Life is Strange developers DONTNOD Entertainment have announced its new IP Tell Me Why for Xbox Game Studios at this year's X019 event in London, UK. The studio are currently working to release Life is Strange 2's episode 5, which will complete the episodic story-based game that released last year.

This reveal came along with other big announcements at Microsoft's conference. For starters, the company announced more high profile titles coming to its Xbox Game Pass gaming subscription service such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the Final Fantasy series from FFVII to FFXV barring FFXIV and the previously mentioned Life is Strange 2. Project xCloud was also revealed to have over 50 games for its preview experience as it looks to compete with Google Stadia's own cloud video game streaming.

Tell Me Why takes place in a small local town in Alaska, where twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan use their bonds to explore their troubled childhood. “The core mechanic of the game is the special bond Tyler and Alyson share and is also a theme strongly anchored into the DONTNOD storytelling approach,” said Tell Me Why's game director Florent Guillaume in a press release. He also added, “Over the course of the story, players will explore the identical twins’ different memories of key events and choose which memory to believe. Ultimately, the choices players make determine the strength of the twins’ bond—and the future course of their lives.”


One of the most distinct highlights about Tell Me Why is its protagonist Tyler, a person who identifies as a transgender man. This makes him the first playable transgender main character produced from a major studio and publisher. In order to ensure that Tyler is an in-depth character that faithfully represents a "trans experience," DONTNOD is working closely with Microsoft and GLAAD, an LGBTQ media advocacy group. “Microsoft and DONTNOD have approached Tyler with a real commitment to authenticity,” said Nick Adams, GLAAD's director of transgender representation at GLAAD. “Tyler is a fully-realized, endearing character, whose story is not reduced to simplistic trans tropes. Creating a playable lead trans character – and taking such care to get it right – raises the bar for future LGBTQ inclusion in gaming.”

Similar to the Life is Strange series, this new IP will adopt a three-chapter episodic structure that will have a consistent release schedule. However, the most important change between the two titles is that Tell Me Why will have its entire story available in Summer 2020. This means that each chapter could be released around once every month, which is a positive so the game could keep a hold of players' interest.

If you're interested in DONTNOD's newest IP, Tell Me Why is available for the Xbox One through purchasing or Game Pass, Windows 10 PC, Xbox Game Pass and Steam.