Her Story Beginner Tips - Keyword Search and Database Guide

Her Story by Sam Barlow, published by Sam Barlow, is a non-linear FMV detective game about searching a police video database, watching interview clips, and piecing together the case through keywords.

Content warning: Store and guide pages describe verbal discussions of sex acts, violence, homicide, profanity, alcohol, and drugs. This guide stays non-graphic and focused on search/database play.

Spoiler note: This is a spoiler-light guide. It avoids solution terms, transcript excerpts, full clip ordering, character answers, endings, and final interpretations.

Use this guide to get better at finding clips without turning the mystery into a checklist. Her Story is not about combat, builds, or route execution; it is about listening closely, searching deliberately, and preserving your own deductions.

Essential Tips

1. Treat the Search Box as Your Movement System

You progress by finding better words, not by unlocking doors.

Every useful clue should make you ask, “What word should I try next?” If a clip gives you a name, object, place, role, date, emotion, or repeated phrase, write it down and test it instead of waiting for the game to point at the next step.

2. Search From Spoken Words, Not Random Guesses

The safest keywords come from clips you have actually watched.

Her Story rewards chaining. Watch a clip, pull a specific word from it, search that word, then repeat. Guessing can work by accident, but it is harder to track and easier to spoil yourself with outside lists.

3. Avoid Broad Terms Once You Understand the Five-Result Limit

A search can match more clips than you are allowed to see at once.

If a word returns a crowded result set, do not keep hammering the same search. Add a second word, use a more specific related term, or follow a different clue from one of the clips you can access.

4. Use Exact Phrases Sparingly

Quotation searches are best for lines you remember clearly.

If you wrote down a distinctive short phrase, try it as an exact search. Do not rely on long half-remembered quotes; a single wrong word can waste time, and a shorter term may uncover the same thread more cleanly.

5. Watch Before You Chase the Next Thread

The next keyword may be inside the clip you are about to skip.

When several unviewed results appear, watch them before jumping to a new search. Short clips can carry one word that opens a whole new branch.

6. Prioritize Unwatched Result Markers

The yellow-eye marker is a quick way to spot fresh clips.

Use it to separate new material from clips you already saw. If a familiar search suddenly shows an unwatched result, that result is usually worth checking before you move on.

7. Save Only Important Clips to the Session

A session pile is useful only if it stays readable.

Add clips when they contain strong keywords, confusing details, or moments you expect to compare later. If you save everything, the session becomes another messy result list.

8. Keep Theory Notes Outside User Tags

Tags can become searchable and interfere with future searches.

Use user tags carefully, preferably for literal clip labels you will understand later. Put theories, possible connections, and “try next” ideas in an outside note so they do not pollute the database.

9. Use Query History as a Thought Trail

Your old searches show how you got stuck.

When progress slows down, scan your search history for abandoned threads. You may find a name, place, or object you searched once and never followed deeply enough.

10. Keep the Database Checker in Mind

Viewed and unviewed markers help you judge coverage.

The Database Checker is useful when you want to know whether you are still finding new material or circling the same area. Use it as a progress map, not as proof that you understand the story.

11. Turn On Subtitles if They Help You Catch Words

One missed word can hide several clips.

The game is built around searchable transcripts and spoken details. If you are missing names or short phrases by ear, subtitles are not a crutch; they are a search tool.

12. Protect the Mystery From Full Lists

A term list can solve the search problem while ruining the deduction.

Use broad strategy first. Save complete transcripts, all-keyword lists, clip indexes, ending explanations, and achievement routes for cleanup after you have formed your own read of the case.

Keyword Strategy

Keyword Type	When to Use It	Why It Helps
Proper nouns	A person or place is spoken clearly	Opens focused result sets without broad guessing
Objects	A clip lingers on a concrete item or action	Links interviews through repeated evidence
Relationship words	A connection between people is emphasized	Finds context around motives and history
Time/place words	A location, trip, date, or event is mentioned	Helps group clips into rough threads
Repeated phrases	A line sounds distinctive or unnatural	Good candidate for a narrow or exact search
Opposite terms	A clip denies, corrects, or contrasts something	Can expose another side of the same topic

The goal is not to find a magic word. The goal is to keep producing small, clip-backed next searches from clips you already earned.

Notes and Clip Management

Use a simple note format:

Note	What to Write
Search term	The exact word or phrase you tried
Result quality	New clips, repeats, or too many results
Clip clue	One spoiler-safe reminder of why the clip mattered
Next searches	Two or three words to test later
Confidence	Certain, possible, or just a hunch

Keep your notes short. Her Story’s order is intentionally personal and non-linear, so a giant plot summary too early can make you trust your first theory more than the evidence.

Spoiler-Safe Completion

Her Story does not work like a boss fight or traditional puzzle room. The goal is reaching the point where you understand what happened, while the game also supports continuing to search for extra details.

A safe first-play approach:

1. Search from the opening results: Pull words from clips, not from outside lists.
2. Build several threads: Follow people, places, objects, and repeated phrases separately.
3. Review your history: Reopen searches that produced useful but unfinished leads.
4. Check your coverage: Use the Database Checker when you need a progress sense.
5. Stop before hard spoilers: Only use transcript or clip-index help after your own interpretation feels stable.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not repeat the same broad search - The first-five limit means you may keep seeing the same early results.
2. Do not type every theory into user tags - Non-literal tags can make future searches noisier.
3. Do not save every clip to the session - Important clips become harder to find in an overloaded session.
4. Do not ignore short clips - A few seconds can still contain the exact word that opens a new branch.
5. Do not search from spoiler lists on your first run - Outside terms can reveal the shape of the mystery before you earn it.
6. Do not rely only on memory - Track terms, next searches, and unclear connections in notes.
7. Do not treat Database Checker coverage as understanding - Seeing more clips and interpreting them are different tasks.
8. Do not leave subtitles off if you are missing words - Search accuracy matters more than proving you heard everything unaided.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Core Loop	Watch clips, extract words, search those words
Search Discipline	Narrow broad terms with specific second words or exact phrases
Clip Discovery	Prioritize unviewed markers and short clips
Notes	Keep theories outside user tags
Session Use	Save only clips you need to revisit
Spoiler Control	Avoid full transcripts and keyword lists until cleanup
Completion Mindset	Aim for understanding, not just database coverage