G is for... Ghost of a Tale

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Game Information

Developer:	SeithCG	Date Started:	11/10/2024
Platform:	Steam	Fresh Play / Continuation:	Fresh Play
Genre:	Adventure/RPG	Time Played:	15.4 hours
Theme:	Fantasy	Date Finished:	14/11/2024
Difficulty Rating:	Average	Recommendation:	Highly Recommend

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I've wanted to play this game for as long as I can remember, or at least ever since it came out. And while it was on a list to eventually get around to, I never did. Either it was not "the right time"; or there was "something better". Whatever the reason was, I kept putting this one off. I would have picked this up as part of my first run-through but at the time, I really wanted to play Gunlok. Admittedly, at the time, that plan fell through when I couldn't get the game to run. So why did I go with Gemini Rue instead? I would put it down to my frustration of not getting Gunlok to work, even though I had previously played 10 minutes of it as a trial, so in the end, I just wanted something quick and painless.

In the long run, I think it was a good decision because I was able to appreciate Ghost of a Tale a lot more since I went into it with a clear mind. I did have a bit of a delayed start since my PC failed. Good old motherboard decided to go to Hardware Heaven. Thankfully it didn't take long to sort out. The first thing I noticed when starting up the game, was the level of detail. And not just

for the environment. Your character and the NPCs were beautifully detailed. You could tell a lot of care was given to designing them. As for the environment, it had everything I could ever imagine in a run-down keep. It never felt like there were empty spaces or things that did not fit in. My only teeny-tiny complaint though with regards to the environment was that sometimes the areas would be too dark even with candle/lamp light and would make platform jumping difficult (thankfully not too many of those) and that I would sometimes get caught on a rock or log when trying to escape a pursuer. Minor frustrations, but otherwise easily overcome.

The level of lore in the game is also impressive, and I hope that once the sequel comes out, it can be delved into further. It's also remarkable because the game is contained in a relatively small area but they still manage to fit enough lore in without bloating it or making a mess of things. A glossary section would have been nice to see in this game as I would have liked to recap on certain things that were mentioned in dialogues.

The main story of the game was surprisingly simple, yet incredibly effective. You play as Tilo, a minstrel. You are no hero; no rebel; no chosen one. You were detained and thrown into prison because you were accused of sedition. You were also separated from your wife. You are freed from prison by an unknown helper and all you want to do is find information about your wife's whereabouts. While doing so, you get caught up in events, but still, you never become a hero or champion. In fact, the game ends with you setting off to a new location after receiving information about your wife's current whereabouts (there is more to it than that but no spoilers). The story also had a couple of decent twists. One of them I caught on to quite quickly and was pleased to see it play out as I suspected. There were two, however - both related to the same character - that I had not entirely expected. And even though these twists were present, at no point did they overshadow the remainder of the story. They added some additional detail to the lore of the story, but I suspect, they would become even more prevalent in the sequel.

With regards to gameplay, Ghost of a Tale is more adventure with some RPG elements. There is no combat in the game, and you primarily focus on stealth to get around. You also get quests from NPCs which help progress the story (a few of them are extra) and most of the conditions require you to find specific objects or get to certain places. What I liked though, was that you could collect/accomplish things in advance and then when the necessary quest unlocked, you would have already done what was necessary. It showed that quest-related items didn't just appear once the quest became active.

The game is also relatively short when you factor in the total of main story and side quests present. However, you do find yourself running back and forth a lot, and while the area locations are not massive, you are slowed down in areas with patrols as you try to evade/avoid them. I had no issue with the length of the game, but, I did find it a little frustrating with the back and forth.

This was especially because sometimes it was not clear how to get to certain areas. Admittedly, some areas are locked off until you find the necessary key or complete a specific task. However, at one point, I had gotten into a bottleneck with my quests while I was searching for the commissary. The in-game map only shows a top-down view of the area and not the multiple layers. For a long while, I kept missing the entry point to where I needed to go, simply because I assumed I had searched all of a given area (should have looked left instead of right...) Once I found that location, it was like I opened the floodgates, because then everything else fell into place straight away. Now, I appreciate they didn't want to break the immersion by adding markers or directional arrows to quest locations, but I think if I could at least leave notes on the map itself, it would have saved me the headache of stumbling about re-looking for things.

Still, I got there in the end, and I was overall pleased with the experience. The game does end with the expectation that a sequel will continue the story. Thankfully, there was confirmation back in January 2023 that it is being worked on. I look forward to it coming out because if it's as good - if not better - as this game, it will be well worth the play. For now, though, I will step into my next letter; my next game with H is for Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. (So looking forward to this one).