Dontnod Entertainment has showcased its adventure game Tell Me Why with a very dramatic and a bit dark trailer.
Tell Me Why has a drama-like story involving the Ronan twins and their childhood past. While all the other games announced during the Xbox Series X Games Showcase had very little details about them, Dontnod’s entry already has spoilers, coming from the devs themselves.
Tell Me Why trailer
The game was first announced in November for Xbox One and PC. It’ll take place in Alaska, with a set of twins, Alyson and Tyler Ronan, who are in for a very odd reunion after 10 years since the death of their mother.
Accordingly, Alyson and Tyler are seen sharing a “supernatural bond,” wherein they can interact with their memories. However, as it turns out, their memories aren’t the same.
The flow of the game will strongly depend on the choices the players made for their characters. The course of the game will incline towards the series of choices made.
FAQ section became a tell-all for Tell Me Why
Meanwhile, Polygon noted that the dev’s FAQ section on its official website revealed the biggest spoilers for the game’s storyline.
As it turns out, Tyler is trans, which was slightly hinted with the series of memory depictions that the twins keep getting. There are quite a few questions that were tagged as “SPOILERS” that really did give a chunk of the game’s storyline.
The first item with the said tag asks the question of whether Tyler’s mother was transphobic, to which the devs’ answered, “No. Tyler’s mother, Mary-Ann Ronan, was not transphobic. In Chapter 1, Tyler and Alyson discover that their mother had been taking steps to learn how to support her transgender child.”
With regards to Tyler’s multi-dimensional ending, the devs’ wrote:
“EACH OF TELL ME WHY’S ENDINGS WILL INCLUDE AN OPTIMISTIC FUTURE FOR TYLER. WHAT MAY CHANGE BASED ON A PLAYER’S CHOICES IS TYLER’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS TWIN SISTER ALYSON, WHERE HIS JOURNEYS TAKE HIM AFTER THE EVENTS OF THE GAME, AND MUCH MORE. BECAUSE SO MANY MAINSTREAM NARRATIVES ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE ARE ROOTED IN PAIN OR TRAUMA, IT WAS IMPORTANT TO OUR TEAM TO TELL A DIFFERENT, MORE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL STORY WITH TYLER. WE HOPE YOU’LL ENJOY EVERYTHING TYLER’S STORY HAS TO OFFER!”
With this, it would seem like Tyler won’t have a bad ending, no matter which in-game choices players will choose. The whole section goes on about the storyline, even with how Tyler’s transition went from “Ollie” to “Tyler” was somehow revealed.
Per the media outlet, it is as if Dontnod is taking a page from Naughty Dog with how it dealt with introducing Ellie’s love interest, Dina, in The Last of Us 2. “For some players, spoiling the game allowed them to go in without any worries about the story. They were able to meet the narrative on their own terms,” as Polygon highlighted.
Despite the major spoil, the game should still pique the gaming community’s interest. Most especially with how the supernational bond between the twins works and as to why their memories were construed.
The game is set to be launched on August 27.
Featured image courtesy of Tell Me Why