After struggling because Windows sucks major ass, I've finally been able to play Tell Me Why. Overall, I think it's well intentioned but toothless. Smoothed over to the point of inoffensiveness, and as a result rather drab. And sunk by old technology.

The game takes place in Alaska as two twins reunite after ten years apart, and one of whom has become a man. A chance discovery hints that their memory of their mother's death may not be accurate, and so they team up to find the truth. The game is almost exclusively about internal conflicts. There are no big moments or reveals, no explosive scenes or set pieces, just a gradual progression towards what may or may not be true.

The mechanics are underutilized. The two main ones being the ability of the twins to communicate psychically, and the ability to focus and watch memories.

The memory mechanic flirts with intrigue, often with the twins remembering different versions of the same event. In fact, the game in general has a theme about the uncertainty of memory. You even have to 'choose' which memory you want to accept as true. However, the choice is binary. Rather than explore the concept fully and realize that perhaps there are elements of truth from both, you are required to resolve such disputes by accepting the totality of one version. This undercuts the underlying theme, and makes the game far less interesting. There is something inherently unsatisfying about getting to the end and being forced to pick which version you want to be true, rather than have the uncertainty of memories stumble you through a reality.

The psychic link is likewise underutilized. 99% of the time it's just so you can talk to each other. Exactly twice does the game ask you to do something remotely interesting by allowing you to think to each other while conversing with another character. You can communicate without the other party to the conversation knowing. But, this essentially amounts to nothing more than a hint system of "hey, what should I ask this guy?". The possibilities for misdirection and subterfuge were huge, but the game didn't even go there.

Dontnod has said they did not want to create a story about the trauma of a trans person. This in and of itself is actually a decent goal. Minority identities are often portrayed as intertwined with suffering in media, which merely re-enforces the notion that their identities are not inherently compatible with society. However, Dontnod takes it to the extreme and both removes any sort of real conflict to drive the plot, and also wildly distorts the degree and prevalence of transphobia. The most egregious display is a guy saying essentially "Sorry, I want to do the right thing but I just didn't know what words to use". It smoothes over his trans identity so much, that it barely feels distinct at all. At the start of the game, you find a book about avoiding toxic masculinity as a trans man, which would make for an extraordinarily interesting conflict that doesn't conflate a trans identity with trauma, and yet this is not explored or referenced one iota. His sister makes it very clear she asked for his permission before revealing his transition to others. The game is just screaming at us that Donnod is trying to be respectful. To do the right thing. And yet the experience is so devoid of anything raw that is feels sanded down to almost nothing. There are so many ways this could have been explored respectfully while still making a great narrative conflict. But nope.

Life is Strange was janky. So is Tell me Why. The characters jerk around. Their mouths open and close robotically. The faces never really have a nuance of expression. But it was okay for Life is Strange because the game was not going for realism. Every texture was painted with a brush, stylized to the point where it was animated. Tell me Why aims for realism. The textures strive to be lifelike. And so now the jankiness can't be ignored. Looking at the amazingly expressive and subtle digital humans in Last of Us 2 for example, you see superbly natural mocap and animation with faces that capture all the subtlety of an actor's emotion. Tell me Why isn't even in the same universe as TLOU2 or Detroit, or even FF7 remake which uses the same engine (unreal). it fails the realistic style (and surprisingly, the photographs have the same drawn painted look of life is strange, so it's not even internally consistent). When the story is 100% about feelings, believing these digital actors is critical. The illusion often fails.

For me, the game is almost offensive in its complete commitment to playing it safe, and a giant disappointment.