Game release: “Tales” (PC)

Winter time is also the time to read stories in front of a cozy fire, but it’s also possible to experience those first-hand in Ape Marina‘s point-and-click adventure game Tales.

Publisher Screen 7 is well-known for some excellent indie games. They might be low-res in graphics, but they’re quite special in storytelling, e.g. The Cat Lady or The Samaritan Paradox. While the former is quite difficult to stomach in terms of graphical violence and disturbing imagery, the latter already had an interesting mix of real and fantasy storybook world building. So it’s great to see something suitable for the whole family with Tales.

The story is about new librarian Alfred Walsh who accidentally unleashes a curse of the evil Oblivion on the books themselves, i.e. their content are in danger to be lost forever to the outside world. So it’s up to him to jump into each book and save its world and characters while trying to stop the curse. The references to Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story are obvious, and with so many well-known characters like Merlin the Wizard from the Arthur legend, others from Greek mythology, and many more, there are plenty of jokes for all ages to enjoy, although hopefully the game doesn’t become too muddled in its story, with no real connection and only relying on the novelty of introducing one book world after another.

The humor seems to be spot on, though, considering that Alasdair Beckett-King who was responsible for the mildly amusing Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet is involved in the production, in addition to Francisco Gonzalez who did the potentially good but flawed A Golden Wake. Still, as first looks and especially nice sounds go, this could be something very special. It’s out now on Steam, but also on the Screen 7 store and Humble Bundle with a DRM-free version and the soundtrack.

Official Website

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