In Tell Me Why there aren’t any silly catchphrases, just a lot of back and forths between young people that overwhelmingly feel like they’ve been written by old folks. L ife Is Strange was mocked for its use of what the writers assumed to be modern teenage vernacular, like “hella” and “shaka-brah”, but at least in that game, it was unique and charming, in a dorky way. Beyond the exposition though, there are some really lovely smaller scenes between characters spread across the story, like when Tyler is flirting in the storeroom of the local shop, or when the siblings are reckoning with old memories as they clear out their childhood home. “The Fireweed administration backed him up Tyler, they thought it was best, for both of us,” Alyson responds. Tyler turns to Alyson and says: “You mean Chief Brown, as in the police officer who arrested me, and your adopted father, the man who didn’t let you visit me for seven years!” In one of the first scenes, the siblings are on a boat together catching up when Alyson offers Tyler a gift from a character named Eddy, whom we’ve yet to meet. There’s also so much unnecessary, grating exposition in this game.
Across three episodes, there aren’t that many opportunities to branch off and chart your own course, so the storytelling feels stoic. Even the game’s final flashpoint fell flat because of this – your mileage may vary of course – but it definitely feels that there’s a right way and a wrong way to progress through Tell Me Why. I’d rather they were just honest with each other and hashed this out beyond the binary mechanic. This is a clever idea in theory, but in many cases, the “big choice” was crystal clear to me, because I had already uncovered the evidence that proved one of the sibling’s interpretations. You’ll have to pick which side of the story you believe, and your choices will colour the wider narrative. In many cases, Tyler will perceive the past in a different manner to Alyson, and this is where player choice becomes paramount.
The duo use this to their advantage when solving puzzles and trying to manipulate people to seek the truth, but it’s a disadvantage when their recollection differs from one another. The supernatural Dontnod twist, in this case, is that the Ronan siblings can communicate telepathically and stimulate visual memories of the past in the present via the resonance of sounds and the strength of emotions. In Tell Me Why, the latest from Life Is Strange developer Dontnod Entertainment, you play as brother and sister duo Tyler and Alyson Ronan, who reunite after a decade to return to their Alaskan hometown hamlet and commit their troubled past to memory.
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