Posted on: April 10, 2018

craigdolphin

Games: 67 Reviews: 2

Great little gem of a game

I don't write a lot of reviews but this one is a special case. Despite the obvious cuteness and the incredibly well-done animations, there's an undertone to this game that's darker than it appears. A melancholy feel accompanied by generous helpings of mystery and worry and adventure and loss and hope. There are moments in this game that are genuinely touching. The characters you meet are great, and there's definitely some humourous beats as well. Generally the gameplay is about exploration, finding objects, and solving the occasional puzzle. If gameplay=combat for you, then this won't be your cup of tea. Personally I loved it, and I don't generally love puzzle games or collecting things. This game, though, felt like it offered enough challenge to intrigue, but not too much to make it overly frustrating. And most collection stuff led to backstory reveals that were well worth the payoff. My playthough was a bit over 18 hours. I think you could complete in 10 - 20 hours depending on your patience and whether you wanted to complete all side quests etc. In all honesty, I think the $25 price tag is a steal. This is much better than the majority of AAA dreck that the likes of EA, Ubisoft, and Activision are dishing up for $60 and not a microtransaction to be seen. I really hope the devleoper makes some decent money out of this because they really have earned it IMO. I'll line up to buy a sequel if he ever makes it. Or if he crowdfunds it, I'll sign up for that too.

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Posted on: November 12, 2016

Angel90

Verified owner

Games: 244 Reviews: 2

Absolutely stunning

This game is a work of art in so many ways it's hard to pick one. Its art style and dark fantasy setting are reminiscent of titles like Dark Souls and The Witcher,while adding a unique twist in the tradition of anthropomorphic animals that could fit a Disney/Pixar movie : the amount of detail is unreal (which is ironic,since the game runs on Unity);and runs so smoothly that major publishers should be ashamed they can't run their triple A titles so perfectly. The balance of contrast and saturation is spot-on,creating a beautiful balance of realism and fantasy that is never heavy on the eyes,and the amount of detail is greatwhile not being overbearing,meaning you won't need witcher vision/eagle sight/search function to spot items you can interact with,and in case you're having trouble,the tooltip will let you know regardless. The gameplay is an odd mix of adventure,RPG and stealth : you are limited in violent options to contestual actions,like pushing a barrell to drop it on a guard,at least in early access,but the ability to hide in every nook and cranny and the speed at which you can outpace enemies are great tools at your disposal,together with quick wit and tool management. By doing quests and collecting items you can unlock abilities that will make your life considerably easier,and provide meaningful insight into the main story. The main quest is a bittersweet story that is captivating for both mature and younger players and deals with themes ranging from loss to relationships and racism,war and oppression,selfishness and selflessness,and despite the lack of voice acting the NPCs are interesting,often quirky and snappy,turning your seemingly clever answers against you. Exploration is the core of the experience,since all of the above are not very deep in their own way:there's no hardcore aspect,but it doesn't detract from the game in any way since it all wraps together. If you like atmosphere,adventure and like stories with uncommon protagonists,get this game.

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Posted on: March 19, 2018

greygriffin

Verified owner

Games: 179 Reviews: 2

Buy it, play it, love it.

Incredible experience. Great storytelling. Every character is believable, and even the generic enemies have a degree of pathos seldom found in the big budget RPGs. This is carried in every dimension, from the colorful portraits used in the dialogue to the design and animation of each character, and the incredible writing that, for every character, can go from wry and sarcastic to bare and emotional. The major characters (even the most comical) have a range of motivations to portray and explore, rather than just a caricatured schtick. The environment is worth mentioning all on its own. The castle and its environs feel vast, and they convey a great sense of a lived-in space, without feeling overloaded. It cuts square feet where it needs to cut square feet, to keep the running about on a relatively sane timescale, but there are enough nooks and crannies and hidden shortcuts that even the most familiar spaces are constantly unfolding new dimensions. The only thing holding it back from five stars is a somewhat buggy experience. The seams do show through a bit. Items and characters will occasionally go missing, although it can usually be resolved by a brief nap, and the game has had a series of patches that have smoothed over the worst offenders. Of note, I've never lost a savegame, and never had a quest that couldn't complete, so none of the bugs are show-stoppers, just a bit of a nuisance. The sound also seems either poorly designed or buggy. Gameplay critical sounds (such as approaching enemies) seem to work fine, but explosives don't seem to explode and environmental sound seems spotty at best. I am happy to have bought it, and happy to have played it. The experience was well worth the wait for me (I bought it some time ago but waited until release to play). If you have absolutely zero tolerance for technical bumps, it might not be the game for you, but if you can let it slide just a little bit (and I do mean a little bit), buy it, play it, and love it.

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Posted on: March 21, 2018

Durandal2

Verified owner

Games: 36 Reviews: 12

Charming

tl;dr Great visuals, fantastic characters, average fetch-quest and sneaking gameplay Ghost of a Tale first caught my attention with its handcrafted visuals, and the idea of playing a Thief-like game starring a mouse bard seemed to be a good change of pace. Not just the graphics, but the whole cohesion of all the game's elements are very well designed and integrated. The lighting in the catacombs conveys this perfect mix of danger and ancient grandeur. The forest comes alive at night with crickets and beetles chirping through streaks of moonlight. The blacksmith's hammer rings across the courtyard where the rat sentries watch over crumbling ramparts. But even eye candy gets boring after a while. The thing that really kept me hooked in playing this game is the surprisingly deep and well-written characters. Each has a very distinct personality without being one-dimensional. Subtle choices in your dialog can reflect how much you trust or distrust them. You can't just scam their conversation tree to max out the disposition or whatever, because they talk like real people. There's things that they will only ever say once, and then only under certain conditions, which makes repeat playthroughs more interesting. There are secrets left unspoken. There are cases where you can talk to a character in disguise and see a completely different side of them. There's the frickin' minstrel roleplaying elements where you sing songs, but it's up to you to decide which song each character might like best and which social / political undertones each may convey, all in the context of a slowly unfolding lore which goes surprisingly deep. The downside of the game is the so-so gameplay which is mostly centered around fetch quests. It can get frustrating at times because you usually have to scour every single barrel, cupboard, and tree to find what you are looking for. There are also some minor technical issues like the loading stutter. But for the money I think this is a great buy.

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Posted on: June 12, 2019

Feraijo

Verified owner

Games: 308 Reviews: 1

Adventure as is

It is not about stealth, nor rpg elements, it is all about little mouse and his struggle in wonderfully and deeply written medieval world. Highly recommend to play to the end.

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