Telling Lies

 Xbox One
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 24
  3. Negative: 8 out of 24

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  1. JayAlex
    Apr 24, 2021
    2
    Too expensive for what you get, and if you're expecting "Her Story 2," this isn't it, it isn't even close. Part of what made Her Story work was the micro-viewing sessions, which are replaced with longer, more tedious one-sided delivery that seems to be basically ignorant of what makes a game fun - this is more a slog than fun. Don't recommend.
  2. Dronewolf
    Feb 22, 2022
    1
    Honestly not sure what's going on here. it starts with a woman getting out of a car and going into a building to log on to her laptop. She searches for a specific word and a few videos come up (Which when i played were always at the end, so I had to rewind them to the beginning, which was annoying), a couple of a guy and one of a woman, whom I assume is who he's supposed to be talking toHonestly not sure what's going on here. it starts with a woman getting out of a car and going into a building to log on to her laptop. She searches for a specific word and a few videos come up (Which when i played were always at the end, so I had to rewind them to the beginning, which was annoying), a couple of a guy and one of a woman, whom I assume is who he's supposed to be talking to in this monitored video call.

    There is no direction however. Who are these people? Did one commit a crime? Did one murder the other, or was suspected to have done so you have to prove he did/didn't? The game tells you nothing. After watching about three videos of boring dialogue I got bored and deleted it.

    I'm not saying I need my hand held during games, but slight explanation of what's going on would be appreciated. it encourages you to search for specific words, which takes you to more videos, but again, what am I looking for, besides lies?    … Expand
  3. Broyax
    Mar 15, 2022
    0
    A la manière de « Her Story », il faut fouiller une base de données de vidéos disparates via des mots-clés afin de remettre les choses en ordre (et dans l’ordre) et de trouver le fin mot de l’histoire… mais contrairement à « Her Story », ce n’est pas la vie d’un mais de quatre personnages qu’il faut éplucher !

    Voilà qui complique les choses… mais en dehors de ça, c’est l’espèce    A la manière de « Her Story », il faut fouiller une base de données de vidéos disparates via des mots-clés afin de remettre les choses en ordre (et dans l’ordre) et de trouver le fin mot de l’histoire… mais contrairement à « Her Story », ce n’est pas la vie d’un mais de quatre personnages qu’il faut éplucher !

    Voilà qui complique les choses… mais en dehors de ça, c’est l’espèce d’histoire à la mords-moi-le-noeud qui ne motive pas du tout à « jouer » le fouille-merde, pardon le journaliste d’investigation (?) qui doit se casser le cul à trouver des liens dans tout ce fatras de « morceaux de vie » (en anglais uniquement mais sous-titré français) chez ces quatre trous de balle !

    La curiosité n’est même pas suffisante pour creuser un tant soit peu ce merdier qui s’avère très vite chiant à crever : on a plus vite fait de désinstaller cet étron indé de mon cul !    … Expand
  4. dempup
    Feb 5, 2022
    0
    The concept of the game is actually a pretty good idea, but it never had me emerged or invested in the story at any point. It felt really repetitive and drawn out, even though it takes les than an hour to go through the complete game.
  5. Xbox_Alive
    May 4, 2020
    8
    Telling Lies is an FMV Intrigue Narrative Desktop Adventure. From the creator of Her Story is a new FMV. Instead of one character, you will be watching four. You are an unknown investigator given access to four peoples secretly recorded video calls. You're tasked with figuring out the connections between these people and the underlying plots. Each video is fully captioned, and superblyTelling Lies is an FMV Intrigue Narrative Desktop Adventure. From the creator of Her Story is a new FMV. Instead of one character, you will be watching four. You are an unknown investigator given access to four peoples secretly recorded video calls. You're tasked with figuring out the connections between these people and the underlying plots. Each video is fully captioned, and superbly acted. You'll use a search bar to search the videos for key interactions about different nouns you can highlight from the captions. Each search will provide only the top five matches but will tell you how many matches there are. As I said before the acting is superb, allowing you to read expressions to help you along with your investigations. There is so much to dig through as you try to piece together these for people you know nothing about. If you're paying enough attention to details, these four strangers will be no enigmas by the end of the game. Telling Lies is easily one of the best FMV games to date, raising the bar drastically on the Genre. Sleuths will have plenty to go through and tons of in conversation hints. Matching the two sides of a conversation will shed even more light on the ongoing story. Telling Lies is a deep and intricately built experience that can provide rewarding gameplay.… Expand
  6. madmad90
    Jul 12, 2020
    5
    Way too boring, the acting is good but playing the game put me to sleep. The story is boring too.
  7. Cedoch
    May 19, 2022
    10
    Expérience très intéressante !! À essayer d’urgence. On mène une enquête et on se prend au jeu !
  8. Salt_addict
    Feb 14, 2022
    5
    Definitely Gamepass fodder but its ok for a playthrough, Get the partner involved. Almost like a bad movie.
  9. Kirbyisthebest
    Jul 12, 2022
    10
    I went into this completely blind on gamepass as I like what some of these open ended story games are doing lately. This one was so innovative and unique and fun I have to give the whole experience a 10 even though it was only about 6 hours of entertainment. I feel like things like this have been tried with live actors before since the VHS days but it never works. This works. The acting isI went into this completely blind on gamepass as I like what some of these open ended story games are doing lately. This one was so innovative and unique and fun I have to give the whole experience a 10 even though it was only about 6 hours of entertainment. I feel like things like this have been tried with live actors before since the VHS days but it never works. This works. The acting is surprisingly decent and the story is fun to uncover as you try to rack your brain for clues to build on clues to find new clues and so on. The picture of what is going on keeps expanding and just when I thought I knew everything I'd deduce a new way to investigate and change the entire investigation. I hope they make a lot more games like this. I felt like a real spy detective… Expand
  10. eva3si0n
    Mar 17, 2022
    7
    Telling Lies was the first game for me from Sam Barlow, so the impressions of it were purely positive and new. The mechanics of the game are simple, the plot is not impressive, the videos are shot cheaply. A couple of evenings. Respect causes that all this was able to do 1 person. Such projects are needed by the industry and I am glad how Game Pass helps in this. And in it is a bug withTelling Lies was the first game for me from Sam Barlow, so the impressions of it were purely positive and new. The mechanics of the game are simple, the plot is not impressive, the videos are shot cheaply. A couple of evenings. Respect causes that all this was able to do 1 person. Such projects are needed by the industry and I am glad how Game Pass helps in this. And in it is a bug with 170 videos if you play with Russian localization on all platforms… Expand
  11. MuffyOne
    Jan 20, 2023
    3
    I wasn't able to get involved in the game from the start and it became even more boring to me while playing, so I shelved it even it is not a long game to complete

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. XboxAddict
    May 29, 2020
    70
    It’s obvious that a lot of work and care went into crafting the unique experience Telling Lies gives, it simply takes some out of the box thinking to really appreciate and hours of patience to piece it together. While I enjoyed the outcome and its complexity, it’s tricky to recommend unless you’re the type of person that would enjoy snooping through hours of private video conversations and can somehow keep track of it all.
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  2. MondoXbox
    May 4, 2020
    90
    Telling Lies is an atypical and surprising game that every lover of deep narrative and thrilling stories should try. Digging through tens and thousands of video recordings you'll unearth an intimate but complex world of love, lies, betrayal and human fragility that will glue you to the screen through the end, leaving you in anguish and willing to dig even deeper.
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  3. XBLA Fans
    May 1, 2020
    80
    The way the game can allow you to interact with the videos works extremely well. It’s not something you play but is an experience. It’s very much an interactive movie that feeds you the information based on how your mind works. Certain keywords will stick out to you but not to others since you have a different history. This is the evolution of a jigsaw puzzle. Yet I still hated it. I would rather have just watched something than have to dig around a fake computer. That’s a lie! I admired almost everything about Telling Lies and, though I wouldn’t play it through again, it’s very much worth your time.
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