Room Escape Artist

My Father Lied is a point-and-click video game created by Lunar Games.

Format

Style of Play:

• Point-and-click video game

Who is it For?

• Story seekers
• History buffs

Required Equipment: Computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 1-2

Play Time: 8-10 hours

Price: $8.99

Booking: Purchase and play at your leisure

Description

My Father Lied was a point-and-click puzzle game with a moderate level of difficulty. Players navigate the protagonist, Huda, in first person through a bunker/ museum solving puzzles and discovering answers about the mysterious disappearance of her father. The narrative is framed on the history of Iraq.

Christina Rohlf’s Reaction

My Father Lied was clearly intended as an ode to Iraqi history and culture and I really enjoyed the opportunity, getting to learn about the historical figures and significant events throughout the course of the game. My favorite part of the game was exploring and solving puzzles in the museum while learning more about Iraqi history.

In general, the core puzzles of the game were fun and logical; however, one puzzle in the first tutorial room was extremely unclear, which provided a rocky start to the game. There were also a couple of puzzles with multiple possible solutions, but only one answer which worked to progress the game forward, which was frustrating. As an avid puzzler and completionist, I also wanted to try the challenging puzzles which provided some additional story moments if solved properly. Yet most of the challenging puzzles were extremely poorly clued, impossible to decipher, or simply required an incorrect answer. At one point I forced a three digit lock for one of the challenging puzzles just to hear the journal entry. The story, while present, also left me with more questions than answers.

Joel Smileypeacefun’s Reaction

In My Father Lied, you follow the story of Huda, who tries to discover the truth behind the 20-year disappearance of her father.

At its best, I enjoyed the sporadic cutscenes. The narrative told is definitely unique and justifies the presence of puzzles in the first place. Your goals and found clues are written down automatically in an in-game journal. Plus, it’s made very clear what you can interact with, which lowers the possibility of search fails (but also takes away a little bit of the exploration fun).

At its worst, the minor typos, amongst the way too many text passages to read through, are the smallest issue here. Because the puzzles range from mediocre to just straight up terrible. Arbitrary math problems meets tedious riddles that overstay their welcome meets just clunky interactions in general. One colorful task had such a bad user interface that it was almost unplayable for me. It’s not helping either that there are no hints available when you get stuck.

What started off as a promising game ended up leaving me mostly nothing but frustrated.

Jayna (Jay) Shea’s Reaction

My Father Lied is clearly made with care but I found the concept more appealing than the gameplay itself. There was a strong story and a trove of knowledge. But while the structure and story were engaging at the beginning and end, puzzles often lacked variety and execution, ultimately leaving me disappointed. Even though I generally did not enjoy the puzzles themselves I do want to give the game credit for its puzzle integration. They served a clear purpose and were woven into the narrative.

At one stage, I spent considerable time attempting to solve a puzzle without all the information because I missed a door icon which led into another space. At other times the solution was clear but I couldn’t distinguish the intended color or drawing. While I take the blame for failing to see the door, other factors got in the way of my enjoyment. Being a point-and-click adventure, the game’s reliance on mouse controls proved problematic. Even after tweaking sensitivity my double clicks often failed unless I clicked precisely in the right spot. This was especially frustrating during one puzzle where the complicated input didn’t add to the puzzle.

My Father Lied makes a genuine effort to deliver an emotional experience, and at times I did feel for the main character. Much of the narrative unfolds through cut scenes, and I would have liked to have notes available to refer to as the story progressed in order to keep the characters straight and make it easier to stop and start the game. This would have been helpful given the museum setting and its abundance of presented information. If you enjoy museums, Iraqi history, or math then you may find enjoyment in this game. In the end, for me this game was let down by the puzzles.

Disclosure: Lunar Games provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.