I had a controversial relationship with Dontnod, since its definitive rise on the market in 2015 with Life is Strange. And I also had a conflicting relationship with his works, as they were fundamentally far from my personal taste, at least until Vampyr's arrival, which took place only a few years later.
Experiencing the deeds of the "vampire with a heart of gold" Jonathan Reed aroused in me great interest in the previous (and then later) work of the Parisian company, pushing me to recover that little pearl of Life is Strange first and to look with great attention to the future, in particular to Twin Mirror (which will be released in the coming months), in which I place my highest expectations also and above all for the setting and for the Twin Peaks settings that it promises to bring with it.
In between, however, came Tell Me Why, another product of the team that immediately piqued my interest, once again due to a narrative imprint that strongly and decisively embraces those themes and that thematic air typical of modern thrillers, with a splash of paranormal that never tastes. And, after having lived the adventure of the twins in one breath Tyler and Alyson Ronan, I am ready to confirm the good feelings of the eve, even if some passages and some nerve centers have not worked to the best of their ability.
The importance of the past
Narratively speaking, Tell Me Why is a real runaway train. It starts immediately with a thousand, with a narrative that already in the first minutes of the very first episode makes it clear where it wants to go and what themes it wants to face, without restraints and without limits.
It is a story of violence, fear, diversity, all important and delicate topics to be dealt with today and which are however shown on the screen with that unique style that only Dontnod can give to his creations. The story of Tell My Why revolves around the disastrous and compromised Ronan family, in particular the twins, their traumatic childhood and - of course - the consequences on what was the inevitable and frightening phase of growth.
80029e6371a317086a6fe-0.jpg">Adolescence, on the other hand, is a delicate and complex phase of life, especially if additional difficulties arise in it, such as the fear of not being accepted by a society that is increasingly open to "diversity" but still too backward and easily malleable from the spectrum of common thoughts. The nerve center of the story in fact revolves, as I said earlier, around the two twins Ronan and especially Tyler, a man transgender who spent his childhood trapped in a body that he did not feel his own, with all the personal and interpersonal difficulties that this entails.
To make everything even more difficult there is the presence of a parent who is in turn tried and mentally unstable, who is unable - despite his efforts - to overcome the obstacle of this diversity, fighting, opposing himself with all his might (or at least so is hinted at in the opening bars), against the "diversity" of one of his daughters.
From there on, the darkness. Death, despair, but above all separation overlook the future of the twins, whose granite relationship is severely tested by the course of events. And the narrative imprint of the title is based on these foundations Dontnod, on the unstoppable desire of the two brothers to find each other, despite the difficulties and the distance, but above all on the desire to discover the truth about the traumatic past that you have inevitably marked them throughout their lives.
80029e6371a317086a6fe-1.jpg">It plays a lot on the link between the two, even playfully, which quickly becomes the most important aspect of the production, a relationship recreated with great parsimony and care. Having three siblings it was incredibly easy to empathize with both of them, and this is where Dontnod hits the bull's-eye, failing however (but not entirely) to carry on a story that, just like a modern thriller - thriller, gets tangled more than once, occasionally losing their ideas, perhaps in an attempt to "mix" too many things and with little space available.
Overall, however, I have never been bored, on the contrary, I felt pushed to move forward, pushed by the hunger for knowledge and in this respect I can only say that Dontnod did a good job.
Familiar and satisfying gameplay
From a "practical" point of view, namely that of gameplay, the new effort by Dontnod certainly does not offer great revolutions, but some interesting additions that on the whole work and convince.
Being a graphic adventure, the bulk of the experience is clearly based on multiple choices, on their influence on the story (from this point of view perhaps less evident and "influential" than in the past) and on the search for details and collectable, useful for rebuilding the narrative background that revolves around the production. However, in Tell Me Why profoundly different elements are introduced such as small puzzles, to be solved through the understanding of the Book of Goblins, a real almanac that sparks pure fantasy, typical of the innocence of the youngest but also all the small and large. fears that lurked in the souls of the twins, precisely the creators of this book.
80029e6371a317086a6fe-2.jpg">By reading the pages and paying attention to the details it is possible to solve the puzzles, not necessarily impossible but equally interesting, offering a pleasant variation on the theme that makes everything much fresher and more fun. Even the mechanics of "Memory" works, and it becomes important to understand and relive all the stages of the difficult past of the twins, linked by a "paranormal" bond that allows them to communicate with each other through thought, a dynamic that in some passages is useful and intriguing even at a playful level.
A (beautiful) postcard from Alaska
Technically and artistically speaking Tell My Why it distances itself from the previous works of the transalpine company and takes a substantial step forward also in terms of mere polygonal "power".
On a medium-high-end PC, the game shows itself in splendid shape, and the details set at maximum power offer a sharp and well finished image, with polygonal models so simple and in line with the style of the company but definitely more in step with the times. I was left with a great audiovisual memory by the lands of Alaska where history climbs, with breathtaking sunsets, where the contrast between the chromatically cold icy lands and the "warmth" of the sun's pigments kissing the face in the distance of the twins and all the other characters in the story offer an unforgettable photograph.
80029e6371a317086a6fe-3.jpg">Distancing from the slightly more “cartoonish” style of his previous works benefited the boys of Dontnod, who have shown that they can work differently, laying excellent foundations for a future that is certainly important in this respect. The sound is also very good: the dubbing works well, with the actors of the cast who have been able to give life to their counterparts in the best possible way, making the identification with them "easier" if we want. It joins it a more than successful soundtrack, in its simplicity, genuinely themed.
USEFUL INFOI played Tell My Why thanks to my Xbox Game Pass subscription on a 7th Gen i16 PC, 5GB of GDDR1050 RAM and a 4ti with 9GB of dedicated VRAM. I was able to enjoy the title at the highest possible quality, for a more than satisfactory final result. The campaign has a duration all in all in line with the standards of the genre and the software house, timidly approaching the death of 10-XNUMX hours of play.
Duration- About 2-3 hours per episode, for an overall longevity of almost ten hours.
- A classic graphic adventure, with multiple choices and lots of dialogues, punctuated through three episodes that are altogether very similar to each other in terms of duration and use.
- In the game there are collectibles that are used to retrace the history and childhood of the two boys.
- Game Name: Tell My Why
- Release date: August 27 2020
- Platforms: PC, Xbox One
- Dubbing language: English
- Texts language: Italian
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Tell My Why has the great merit of having tried to tell a complex story, full of burning and delicate themes, but it did so without being able to distance itself from its past, offering, on the whole, an experience all in all with the flavor of already seen and heard. The playful formula is updated by some interesting mechanics, but not enough to be truly incisive, and the story loses some of its polish as the episodes advance, which invalidate the quality and power of the story. Overall, however, we are faced with a solid and enjoyable product, which does not reach perfection and perhaps does not even aspire to do so, thus resulting in a beautiful adventure to live, but without too many pretensions.
Review by Salvatore CardoneGraphics
Graphically speaking Tell Me Why is a nice step forward compared to its predecessors, embellished not only with a better graphics in "practical" terms but also with a more realistic style of faces, landscapes and all the surrounding elements.
80
SOUNDTRACK AND DOUBLE ROOM
The soundtrack is simple, and perhaps less inspired than the past works of the French company, but overall it does its job very well, giving solemn and romantic moments with great skill and precision. The original dubbing is also good, tainted only by an Italian localization that is sometimes inaccurate.
78">78
GAMEPLAY
The usual gameplay typical of the genre in question is enriched by a few small gems, which overall works, amuses and convinces. This is not a revolution, but a kind of evolution of the kind, which we hope to find again in the future.
