#Tell me why full
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The puzzles are relatively approachable, and the coded words and images shouldn’t be out of place to anyone who has done an escape room. The fairy tale settings, then, don’t feel elaborate or contradictory so much as a symbol themselves, an indication that our imaginations can charm us as often as they haunt us.

#Tell me why full

While one may wonder how a mother who was forced to steal food to survive could construct an entire hidden room full of hidden doors and choreographed lighting, “Tell Me Why” doesn’t stray from its somber tone of unprocessed heartache. (Dontnod Entertainment / Xbox Game Studios) The characters and the setting, the latter of which touch upon the Native Alaskan culture of the Huna Tlingit, evolved out of a desire, she says, to add depth and nuance to the game. Lead writer Morgan Lockhart says the story began as one about family and how conflict can arise from contradictory memories of a past event, as the core game mechanic of “Tell Me Why” has players uncovering memories and then watching them unfold to piece together the plot. “I think that balance of not ignoring Tyler‘s transness, as if it doesn’t affect his life, but not making it the central focus is one of the things ‘Tell Me Why’ does well.” “They have thoughts and opinions of him being a transgender man that they express to him, but that’s not what the real story is about,” says Adams. Adams was asked to be a consultant on the game, and helped in casting decisions, such as ensuring that Tyler would be voiced by a trans actor (August Black).

“The good thing about the game, I think, is that it strikes a nice balance of not shying away from the fact that Tyler is trans and showing the way in which it affects him, and mostly that relates to how other people react to him,” says Nick Adams, director of transgender representation at GLAAD. And finally, while seeking to avoid tropes, “Tell Me Why” also doesn’t want to pretend we live in a world of optimism and acceptance. It’s also a mainstream interactive story, one in which Dontnod collaborated with Microsoft’s Xbox team, and aims to have light puzzles that advance the story without distracting from it.

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“Tell Me Why,” whose second and third installments for the Xbox One and PC are due this week and next, is aware of cliches but works to avoid succumbing to them, namely the heavy emphasis other narratives have placed on transphobia, violence and the resulting emotional damage.

Those who knew him pre-transition occasionally react offensively (one neighbor expresses astonishment that a woman could look so much like a man, necessitating a forceful rebuke from Tyler). The tale begins with Alyson’s brother Tyler returning to the fictional Alaskan village of Delos Crossing after 10 years away. Its goal was to present an honest story about harsh American realities, and the narrative, focusing on siblings uncovering the truth about their mother’s death, doesn’t shy away from topics related to poverty, mental health and, especially in the first chapter, prejudice. “Tell Me Why,” thus, faced numerous challenges. While one could read Dontnod’s FAQ as a desire to stay in front of and in control of the social media narrative for a game that deals with delicate family drama and trauma, it also reflected a reality: Representation in games, though better than it was a decade ago, is still a not a common enough occurrence that it can avoid an extremely close reading. “Tell Me Why” immediately attracted attention when it was announced, in part because Dontnod Entertainment also released an extensive list of questions and answers that sought to explain how it handled the portrayal of its trangender lead, a rarity in all of mainstream entertainment but especially in video games. “Life is Strange 2,” which wrapped last year, zeroed in on the ruptured promises of the American dream, telling its tale from the point of view of two young Mexican Americans from Seattle who feel consistently out of place in the country they call home. The latest from Dontnod Entertainment reflects the French studio’s obsession with American culture and telling stories that capture the weight of our prejudices. When it comes to interpersonal relations, there’s something far worse than a broken heart: the restless mind.Īt least that’s one reading of “Tell Me Why,” a three-part narrative game from the studio behind “Life is Strange.” But “Tell Me Why” has ambitions beyond the tricks our brain can play on us.