of relationships and intrigue is a case definitely worth taking on.
Sam Barlow is pioneering new ways to bring interactivity to FMV media, blending film, games, and the human experience in ways that shouldn’t be missed.
Telling Lies on the Nintendo Switch brings a new life to the world of story-based games that make use of an FMV presentation. With its compelling plot and simple but capturing gameplay, a very good performance by its actors and a sharp use of the Nintendo Switch touch screen, Telling Lies will be more than enjoyed by players who will gladly keep a close focus on long video scenes to follow the story and make necessary choices based on what they just watched and heard.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Telling Lies is a rich drama told in an inventive and fun way, enabling the player to learn what happened in a personal and unique way.
Telling Lies is almost the perfect metaphor for real-life: inane bollocks for the most part, with some really interesting things happening every so often to stop you from falling asleep.
Telling Lies is a game defined by the individual's own terms and parameters, rewarding the wide spectrum of curiosity of anyone willing to put the time and thought into its mysteries.
Her Story is a tough act to follow, and unfortunately, Telling Lies does not hit the same emotional highs that Barlow's previous game did. Opting to use the same barebones video player both does not make sense for this storyline and introduces an annoyance that players are forced to deal with. The story is still intriguing, but not to a binge-worthy degree. Telling Lies is worth playing for Her Story fans, but can't quite hit those same high notes despite its best efforts.
Quotation Forthcoming
Review in Italian | Read full review
Telling Lies has an interesting story but is let down by a lack of direction and a clunky UI design. Even interesting characters can save the game, and a watered-down epilogue which is supposed to entice repeated playthroughs just leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Telling Lies is a brave endeavor at attempting to redefine interactive entertainment and remains a recommended title if you’re looking for something experimental focused on an intriguing narrative.
Telling Lies makes great innovative tweaks to its gameplay formula, and offers a high-quality live-action adventure, but it completely fumbles merging these two elements together. A word of advice would be to try your hand at the puzzle and discovery for a while, and then eventually just watch the clips outside the game to enjoy the narrative.
As it is, Telling Lies’ compelling narrative and phenomenal acting will be enough to spur you on. Searching and scrubbing through videos can be a chore, but it’s worth it, if just for that one tiny piece of information you’ve been waiting to find.