''Tell Me Why'' is an
episodic adventure game developed by
Dontnod Entertainment
Don't Nod Entertainment SA (trade name: Don't Nod, formerly Dontnod Entertainment) is a French video game developer based in Paris. Founded in June 2008, it started development on '' Remember Me'' (2013). Because of its poor return on investmen ...
and published by
Xbox Game Studios
Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...
. The game consists of three chapters released for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
in late 2020. It follows a pair of twins, Tyler and Alyson, with the ability to communicate with each other through
telepathy, who reunite after ten years in their hometown in rural
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
and investigate the death of their mother. A recurring theme of the story is the fallacy of memory, as the narrative explores the twins'
childhood trauma
Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, an ...
and how they may each remember pivotal moments differently.
Since it was announced in November 2019, the game has been noted for being the first
AAA video game
In the video game industry, AAA (pronounced and sometimes written triple-A) is an informal classification used to categorise games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, which typically have higher development and marketing ...
to feature a transgender person as a main character. The developers consulted with expert groups for its themes, notably
GLAAD, a
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
(NGO) monitoring media coverage of
LGBT people
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...
, to ensure authentic and respectful portrayal of LGBT characters. A
trans man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inc ...
was cast as the voice actor for
Tyler Ronan
Tyler Ronan is a fictional character and the co-protagonist of the 2020 episodic narrative adventure game ''Tell Me Why (video game), Tell Me Why'', a three-part narrative video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Xbox Game S ...
, of the two main characters, who had
transitioned during his time away from his sister.
It received generally favorable reviews, with critics praising the complex characters, voice acting, narrative design and setting, as well as its competent handling of culturally sensitive subjects such as
transgender topics. Criticisms included inconsistent storytelling and lack of engaging gameplay.
Gameplay
Players control a pair of 21-year-old
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
twins
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
, Tyler Ronan (voiced by August Aiden Black) and Alyson Ronan (voiced by
Erica Lindbeck
Erica Lindbeck (born May 29, 1992) is an American voice actress known for her work with Bang Zoom!, Studiopolis, and NYAV Post in voicing characters in English-dubbed anime and video games. She was the voice of the Barbie dolls and merchandise ...
), as they revisit their childhood home following a traumatic event which resulted in the death of their mother Mary-Ann Ronan and a decade-long separation from each other.
Besides their old home, which is maintained by Mary-Ann's friend Sam, the twins will also revisit parts of their fictional hometown of Delos Crossing in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
and interact with its local residents. The twins share a supernatural bond that allow them to telepathically communicate with each other, and experience visions of past events which often manifests in vivid detail.
The central gameplay mechanic of the game involves players guiding the twins as they experience recollections and visions of what had transpired in a series of scenarios spread across three episodes, and piece together the plot by watching them unfold, with each individual having different interpretations of what happened.
The player will make decisions for the pair based on which version of the past events they want their avatar character to believe, which will impact the outcome of the game's narrative.
Players can sometimes alternate between the perspectives of both siblings, whether in their interactions with the residents of Delos Crossing, or when going through the storybooks they played with as children.
A majority of the game's puzzles are derived from decoding the metaphors compiled in the storybooks, which delve into the fairy tale life Mary-Ann imagined for herself and her struggles to manage her own reality.
Setting
Tyler's identity as a
trans man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inc ...
is occasionally discussed or referenced within the game's narrative.
The game includes
the culture of the Tlingit people, an
indigenous community in the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America with several Tlingit characters such as Delos police chief Eddy Brown and Michael Abila, a colleague of Alyson as well as Tyler's potential love interest.
It also includes
Filipino Catholic Tessa Vecchi, who runs a convenience store alongside her husband.
The player's decisions during their interactions with the aforementioned
non-player characters will define the circumstances of these characters as well as their relationships with the twins.
The twins' bond with each other may be tested, depending on whether their attitude and behavior validates the other twin's convictions or memories.
Plot
The game opens with a flashback sequence showing Tyler's confession to the murder of his mother, Mary-Ann, in
self-defense
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...
as a child in 2005. Ten years later, an adult Tyler leaves the
juvenile detention center
In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. ''Abbreviations Dictionary''. CRC Press, 20011202. Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile de ...
he was sentenced to and reunites with Alyson, who has been adopted by Eddy, the investigating officer of the incident. Intending to move on with their lives, the twins return to Delos Crossing to sell their childhood home, but finds the house in a state of disrepair despite the efforts of Mary-Ann's friend Sam, who had turned to
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
since her death. The twins recall memories of their childhood while exploring the house, particularly
fairy tales about a runaway princess and her two goblin companions told by their mother, who compiled these stories into an illustrated journal called the "Book of Goblins". After learning about Tessa's discussions with Mary-Ann about Tyler's gender identity, the twins visit Tessa at her store, where they were told that Mary-Ann's behavior became increasingly erratic shortly before her death. The twins later speak to Eddy at the Delos police station, but he declines their request to see her file. Alyson later experiences a flashback where she stabbed Mary-Ann with a pair of scissors, and begins to suffer from
post-traumatic stress
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...
.
The next morning, the twins break into the police archive and uncover files about Mary-Ann. After discovering their break-in, Eddy admits he had visited Mary-Ann to warn her on Tessa's instigation. The twins confront Tessa, who justified her actions and claimed that Mary-Ann isolated herself from the wider community, and that her alleged mental instability and parental incompetence was endangering her children. The twins return to the house to find the adjacent
barn ablaze and an arsonist fleeing from the scene. After putting out the fire, the twins realized that the arsonist had tried to access a compartment beneath the barn floor containing a locked box, inside which they find letters from someone instructing Mary-Ann to get an abortion. The twins later experience a recollection of Mary-Ann arguing with an unseen man on a boat, and that Alyson was the one who stabbed their mother. The twins briefly go their separate ways following a disagreement.
Consumed with guilt and
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
over Mary-Ann's death, Alyson's mental health deteriorates, leading to a severe
panic attack
Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...
. After she recovers, Alyson visits Sam to query him about their potential familial ties, but discovers instead that an old photograph in his possession reveals a hidden loft above the barn. The twins regroup to investigate the loft and find a room of complex puzzles, which they solve using the Book of Goblins. They discover that Mary-Ann's fairy tales were actually metaphors for her troubled past: born to an overbearing family, she fell pregnant and fled to Delos Crossing to raise her baby, who did not survive. The twins find a picture of their late half-sibling, along with a letter from Mary-Ann which is addressed to them. The twins realize that Mary-Ann had suffered a
mental breakdown over her fear of social services taking away her surviving children. The twins deduce that the unknown man on the boat, and their biological father, was in fact Tom Vecchi, Tessa's husband. After the twins confront Tom, the player as Alyson must decide whether she believes that Mary-Ann planned to
kill herself and her two children, or that she had planned to
kill only herself when Tyler interrupted her as alleged by Tom. Depending on Alyson's choices, two main concluding scenarios are presented:
*If Alyson chose to admit to Eddy that she killed Mary-Ann and/or took Tom's memory of her mother's death, Tyler returns to the house one last time, with Alyson in Juneau and receiving therapy.
*If Alyson never told Eddy that she was responsible for Mary-Ann's death and she believes that she saved Tyler from their mother, Alyson opts not to sell the house and moves in by herself and writes a new chapter in The Book of Goblins.
Many details of the epilogue are also determined by the player's previous choices: for example, whether they make peace with Eddy and/or Tessa, or whether the twins kept their telepathic bond and a close relationship all alter the ending.
Development and release
''Tell Me Why'' was first announced during an
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
London event on November 14, 2019.
Director Florent Guillaume described the special bond between the game's twin protagonists as the “core mechanic” of the game.
According to Lead Writer Morgan Lockhart, the story began as "one about family and how conflict can arise from contradictory memories of a past event".
Lockhart said the story revolves around the twins and the small town they grew up in, and from there the writing team added further layers to define who the characters are.
The developers' goal is to depict an "honest" narrative about "harsh American realities", and examines themes of
poverty,
mental health
Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...
and prejudice as part of its focus on the truth behind the death of the twins' mother Mary-Ann Ronan.
Other themes of conflict which are hinted at in the game include
gun rights
The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...
and
conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...
.
The developers worked with
GLAAD aiming to make Tyler Ronan, a transgender character as a main character in a
AAA video game
In the video game industry, AAA (pronounced and sometimes written triple-A) is an informal classification used to categorise games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, which typically have higher development and marketing ...
, an "authentic representation of the
trans
Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".
Used alone, trans may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
* ''Trans'' (fil ...
experience".
Nick Adams, GLAAD's Director of Transgender Media & Representation, was a consultant for the project and made recommendations for the appropriate casting decision behind Tyler.
Voice actor August Aiden Black, who is a trans man, was cast as Tyler.
Adams said the game strikes a balance between "not shying away" from Tyler's gender identity and showing the manner in which it affects him on a personal level, which mostly involve how others react to him.
Clay Carmuche, Xbox Publishing's Narrative Director, suggests that the perspective of the storyteller as well as the subject of the story influences the topics that can be discussed and the nature of the stories that can be told. He noted that the story of the game can be told without any acknowledgement of Tyler’s gender, but insisted that it is more interesting to explore something that is unfamiliar.
The developers stated that in response from criticism over the variable timing of episode releases for ''
Life Is Strange'', that they will commit to a release schedule for the three episodes over mid-2020.
Initially, only subtitles were offered in non-English languages as the dubbed voice recordings in French, German, Spanish (Mexico), and Portuguese (Brazil) were delayed due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. The dubbings were later released on October 31, 2020.
The game is unavailable to purchase in some countries, including
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
,
China,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, among others.
A Microsoft spokesperson said that local game availability varies and the decision is based on a broad set of factors. It was available to be pre-ordered until the day of its release, August 27. On March 10, 2021, Chapter 1 of the game was made available for free on all platforms. From June 1 to 30, corresponding with
Pride Month
LGBT Pride Month is a month, typically in June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. Pride Month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969, and ha ...
2021, the full game was made available for free.
Reception
The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
The game's depiction of trans identity was subject to debate, with mixed opinions.
Todd Martens from ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' said the game attracted media attention when it was announced due to the developers' decision to feature Tyler as one of its lead characters, as well as their release of an extensive
FAQ that sought to explain how it handled the portrayal of Tyler.
Martens suggested that while the FAQ may be interpreted as trying to stay in control of a
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
narrative, it also represented relatively uncommon minority representation resulting in an "extremely close reading" otherwise.
Accolades
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game
2020 video games
Adventure games
Episodic video games
Matricide in fiction
Transgender-related video games
Twins in fiction
LGBT-related video games
Unreal Engine games
Video games about mental health
Video games about telepathy
Video games developed in France
Video games set in 2015
Video games set in Alaska
Video games with alternate endings
Microsoft games
Windows games
Xbox Cloud Gaming games
Xbox One games
Single-player video games
The Game Awards winners
Dontnod Entertainment
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game winners