---
key: mechanic/voice-audio--family-18
type: mechanic
id: voice-audio--family-18
lang: en
title: Investigation and event reconstruction
summary: >-
  The player compares spoken testimony and background sounds to reconstruct an
  event or test a hypothesis.
updatedAt: '2026-10-22'
status: active
url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18/'
jsonUrl: >-
  https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18.json
markdownUrl: >-
  https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18.md
aliases:
  - Investigation through recordings
tags:
  - Voice and sound
  - Sound as information and material
sourceIds:
  - source-b219dfc03e4f9c79
  - source-317fcb9b7089efa8
  - source-86b980b788f54522
sources:
  - id: source-b219dfc03e4f9c79
    title: Phasmophobia
    url: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/739630/Phasmophobia/?l=english'
    verifiedAt: null
  - id: source-317fcb9b7089efa8
    title: Unheard
    url: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/942970/Unheard/?l=english'
    verifiedAt: null
  - id: source-86b980b788f54522
    title: Her Story
    url: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/'
    verifiedAt: null
relations: []
placements:
  - catalogId: voice-audio
    id: family-18
    title: Voice and sound
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/voice-audio/#family-18'
    categoryIds:
      - material
supersededBy: []
attributes:
  preview:
    updatedAt: '2026-10-22'
    title: Investigation through recordings
    description: >-
      The player compares spoken testimony and background sounds to reconstruct
      an event or test a hypothesis.
    image:
      src: images/mechanics/adventure-her-story-00.webp
      width: 1440
      height: 900
      crop:
        x: 120
        'y': 0
        width: 1200
        height: 900
      game: Her Story
      sourceUrl: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/'
      originalUrl: >-
        https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/368370/ss_47f0e58df778d9f10b3df40ddce8bba8e592b1fb.1920x1080.jpg?t=1684962832
      credit: Sam Barlow
      rights: >-
        Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed
        Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.
      caption: 'A search query, recordings and a user tag'
      alt: 'A search query, recordings and a user tag'
      markers:
        - x: 58
          'y': 40
          label: A query retrieves related recordings
        - x: 44
          'y': 59
          label: The player adds a personal tag
    tips:
      - Link conclusions back to the original recording segment.
    examples:
      - title: Her Story
        url: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/'
endsAt: null
provenance: >-
  Original taxonomy adapted from user-selected design discussions; linked
  sources support specific examples, not the whole classification.
license: CC-BY-4.0
codeLicense: MIT
attribution: gamemechanics.pro contributors
catalogKey: catalog/voice-audio
---
# Investigation and event reconstruction

id: voice-audio--family-18
type: mechanic
key: mechanic/voice-audio--family-18
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18/

The player compares spoken testimony and background sounds to reconstruct an event or test a hypothesis.

## At a glance

![A search query, recordings and a user tag](https://gamemechanics.pro/images/mechanics/adventure-her-story-00.webp)

[Her Story](https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/) · Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.

1. A query retrieves related recordings
2. The player adds a personal tag

- Link conclusions back to the original recording segment.

- [Her Story](https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/)

## How it works

Compare audible evidence and reconstruct causal relationships.

## Variants

### Observation

<a id="family-18-branch-1"></a>

- Eavesdrop at the right place and time. <a id="family-18-branch-1-variant-1"></a>
- Compare different speakers' lines. <a id="family-18-branch-1-variant-2"></a>
- Identify a speaker, place or action through background acoustics. <a id="family-18-branch-1-variant-3"></a>
- Distinguish testimony, retelling and a character's conjecture. <a id="family-18-branch-1-variant-4"></a>

### Reconstructing events

<a id="family-18-branch-2"></a>

- Establish action order from sound traces. <a id="family-18-branch-2-variant-1"></a>
- Connect simultaneously unfolding scenes. <a id="family-18-branch-2-variant-2"></a>
- Match names, voices, roles and movements. <a id="family-18-branch-2-variant-3"></a>
- Reconstruct causality between a conversation and a later event. <a id="family-18-branch-2-variant-4"></a>

### Testing hypotheses

<a id="family-18-branch-3"></a>

- Find contradictions in testimony or alibis. <a id="family-18-branch-3-variant-1"></a>
- Distinguish a recording, broadcast and live event. <a id="family-18-branch-3-variant-2"></a>
- Check whether a character could hear a conversation. <a id="family-18-branch-3-variant-3"></a>
- Choose the next listen that best distinguishes hypotheses. <a id="family-18-branch-3-variant-4"></a>

## Context and limits

A working design-space map: 27 families, 81 branches and 324 variants. Voice control, audio-based play and communication can combine or exist separately. Released-game examples support particular techniques; supplementary combinations are design proposals.

## Connected materials


## Sources and provenance

Original taxonomy adapted from user-selected design discussions; linked sources support specific examples, not the whole classification.

- [Phasmophobia](https://store.steampowered.com/app/739630/Phasmophobia/?l=english) (id: source-b219dfc03e4f9c79)
- [Unheard](https://store.steampowered.com/app/942970/Unheard/?l=english) (id: source-317fcb9b7089efa8)
- [Her Story](https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/) (id: source-86b980b788f54522)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors