In case you missed it, Sam Barlow's new game "Telling Lies" is now out! In 12 languages!
The game’s reception has been pretty fantastic. Some of our fave reviews:
“Endless possibilities in brilliant detective story” The Guardian (★★★★★)
"A full-motion video triumph" Polygon
"An absolute masterpiece" Gameblog.fr (90)
"One of the most brilliant video games of the year" Washington Post (90)
"A paragon for storytelling" Gamesradar+ (90)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/762830/Telling_Lies/
Mashable ran a great in-depth piece on the game where Jess Joho concluded that the game was, well, “f**king great". The full article contains more such insights and Jess's experience of visiting the set during filming.
And the world’s most edgy videogame magazine, Edge, just hit the shelves with their 9/10 review and really nailed what the game was going for. Here's a piece of it:
It’s utterly convincing stuff on the parts of Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé and Angela Sarafyan, who bring their expertise to bear in all of Barlow’s carefully created time and space with devastating subtlety. The very action of scrubbing is compulsive – each speed clunking into gear as you sway your pointer back and forth, almost conducting the performances – and also magnifies the actors’ craft, as well as Barlow’s deft directorial hand. Watching expressions shift in accelerated time, or tears roll up an agonised face; catching a flinch at a particular word, then pausing to examine closely; your heart-rate slowing as you watch someone sleep for three minutes, mind racing at a connection you’ve just made; the effect is of playing director, interrogator and friend all at once. It feels real in a way most directed narratives – especially those found in videogames – don’t. Barlow has delivered his finest work to date, a visionary art film-cum-player performance piece that could only have come from a creator who set his sights on the future of interactive entertainment before Bandersnatch was even a twinkle in the eyes of Netflix’s execs. The freedom, generosity and candidness with which Telling Lies presents itself has clearly taken a huge amount of precision work from both its director and its cast.
Let us know what you think of the game! And leave a review! Every review helps, especially with games that are outside the ordinary like this one :)
