Who's Lila

> A reverse-detective adventure, where you control your character's face
>
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***Who's Lila?*** is a horror adventure game developed by Garage Heathen and published by Garage Heathen and IndieArk. It was released on Steam and itch.io for Microsoft Windows on February 23, 2022.

## Premise

*Who's Lila?* follows a young man named William Clarke who has trouble showing the proper emotions on his face and has to consciously move his muscles in order to make expressions. This forms the main gameplay mechanic of the game, where the player must morph William's expressions with a mouse to make the proper (or improper) expressions during conversations. This affects how other characters react to his dialogue and how conversations play out.

Will is the last person who saw a missing girl, Tanya Kennedy, alive and must navigate conversations with various characters, such as his classmates and the police, in order to avoid suspicion. At the same time, the player's goal is to uncover the many mysteries contained within the game, such as what happened to Tanya and of course, who Lila is.

The game includes several endings, which depend on places the player chooses to go and what expressions they make William do. In addition, it features ARG elements, as it requires using external sources and websites in order to gain the full picture and access to every ending.

## Development

*Who's Lila?* was a project developed solely by Garage Heathen, who designed and programmed the game, as well as composing the music for it. He often posted behind-the-scenes screenshots and photos about the game's development on his Twitter account.

### 8 Clues to Unlocking the Mystery

In the days leading up to the game's release on February 23, 2022, Garage Heathen posted several images on Twitter, which appeared to be torn up fragments of a larger image. When pieced together, they form the following image:

## Inspiration and References

*Warning! Minor spoilers ahead!*
There are many references in-game to the works of media that influenced Garage Heathen while making this game. The following is a non-comprehensive list of all currently known references to other works of media.

### David Lynch

The references to David Lynch are by far the most numerous in the game, which itself is often considered to be "Lynchian".

* Several characters' 3D models feature the faces of *Twin Peaks* characters.
	+ Mandy has the face of Donna Hayward.
	+ Jay and Ilia both have the face of Bobby Briggs.
	+ Matt Hurley has the face (and surname) of James Hurley.
* Although his face is not directly modeled after him, William was initially inspired by Richard Horne.
* A certain branch of dialogue with Ellie Cooper will have Lila claim that she thinks Ellie's name is Laura Hayward. This is a combination of two *Twin Peaks* characters' names: Laura Palmer and Donna Hayward.
* The color palette "Blue Rose" is likely in reference to the same phrase which is heard in *Twin Peaks*.
* The trash yard outside of William's Apartment was visually inspired by the diner scene in *Mulholland Drive*.
* The scene of Lila hiding in Martha's closet was inspired by a scene in *Blue Velvet*. Martha has a poster of the movie hanging on her wall as well.
* The Stranger was inspired by the Mystery Man, a character from *Lost Highway*.

### Other Media

* Arnold Hill has the face of Arby, a character from the TV show *Utopia*.
* In Wheeliam's answer to a question about the Stranger, he will recite several lines of dialogue from *The King in Yellow* by Robert W. Chambers.

## External links

* *Who's Lila?* on Steam
* *Who's Lila?* on itch.io