Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (2024)

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  • Things You Should Know Before Starting Telling Lies

  • Achievements/Trophies Guide

  • Telling Lies Complete Walkthrough

  • Search These Words

Telling Lies is a devastating and enthralling experience. The objective here is to locate videos by searching through a database. The catch is that you can only access five videos at a time (and you will receive the five videos that chronologically come first), which means that you need to locate specific words in order to unveil segments of the story.

Related: Things We Wish We Knew Before Playing Telling Lies

Typically, a player would do this by digging through videos, which will lead to a delightfully disorienting experience where you jump around in time and try to piece together the story, one disjointed video at a time. However, this guide will provide you with all the breadcrumbs necessary to help prevent you from getting stuck.

The final section of the guide also has a complete listing of every video in the game. So, if you are just searching for a few missing videos, feel free to consult it. Telling Lies is a grand mystery; this guide should be able to help maximize your enjoyment—and minimize your frustration.

Updated August 14, 2023: We've gone back through this guide and cleaned up a few things. Hopefully, with these changes, this guide will be even easier to parse.

Things You Should Know Before Starting Telling Lies

Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (1)

Can I Skip To The Beginning Of A Video?

Well, you can slowly rewind to the beginning, but place an emphasis on the "slow" part. But no, you cannot quickly skip to the beginning of any given video. Though don't feel obligated to watch every second of every video. You are meant to jump around a little.

How Do I Watch Video Clips Chronologically?

There is only one way to watch video clips chronologically (in the game). What you would need to do is open every clip first, bookmark each, and close them without watching them. Then, after you have bookmarked all 169 videos, when you go to your bookmarks tab they will all be ordered chronologically for you.

How Many Endings Are There?

There are three endings. You will be given the ending that best aligns with the videos you watched. There are extra segments for each ending as well, but if you have collected all the video clips (or even most of them), this won't be an issue.

Getting all the endings in one playthrough would be tricky (if not impossible). However, there are no achievements associated with watching all the endings, so if you have seen all the videos, there is nothing stopping you from just watching the missing endings elsewhere.

Related: If You Only Play One New Game Pass Game, Make It Telling Lies

Achievements/Trophies Guide

Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (2)

The majority of achievements/trophies are simply tied to your progression. There are only seven achievements that you need to actively pursue (outside of simply watching all the videos in the game).

Animal Logic

This one is easy to miss. At one point, while watching videos, you will be interrupted by your cat running across your keyboard. Search the gibberish that the cat enters into the search bar. If you don't search the gibberish, then you can still type it in after the fact (just make sure to press 'search' after you do). What you need to type is... sxwfrtniul.[‘po]\[/,l;

Organizer

You have the ability to group certain clips together by tagging them. If you tag ten different videos you will unlock this achievement.

Taking out the Trash

Just move the text file to the garbage bin.

Forgot My Password

Click on the Wi-Fi signal at the top of the screen. Choose one of the networks and guess the password five times. After the fifth incorrect guess, you will receive this achievement.

Hypertextual

In order to unlock this achievement, you simply need to jump into any video, then highlight any word, search it (from inside the video), and rinse and repeat. You will go down a rabbit hole of watching videos, and after you have gone through 20 of them, the achievement will unlock. Since you are jumping from video to video anyway, make sure to bookmark the videos along the way!

Pointless Game

Reset the solitaire game by pressing the "deal again" button 15 times. Bingo Bango, you got your achievement.

Missing King

Brace yourself. You are going to have to win a game of solitaire to get this trophy. You may want to watch an instructional video on how to play solitaire if you don't already know.

Telling Lies Complete Walkthrough

Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (3)

The progression in Telling Lies is very non-linear. Your only goal here is to search for, watch, and bookmark videos. After you watch a certain number of videos, your search will be briefly interrupted (this will happen multiple times).

When you have watched around 80 videos or so, you will be given the opportunity to upload every video you have bookmarked, at which point you will be provided with one of the three endings (which will align with the character you spent the most time with). Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

If you are struggling to find the appropriate words to search, the section below will provide you with all the search words necessary to get you where you need to go.

Related: The Music Of Telling Lies: An Interview With Composer Nainita Desai

Search These Words

Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (4)

When playing Telling Lies, you will be given the ability to search whatever word you would like. You can do this by just freely roaming through the videos, searching words that strike you as important. However, if you need guidance, here are a number of words that will provide you with a path to the videos that will favor one of the three key characters. .

If you are looking for every single video, searching all of these words should help you fulfill that goal. Any videos you may be missing can be located using the database at the end of this guide. Remember to bookmark every video when you encounter it for the first time. This will order them for you and make the missing videos easier to locate.

The story path section indicates who these search terms favor, so if you are looking for a specific ending, search and watch the videos associated with that character's story path (either Max, Emma, or Ava). Keep in mind that these search words won't be exclusively related to these paths, they will just favor them. Nothing is that cut and dry in Telling Lies.

Characters

Term

Story Path

David

---

Davey

Max

Jones

Ava

Miller

---

Emma

Emma

Alba

Emma

Laura

Emma

MeeMaw

Emma

Dada

Emma

Mama

Emma

Glowy

Emma

Paul

Emma

Steven

Emma

Anesthesiologist

Emma

Max

Max

Michelle

Max

Melissa

Max

Ava

Ava

Eric

Ava

Peter

Ava

Riordan

Ava

Barry

Ava

Jane

Ava

Star

Ava

Mike

Emma

Karen

Ava

Chris

Ava

Simon

---

Harry

---

Fairy Tales

Term

Story Path

Dopey

Ava

Knight

---

Little Mermaid

Ava

Mirror, Mirror

---

Prince Charming

Max

Rose Red

Max

Rumpelstiltskin

Emma

Sneezy

Max

Snow White

Max

Events

Term

Story Path

Barbecue

Emma

Halloween

Ava

Recital

Emma

Thanksgiving

Emma

Valentine

Emma

Phrases

Term

Story Path

Hey, babe

Ava

Hey, hon

Emma

Hi there

Max

My kid

Emma

You Okay

Ava

So sorry

---

Exit plan

Ava

Other Words

Term

Story Path

Accountant

Ava

Asshole

Max

Black Kite

---

Boo

Ava

Books

Ava

Bureau

---

Clean

Emma

Died

Emma

DWP

---

Freezing

Ava

Hypnotize

Max

Machines

---

Medicine

Ava

Motherfucker

Ava

Pigeons

Emma

Pregnant

Ava

Prosperen

Ava

Proud

Emma

Selfishly

---

Shot

Max

Song

Ava

Spell

Max

Special

Ava

Stranger

Ava

Tattoo

Ava

Terrorized

Ava

Victim

Max

Yoga

Max

Related: How Does Annapurna Interactive Manage To Publish Nothing But Bangers?

The Complete Video Listing

Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (5)

Below you will find every single video, their length, and the words you can use to locate them listed. We do not recommend that you move down the list, video by video, searching for every entry. That would be tedious. However, if you are missing a video or two, you can consult this list, crosscheck it with your bookmarked videos, and you should quickly obtain whatever video you are missing.

#

Date

Length

Searchable Word

1

08/15/2017

3:09

Mirror, Mirror

2

08/15/2017

3:09

Snow White

3

08/15/2017

4:25

Love

4

08/15/2017

4:25

Love

5

08/15/2017

5:45

David

6

08/15/2017

5:45

Star

7

08/18/2017

1:29

Snow White

8

08/23/2017

2:38

Hypnotize

9

08/22/2017

2:38

John

10

08/23/2017

7:00

Snow White

11

08/23/2017

7:00

Snow White

12

08/29/2017

1:18

Mirror, Mirror

13

08/29/2017

1:18

Ava

14

08/29/2017

3:43

Stranger

15

08/29/2017

3:43

Love

16

09/08/2017

2:31

David

17

09/14/2017

6:03

Books

18

09/14/2017

6:03

Books

19

09/14/2017

2:31

Anesthesiologist

20

09/14/2017

2:31

Hey, hon

21

09/14/2017

6:25

Died

22

09/14/2017

6:25

Jane

23

09/14/2017

4:11

David

24

09/14/2017

4:11

Knight

25

09/15/2017

7:02

Special

26

09/15/2017

7:02

Special

27

09/15/2017

3:06

Alba

28

09/15/2017

3:06

Emma

29

09/15/2017

2:02

Special

30

09/15/2017

2:02

Special

31

10/10/2017

5:03

Snow White

32

10/10/2017

5:03

Michelle

33

10/30/2017

1:41

Meemaw

34

10/30/2017

1:41

Alba

35

10/31/2017

2:30

Ava

36

10/31/2017

2:30

Halloween

37

11/01/2017

1:45

Ava

38

11/03/2017

8:17

Boo

39

11/03/2017

8:17

Tattoo

40

11/03/2017

6:57

Hi there

41

11/03/2017

6:57

Davey

42

11/04/2017

1:48

Steven

43

11/03/2017

1:48

Alba

44

11/04/2017

0:27

Halloween

45

11/04/2017

2:05

Eric

46

11/04/2017

2:05

Eric

47

11/04/2017

0:32

Ava

48

11/04/2017

0:32

Freezing

49

11/05/2017

1:14

Mama

50

11/05/2017

1:14

Dada

51

11/06/2017

2:54

Emma

52

11/06/2017

2:54

Died

53

11/06/2017

1:23

Mirror, Mirror

54

11/06/2017

1:23

Machines

55

11/09/2017

8:58

Stranger

56

11/09/2017

8:58

Davey

57

11/14/2017

3:56

Emma

58

11/14/2017

3:56

Mama

59

11/23/2017

0:52

Thanksgiving

60

11/23/2017

3:16

Hi there

61

11/23/2017

3:16

Clean

62

11/27/2017

7:39

Shot

63

11/27/2017

7:39

Max

64

11/28/2017

1:27

Boo

65

11/28/2017

1:27

Song

66

11/28/2017

2:28

Emma

67

11/28/2017

2:28

Star

68

11/28/2017

4:02

Stranger

69

12/01/2017

0:45

Prince Charming

70

12/01/2017

0:45

Black Kite

71

12/15/2017

3:47

Eric

72

01/11/2018

2:21

Prosperen

73

01/24/2018

2:30

You okay?

74

02/01/2018

4:12

Peter

75

02/02/2018

2:45

Boo

76

02/02/2018

2:45

Peter

77

02/02/2018

2:54

Yoga

78

02/02/2018

2:54

Davey

79

02/14/2018

1:25

Valentine

80

02/14/2018

1:25

Valentine

81

02/14/2018

2:14

Boo

82

02/14/2018

2:14

Victim

83

02/17/2018

2:09

Pigeons

84

02/16/2018

2:09

Pigeons

85

02/18/2018

6:25

Rose Red

86

02/17/2018

6:25

Anesthesiologist

87

02/19/2018

2:16

Yoga

88

02/19/2018

2:16

Davey

89

02/22/2018

1:49

Mike

90

02/22/2018

1:49

Karen

91

02/23/2018

1:52

Hi there

92

02/26/2018

2:49

Melissa

93

02/26/2018

2:49

Melissa

94

02/28/2018

2:18

Boo

95

02/27/2018

2:18

Barry

96

02/28/2018

2:00

Harry

97

02/28/2018

2:00

Clean

98

03/03/2018

2:27

Chris

99

03/03/2018

1:32

Mike

100

03/04/2018

1:32

Clean

101

03/04/2018

1:20

Laura

102

03/04/2018

1:20

Paul

103

03/10.2018

1:18

Hey babe

104

03/10/2018

1:18

Died

105

03/11/2018

9:45

Rumpelstiltskin

106

03/11/2018

9:45

Rumpelstiltskin

107

03/12/2018

2:44

Chris

108

03/14/2018

2:12

So sorry

109

03/14/2018

2:12

Died

110

03/19/2018

3:15

Barry

111

03/19/2018

3:15

Barry

112

03/20/2018

0:19

Glowy

113

03/20/2018

0:19

Glowy

114

03/21/2018

2:46

Little Mermaid

115

03/21/2018

2:46

Little Mermaid

116

03/29/2018

4:18

Riordan

117

03/29/2018

7:19

Riordan

118

04/07/2018

4:19

Mirror, Mirror

119

04/15/2018

2:12

Riordan

120

04/15/2018

2:12

Jones

121

04/15/2018

2:56

Riordan

122

04/15/2018

0:50

Simon

123

04/15/2018

0:50

Exit Plan

124

04/23/2018

1:32

Exit Plan

125

04/23/2018

1:32

Exit Plan

126

04/23/2018

2:43

Yoga

127

04/23/2018

2:43

Sneezy

128

04/24/2018

3:23

Karen

129

04/25/2018

1:25

Bureau

130

04/25/2018

1:25

Hey, hon

131

04/25/2018

1:08

Motherfucker

132

04/25/2018

1:08

Pregnant

133

04/25/2018

0:39

Terrorized

134

04/25/2018

0:39

Terrorized

135

05/04/2018

2:34

Medicine

136

05/04/2018

2:34

Medicine

137

06/18/2018

2:09

Accountant

138

06/18/2018

2:09

Accountant

139

06/24/2018

1:54

My kid

140

06/24/2018

1:54

My kid

141

06/25/2018

2:27

Asshole

142

06/26/2018

2:27

Knight

143

06/28/2018

0:49

DWP

144

06/28/2018

0:49

DWP

145

07/03/2018

3:23

Melissa

146

07/04/2018

3:23

Knight

147

07/15/2018

0:46

Glowy

148

07/15/2018

0:46

Glowy

149

07/15/2018

1:42

Clean

150

07/15/2018

1:42

Recital

151

07/15/2018

7:47

Paul

152

07/15/2018

7:47

Knight

153

07/19/2018

1:05

Max

154

07/19/2018

1:05

Miller

155

07/24/2018

4:20

Prince Charming

156

07/28/2018

1:49

Jones

157

07/28/2018

1:49

Machines

158

10:20/2018

0:53

Selfishly

159

11/01/2018

1:19

Jane

160

11/01/2018

1:19

FBI

161

11:05/2018

0:48

Star

162

11/06/2018

3:26

Spell

163

11/06/2018

3:26

Rose Red

164

11/07/2018

1:11

Harry

165

11/07/2018

1:11

Miller

166

11/20/2018

6:56

Rumpelstiltskin

167

11/20/2018

6:56

Rumpelstiltskin

168

11/21/2018

3:58

Proud

169

11/22/2018

4:31

Miller

Next: Every Major Telling Lies Spoiler, Explained

Telling Lies: Complete Walkthrough (2024)

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