Even without knowing the term "isekai", you have probably at some point encountered a story or piece of media that follows its basic framework. A Japanese term meaning "another world", isekai stories deal with the notion of being adrift in a setting quite unlike one's own; they follow protagonists who are ripped away from a world much like ours and dropped into an unfamiliar place or time. Be it Edgar Rice Burroughs's depiction of Mars as a futuristic kingdom in the Barsoom books or the fantastical realm of Oz, the specifics matter less than the intent - to challenge the protagonist's preconceived notions and lead them to personal growth in the face of unexpected conflict. I lay all of this out for you because I think the intent with Heir to the Queen, a small-scale adventure game, was to hit the basic points of the isekai journey under the constraints of a threadbare budget and no larger media presence. That's speculation on my part, though, sinc...
Once, in a bygone era called the 1990s, full-motion video was the latest fad sweeping the games industry. Wing Commander, Night Trap, Command & Conquer, The 7th Guest – many a studio saw potential in recordings of live actors performing scenes as a foundation for their games. Alas, between the relentless advance of technology and the inherent cost in building a game around FMV sequences, the practice would fall out of favour by decade's end.
Still, from time to time, games emerge that tap into that peculiar moment of history to interesting effect. So it is that we have Contradiction: Spot the Liar!, a crowdfunded murder mystery game wrapped in the FMV aesthetic. Though peculiar in some of its creative choices, the passion for the craft and the novelty of its main conceit do manage to shine through.
Developed & Published by: Baggy Cat Ltd.
Released for PC
Set in a village in the UK, Contradiction follows the efforts of one Detective Jenks as he attempts to uncover the circumstances behind the death of a local woman. Over the course of an evening, Jenks has to interrogate a handful of residents and pour over a growing collection of evidence, piecing together the string of events that will explain whether or not the victim’s death was self-inflicted. Naturally, complications arise; the village turns out to have been wrapped up in a web of deception, competing interests, and borderline cult behaviour radiating out from a local business training group.
Anyone who has stumbled upon at least one detective story in their time will understand the plot’s basic trajectory and tone, but Contradiction has two tricks up its sleeve to distinguish itself. The first, and most obvious of these, is its visual presentation; as previously established Contradiction is an FMV game where live actors perform in scenes shot on location in the UK. This approach allows the nuances of individual performances – not just line reads, but things like facial cues, body language, positioning in the scene – to imbue an otherwise formula mystery narrative with intense emotions and physicality (though for reasons I'll discuss shortly, this is a double-edged sword).
The other hook is a function of gameplay, and it’s tied to the game’s title: Contradiction asks you to find discrepancies in different statements made by suspects, in order to call them out and advance the investigation. The game records every suspect’s comments about each new piece of evidence, which the player can then cross-reference in-between story scenes to find where two statements conflict with one another – hence “Contradiction”. Catching these verbal fumbles and calling suspects out on them triggers the next story scene, in the process unlocking new evidence or a different thread to follow in solving the mystery. It’s mechanically a simple ebb-and-flow to the experience, but it works fine for keeping an audience engaged in proceedings.
What can be less effective, however, are the very flourishes of full motion video production that also make Contradiction so unique. For one, the acting could be generously called “TV quality” - the cast doesn’t have a ton of room in interrogation scenes to posture in interesting ways or express a ton of character depth, and where greater expression exists it’s big and unsubtle. There's also a visible cheapness to the sets and staging of scenes, especially during the handful of outdoor scenes where shot/reverse shot isn't enough.
That having been said, the cast's sheer commitment to the material is admirable. The actors lean into the small-town melodrama of the script, with Rupert Booth's Detective Jenks acting as the (slightly eccentric) voice of reason at its center. The late Paul Darrow manages to make every line drip with contempt, while Anarosa Butler turns in a surprisingly nuanced performance as Emma, a distraught friend of the victim.
In its totality, Contradiction likely won't change anyone's mind about the viability of FMV as a creative approach when making games; it's a niche curiosity at most and never really strives to be more that that. Yet even when constrained by cost and market appeal, the game uses its central mechanic and the scrappy charm of full-motion video to make what might otherwise be a rote mystery story into an enjoyable romp.
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