Ghost of a Tale

They say “Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars.” I feel that statement most adequately sums up this game.
Ghost of a Tale is a good game that could have been a GREAT game. For every strength bolstering its position there’s an equivalent downside yanking it back. It’s a stealth RPG that sees you play as Mousey Minstrel ‘Tilo’, who has been arrested, placed in a dreary dungeon and must now sneak out of the castle using everything from bottles to distract enemies, to combustible pinecombs. As his adventure progresses he becomes gradually wound up in a conspiracy involving forces at play far greater than he could have imagined.
It needs to be said that there should be MAD respect to the small yet dedicated development team for crafting such an endeavor. This is what most modern AAA titles WISH they could achieve, especially in regards to the graphics and story. The graphics are stellar, and I was consistently impressed by even the smallest attention to details; grass and vines move away from Tilo as he walks through it; the armor glint changes in radiance based on shadow or the time of day. I even found myself taking screenshots of scenery to utilize as my desktop backgrounds. The story is engrossing and continually feeds enough information about the exterior world and its lore to make it truly feel this is a world brimming with history, culture and conflict between the different animals. I would read each and every footnote on locations, events, and people to get an idea of how these character’s environment functioned. The lore definitely leaves you wanting to know and see more, setting it up perfectly for a sequel. Other standouts include the music – both the overall soundtrack as well as Tilo’s minstrel songs – and the game’s sense of humor, reminding you this is all in good fun.
Yet for all the positives there were some serious drawbacks which can’t be overlooked. Each quest, even in the main story, seemed to devolve into constant ‘go fetch’ tasks, which by the end of the first Act were mundane, and by the 15th hour of gameplay were downright arduous. I chalk this up to the game’s lack of actual combat, since Tilo cannot defeat enemies larger than a crypt spider – even with explosive pine combs – and ends up needing to hide whenever spotted to clear the heat. Even this stealth aspect was obsolete after the pieces of guard armor were collected, and there were no additional challenges or twists in basic game-play to compensate for that, again due to ‘no combat’ for Tilo. Level designs were rather maze-like and confusing, leading me to watch the green pointer on a map to find my way around instead of intuitively knowing where I was. Ultimately, the largest shortcoming as I saw it was the sheer volume of backtracking involved, and I mean TOO MUCH. It hampered the game’s final third for me and, admittedly, made it somewhat difficult to convince myself to finish as a result. These are issues I’d love to see rectified in a sequel.
If you can overlook the backtracking problems I would recommend this game and hope to see more from these developers in the future.

A beautiful game that evokes works such as Redwall and The Secret of Nimh. As someone who reads a lot and enjoys fantasy stories, this game captivated my heart.

As someone who spent all my time in Skyrim on just sneaking and stealing things, this game is great.
It's not very complex to understand, yet still quite immersive.
- Hehe sneak and run
- Puzzles are intuitive and not frustrating
- Quite beautiful graphics with great controls
- Nice characters and world-building
- Most important: Enjoy your time as a cute mousey!!!!
Would definitely recommend.
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Edit: Review from when I finished the game
One of a kind game. I'd recommend this for everyone! Even if it's not typically your genre, not typically your type of game, this game allows you to experience its amazing worldbuilding and storyline at your own comfortable pace. Please give it a shot!!! GHOST OF A TALE 2 ANNOUNCED!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU DEV TEAM!!!!!!
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Edit: Oh I used mouse and keyboard for the whole thing and it was fine.

This game made me laugh enough times to make the purchase worth it. Great characters, surprisingly deep story and incredible worldbuilding.
Works great on Steam deck, btw.

Pros:
Good story, great characters, map felt super old school-- small but big somehow, stealth was fun for the first bit.

Cons:
Lots of back tracking, some VERY annoying where's Waldo quests, armor basically removes any stealth mechanics in the game

Absolutely delightful stealth adventure. Janky and occasionally frustrating as it is, the art (omg the art!), writing, music, and lived-in feel and mystery of the fort and its environs are all top-tier.

This is the most beautiful game I have ever played, the only bad thing about it is the feeling of emptiness after playing it and not being able to find a game that can give me the same feeling.