Tell Me Why

 PC
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 296 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 110 out of 296
  2. Mixed: 70 out of 296
  3. Negative: 116 out of 296

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  1. BlasJuegos
    Aug 31, 2020
    1
    The game has absolutely no playability, just by pressing a button we finish it, the story will be hard but it is not entertaining and it is very boring. I can't even consider it a game, because you don't play, you just pass text.
  2. Geralt123
    Jan 14, 2022
    7
    This is kind of a family drama. It is very emotional and has very good graphics.

    Very good german voices. Game starts very slowly but in the end gets really exciting. A little too much political correctness (transexual). Dontnod should stop their political messages in game, it is getting on my nerves. Some dialogues are a bit silly, but so be it. Overall I have enjoyed it.    This is kind of a family drama. It is very emotional and has very good graphics.

    Very good german voices.

    Game starts very slowly but in the end gets really exciting.

    A little too much political correctness (transexual). Dontnod should stop their political messages in game, it is getting on my nerves.

    Some dialogues are a bit silly, but so be it.

    Overall I have enjoyed it. But it is not as good as Life Is Strange. You should only play this if you are open for emotions and deep feelings.    … Expand
  3. SAMPASC
    Aug 5, 2021
    0
    predictable history.
    slow and boring game.
    predictable end.
    boring puzzle.
    stupid motivation
    one of the worst games i played
  4. pelucatron
    Dec 10, 2021
    10
    I recently finished this game, and I like it, I'm playing a second run to get the other ending and all achievements. This is a game that tells a story, it is based on decisions and dialogs and there are puzzles, don't expect action scenes, you need to feel and experience the story. I think gameplay should let you skip dialogs you just heard, because I reproduced a few by accident, but atI recently finished this game, and I like it, I'm playing a second run to get the other ending and all achievements. This is a game that tells a story, it is based on decisions and dialogs and there are puzzles, don't expect action scenes, you need to feel and experience the story. I think gameplay should let you skip dialogs you just heard, because I reproduced a few by accident, but at least this feature is available once tou finish the game.
    One awesome feature is that on Steam you can connect to Xbox Live and get achievements on both platforms.    … Expand
  5. J1mT
    Jan 1, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I liked the story, the characters were interesting, the artwork was amazing and the graphics were also pretty good. Still I always had the feeling it didn't exploit its full potential.
    There were too many boring tasks. Like walking around in a house and thinking about what to keep and what to threw away, or counting stock in a store. These are tasks you should get paid for... that's just not what you want to do in a game.

    Also the book of goblins... It's a cute idea and nicely done, but you really don't want to read about 40 pages of children stories. That was just waaaay to much.

    Another annoying aspect were these lengthy exploration tours, where 95% of the information you can find is irrelevant and useless, but you still don't want to miss out on that important 5%.

    I generally enjoyed playing the game, and can recommend to play it, but it does require a certain amount of patience.    … Expand
  6. MichaelHawk
    Mar 16, 2021
    0
    Low effort, pointless, and pandering. This like most episodic games in the past 5+ are an easy way for developers to make money as long as they find a niche that think it's a masterpiece
  7. Farbodltu
    Jul 2, 2021
    10
    At firsr its a great story but gameplay is so slow but its okay i enjoyed playing this game
  8. Steyraus
    Sep 8, 2020
    1
    Games it self is completely boring with a ridiculous story, bad writing unrelatable characters. Jerky animation and visually its like a 360 game running at a higher resolution. You walk around looking and picking up stuff, your characters blab boring stuff, you find what you need and use it then sit though minutes of cringe cut scenes rinse and repeat. Feels very budget and uninspired.
  9. rofL
    Sep 4, 2020
    2
    For me it is incredibly insane how fast DONTNOD went from masters of storytelling to erm... this. LiS, followed by BTS were one of my favourite games story-wise. Fantastic, somehow relatable characters, a bunch of twists and most importantly pace. This game on the other hand lacks interesting characters (you can easily foresee that when the game's marketing bases on "Tyler - mainFor me it is incredibly insane how fast DONTNOD went from masters of storytelling to erm... this. LiS, followed by BTS were one of my favourite games story-wise. Fantastic, somehow relatable characters, a bunch of twists and most importantly pace. This game on the other hand lacks interesting characters (you can easily foresee that when the game's marketing bases on "Tyler - main character is lgbt"), story so far (2 episodes) is boring and un-engaging. Honestly, though, the worst part is VA. While dialogue might have some interesting stuff in it, VA completely buries it in the sea of mediocrity.… Expand
  10. colvg
    Sep 3, 2020
    0
    Lack of good story, only arrogant dialogue options, boring gameplay where you only have to search for things in an open area. Besides all of this, the game is featuring a lot of politics.
  11. Borny
    Aug 28, 2020
    4
    This first chapter is really boring.

    The story is not intriguing at all.

    The graphics and the atmosphere are nice though.
  12. Theqwe
    Sep 5, 2020
    0
    It`s a shame that Dontnod take this direction. The original Life Is Strange and Deck Nines Before The Storm were good games. Life Is Strange 2 and Tell Me Why are so political and focus on current situations.
    That will be okay if they don`t make this huge turn from a great gameplay to linear story.
  13. doctordoom
    Aug 29, 2020
    0
    This game is a story based game with a bad story.

    A game made for American audiences but it seems the English script can be off at times.

    The story has cliche story points where story points are just there to fill in time.

    The story's pacing and writing is just a bore and it is excruciating to finish it really is.
  14. yorkrose26
    Aug 29, 2020
    4
    This is game is aimed primarily at American Audiences, both in the dialogue and phraseology of dialogue. I know that DONTNOD want to ‘keep it real’ and natural between the two protagonists, but some words such as ‘Potlatch’ and ‘Tlingit’, both to do with Native Americans and their culture. The problem is that unless you are American, you are unlikely to understand or even be aware of theseThis is game is aimed primarily at American Audiences, both in the dialogue and phraseology of dialogue. I know that DONTNOD want to ‘keep it real’ and natural between the two protagonists, but some words such as ‘Potlatch’ and ‘Tlingit’, both to do with Native Americans and their culture. The problem is that unless you are American, you are unlikely to understand or even be aware of these terms, thus some of the choices could be ‘ill-fated’ which in a game like this matters. For a non-American therefore, this game is difficult as a ‘true choice’ cannot be made, because of not understanding of basic American indigenous culture. In the previous games, whilst they have again been aimed at American audiences, it only went as far a ‘Pop culture’ and it was usually relative easy to ‘work-out’ what was happening (though again there were times when it could get a bit confusing). I realise that DONTNOD want to ‘keep it real’, but to non-American’s it may be an idea just to have a basic glossary of words that may be unfamiliar to non-American’s, so that they (non-American’s) can make ‘full choices’, rather than just ‘half choices’ which may alter the game but not in a conscious way.

    I was trying to plough through the game, but as it 'got going' the game was slightly 'clichéd' (even though it was trying very hard not to be given the subject), but then there were topics on there that being a Brit really didn't agree with, such as 'trophy hunting', 'hibernation killing' (why?) and the continued used of Americanisms/words. I thought if this is just in the first hour or so of the game, what more to come. I have now (with regret as I would imagine it would have been quite good), I have deleted the game.    … Expand
  15. Pistaczio
    Sep 24, 2020
    0
    one giant agenda, hateful childish decisions, hot garbage, too much politics, feels like The Last Of Us Part 2 all over again, what a joke
  16. PrincessRose
    Jun 25, 2021
    7
    It was a very slow paced kind of boring start, but kept playing and it gets better.
    At first I found the characters annoying and ungrateful, quite negative. Which is understandable as a traumatic experience can make you see everything negatively and not see the positives.
    It gripped me and I kept playing wanting to find out what happened. The graphics are beautiful and the emotions    It was a very slow paced kind of boring start, but kept playing and it gets better.
    At first I found the characters annoying and ungrateful, quite negative. Which is understandable as a traumatic experience can make you see everything negatively and not see the positives.

    It gripped me and I kept playing wanting to find out what happened.
    The graphics are beautiful and the emotions on characters faces are done really well.
    I liked seeing where my choices in the game led me to what kind of outcome.
    Though the ending is ok it felt a bit underwhelming.
    I liked the story overall.    … Expand
  17. Aloof
    Sep 19, 2020
    7
    A game that is certainly appreciable and, in the end, also mature. In the end, the good thing is that, as you might think at the beginning, it's not all about the transformation of Ollie / Tyler, but rather, it explores so much their childhood and, especially, the life and torments of the mother of the twins, Mary Ann. Game of about 9 hours, never difficult, even if, compared to a Life isA game that is certainly appreciable and, in the end, also mature. In the end, the good thing is that, as you might think at the beginning, it's not all about the transformation of Ollie / Tyler, but rather, it explores so much their childhood and, especially, the life and torments of the mother of the twins, Mary Ann. Game of about 9 hours, never difficult, even if, compared to a Life is Strange, it still presents small puzzles, very simple and logical. Good plot, it is followed with pleasure, and good music and dubbing. The settings that I personally love when they are like this are also beautiful. Among the defects, in my opinion too many filling and useless exploratory phases that break the rhythm a little, and a story that does not reach, in my opinion, but here the sensitivity counts, of such high emotional peaks, as happened to me with LiS for example . Recommended, but provided you do not expect an indispensable masterpiece.… Expand
  18. jyou
    Jun 20, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game literally puts you in a situation where you have to decide whether the main plot point was an act of transphobia or not - it leaves for you, the player, to DECIDE. Yet bigots HAD to whine about it being political, even though the main moral conflict is yours to judge.
    Trying to balance things a little bit, but the actual fair score would be the critics one - the game is decent but wasn't outstanding in any department.
    Don't jump in expecting your decisions throughout the game to be really impactful though, Dontnod made the same mistake as LiS 1 by leaving the only truly important decision to the end, making the others before somewhat pointless.    … Expand
  19. Tuniax
    Mar 13, 2021
    10
    Most people who say "it's a bad game, bad story" see it compared to "Life is Strange". But this game doesn't want to be "Life is Strange". This game wants to try something new. Please think about what a bad game is. I really enjoyed the game a lot and the ending is nice and actually quite surprising. I like the puzzles our mother made for us and how the game works with the book. You canMost people who say "it's a bad game, bad story" see it compared to "Life is Strange". But this game doesn't want to be "Life is Strange". This game wants to try something new. Please think about what a bad game is. I really enjoyed the game a lot and the ending is nice and actually quite surprising. I like the puzzles our mother made for us and how the game works with the book. You can skip most of the puzzles, but you miss a very large part of the game. Whenever a chapter is over and you're wondering "What's the story going to be now?" the game gives you another great chapter.

    10/10 in my opinion    … Expand
  20. JimERustler
    Aug 29, 2020
    1
    Another "woke" walking simulator more concerned with modern political ideology and "How do you do, fellow kids?" than crafting an interesting story. Hell, even if you're a member of the Church of Woke, it's a boring ride. At the very least their graphics budget shows, and the game looks good.
  21. hokest
    Sep 8, 2020
    4
    The story seemed very interesting but the presentation is terrible. It’s too slow paced to be interesting, the tasks like starring at a landscape, looking for a screwdriver or buying snacks in a shop could’ve been easily skipped to make the story flow better. The weird silent pauses and drawn out scenes really don’t help out here. It really tired me out so much I couldn’t finish the firstThe story seemed very interesting but the presentation is terrible. It’s too slow paced to be interesting, the tasks like starring at a landscape, looking for a screwdriver or buying snacks in a shop could’ve been easily skipped to make the story flow better. The weird silent pauses and drawn out scenes really don’t help out here. It really tired me out so much I couldn’t finish the first episode. I really loved their previous games, every Life is Strange game they made, so it’s sad this didn’t live up to my expectations. I hope they change the way they write their stories in the future - it’s supposed to be engaging and gripping, not so boring it makes you exhausted. The first 30 minutes of the game could’ve been easily cut to 5 minute gameplay. I understand they want to flesh out the characters, but they weren’t fleshed out well either: they were also very uninteresting. The graphics and the art is very good though, as long as the music, also the story could’ve been very interesting so that’s why I gave 4 points out of 10.… Expand
  22. KlausVonHertzon
    Sep 9, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Another trash, dog **** game from dontdot entertainment and the casual gamers liked this game.... what the hell is this?… Expand
  23. ECar
    Aug 30, 2020
    9
    Do not trust bad reviews (review bombing). Attention, this is a narrative-driven game or interactive storytelling.
    Will you find action? No. Will you find (a lot of) dialog? Yes.
    This game (and genre) is not sold as action or gameplay which requires skills (i mean, fast response time), if you expect something like that, this is not for you. So let's review the game by what it is. From    Do not trust bad reviews (review bombing). Attention, this is a narrative-driven game or interactive storytelling.
    Will you find action? No. Will you find (a lot of) dialog? Yes.

    This game (and genre) is not sold as action or gameplay which requires skills (i mean, fast response time), if you expect something like that, this is not for you. So let's review the game by what it is.
    From the same studio as Life Is Strange, we see they learned a lot from the previous game. First, the narrative pace is a lot better: the surprises and twists do not as long to occur as they did in LIS. Most cutscenes add up to the story meaningful details. You can choose how deep you will go in the scenario / environment or if you would prefer a more fast narrative (doing only the necessary to progress in game).

    Just from the beggining (frst scene), we see the story will revolve around the two brothers overcoming their mom's death trauma by trying to revive these memories. From the first episode (the only release yet), it's soon to judge character development and script, but so far they have been very well done.
    Character's personalities are very defined and clear in their actions. Their motivations are also not hollow, there are not "villains versus heroes", but people with different perspectives and believes.    … Expand
  24. Isrra
    Aug 29, 2020
    8
    El primer capítulo es muy interesante, te adentra a la historia como es costumbre en estos tipos de juegos, si no estás acostumbrado a tener paciencia explorando cada rincón y prestando total atención a cada detalle de la historia, no podrás disfrutarlo al maximo, yo que he jugado life is strange 1 y 2 y juegos de ese tipo puedo decir que es si te adentra y te hace querer descubrir másEl primer capítulo es muy interesante, te adentra a la historia como es costumbre en estos tipos de juegos, si no estás acostumbrado a tener paciencia explorando cada rincón y prestando total atención a cada detalle de la historia, no podrás disfrutarlo al maximo, yo que he jugado life is strange 1 y 2 y juegos de ese tipo puedo decir que es si te adentra y te hace querer descubrir más sobre la historia es en parte conmovedor hasta donde he jugado me gusta, claro no esta a la altura de los juegos ya antes mencionados incluso life is strange 2 no fue de mis favoritos pero este a mi parecer es más entretenido que el life 2 espero los siguientes capítulos ya que lo juego por Game pass
    Y al precio que esta no lo compraría eso sí no lo compraría Pero si te gustan este tipo de juegos y has jugado varios te lo recomiendo, pero si vas a empezar con este mejor ve a jugar el life strange y después vienes a este juego te familiarisaras mejor    … Expand
  25. jaco111
    Aug 31, 2020
    0
    The Graphics are quite fitting, not great but fitting the way the story is told. That's the only positive thing i can say about the game. In three hours you are told a story which could be told in less than a minute. There is a lot to discover but most items have no impact on the story at all. Well you could say it's part of the story but if you call this a story, go shopping with someoneThe Graphics are quite fitting, not great but fitting the way the story is told. That's the only positive thing i can say about the game. In three hours you are told a story which could be told in less than a minute. There is a lot to discover but most items have no impact on the story at all. Well you could say it's part of the story but if you call this a story, go shopping with someone and talk a little bit and compared to this game this will be the greatest adventure of your life. There is also magic and that was a terrible design decision in my opinion. The story could have been told exactly the same way without the magic part. It would have made the charactes a little bit believable. When there is some progress with the story there are also a lot of scenes which are simply ridiculous. Seems they thought the magic stuff is not ridiculous enough, let's go all the way. The US might have it's own way dealing with guns, but i doubt you try to shoot anyone you don't know. No one locks the door of a police office if you leave in the evening and you leave all the interesting stuff lying around. With a s tory which could be told in a minute i would at least expect the studio to get this tiny bit of a story straight.… Expand
  26. Zwei76
    Sep 2, 2020
    1
    The Spanish translation is disastrous, horrible. I am sick of the mistreatment by Microsoft towards its Spanish users.
  27. MaddGames
    Aug 31, 2020
    2
    “GuEsS i AtE mY WhEaTiEs” was the best thing about the episode everything else was just boring really.
  28. C1D3RL0V3R
    Sep 13, 2020
    6
    Played all 3 episodes and ended up feeling the game was made with the sole purpose of Microsoft trying to conquer Twitter sjw audience. While TMW offers smart jokes and interesting puzzles where you really have to stop and think or look for clues in an actual book, at some moments the writing is just awful like 1/10 (characters start talking way out of line and quoting the aforementionedPlayed all 3 episodes and ended up feeling the game was made with the sole purpose of Microsoft trying to conquer Twitter sjw audience. While TMW offers smart jokes and interesting puzzles where you really have to stop and think or look for clues in an actual book, at some moments the writing is just awful like 1/10 (characters start talking way out of line and quoting the aforementioned tweets). Of course the player is not told every minute that 'LGBT good radicals bad' but certain characters seem to exist only to demonstrate this position since they don't take part in the story at all. Moreover, once you get to know all the 'useful' heroes you'll easily figure out the rest of the plot and go 'duh' for another episode and a half.
    I guess Tell Me Why was supposed to teach people not to be shy regardless of who they are and to accept others as they are but our day-to-day realities made the game look like a clumsy childish statement.    … Expand
  29. LeonardoBurg
    Sep 1, 2020
    0
    Lixo, lacração, nada de novo, e falta de representatividade para a maioria da população. Saudade Life is Strange 1 (O único que prestou)
  30. neutrali
    Aug 29, 2020
    0
    Le jeu est moux est ennuyant l'histoire et a dormir debout , je déconseille
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Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. RPG Fan
    Jun 27, 2022
    79
    Tell Me Why is kind of a fascinating experience. It feels personal and down-to-earth, even if it can at times be a little dull. The struggle of its twin protagonists to come to terms with the death of their troubled mother is relatable, even if the game never definitively answers their questions about her. Tyler’s experiences as a trans man feel genuine, and the game treats him with respect, even though it also capitalizes on his trauma to move the plot along. In the end, memories can only reveal so much, particularly when they conflict with someone else’s, and the only peace you can really have is the peace you choose to make for yourself.
    Read full review
  2. Adventure Gamers
    Feb 16, 2021
    80
    What it lacks in its limited characters and locations, Tell Me Why makes up with a personal, intimate narrative that nicely captures the essence of everyday life and offers a much-needed examination of the human condition, all wrapped in a beautiful presentation in true DONTNOD style.
    Read full review
  3. CD-Action
    Nov 16, 2020
    70
    It’s still good old Dontnod but Tell Me Why falls short of the studio’s previous achievements. Outdated engine aside, the game lacks interesting interactions or a relationship as powerful as Chloe’s and Max’s friendship in Life is Strange. Its simple story is quite linear and fails to surprise, and supporting characters are rather bland. [11/2020, p.62]
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