Ghost of a Tale - A rat tale

HAZ CLIC AQUÍ PARA LEER ESTA ENTRADA EN ESPAÑOL.

Hello everyone! In the last entry I talked about Yomawari Midnight Shadows, a Japanese Survival Horror game with a different approach to the Survival Horror formula, and in this new entry I’m going talk about another game that also takes a different approach on a very popular (and overpopulated) genre like the adventure genre. It’s a game I discovered a couple of years ago by chance and which I have been following closely since then. The game I’m talking about is Ghost of a Tale. Let’s have a look at that new adventure game born thanks to the help of the crowdfunding.


Before we start talking about the game itself, it would be important to point out a couple of things about the development of Ghost of a Tale, as I think that it would help to understand better the achievement this game represents in many ways, as wells as the reasons for some of its shortcomings. As I was saying before, Ghost of a Tale was born after a successful crowdfunding campaign on the website Indiegogo back in 2012, so it is important to keep in mind that we are talking about an indie game, even if it’s good looking graphics and outstanding artistic design could lead to think otherwise. Another of the important aspects of the development of Ghost of a Tale is the person behind it, Lionel "Seith" Gallat. He might not be a familiar face (for now) in the industry, but he certainly has a long and successful career as an animator working for prestigious animation studios such as Dreamworks, which would explain the high artistic values of Ghost of a Tale, specially for an indie game, as well as that aura of fairy tale full or charming characters that the games manages to transmit constantly. As incredible as it might sound, Lionel developed most of Ghost of a Tale all by himself, although he did have help from four other guys that helped him with several aspects of the game such as the programming or the music, however, the final result is still astonishing, especially when you think that it was by just five people with a budget much more limited than that of a modern AAA production.

As I was saying before, Ghost of a Tale is an adventure game, but what makes it special is that, contrary to what we see in most modern adventure games, which tend to mix adventure game elements with those of other genres such as action, platformer or RPG genres, Ghost of a Tale opts for a more “pure” experience, with everything that implies. The story of Ghost of a Tale takes us to a medieval fantasy world populated by all kind of anthropomorphic animals such as mice, toads or rats, being these last ones the ones that rule with an iron fist. Our protagonist is Tilo, a bard mouse who has been imprisoned by the evil rats. Tilo wakes up in a dark and dirty dungeon cell from which he will be able to escape thanks to the help of mysterious rescuer, and sets on an adventure that will take him to all kind of strange and mysterious places where he will meet all kind of adorable (and weird) characters while he looks for his beloved Merra to escape together from the evil rats. As you can see, the story itself probably is not the most original we’ve ever seen, however, Lionel made good use of his skills as an animator to infuse the world and the characters that inhabit it with the magic and charm that you could expect from a traditional fairy tale (or in this case rat tale) worthy of Dreamworks or Pixar.

Regarding the gameplay mechanics, Ghost of a Tale bases all its gameplay in the stealth and exploration elements, adding also some small doses of RPG and graphic adventure games. The first thing worth to mention and that already sets Ghost of a Tale apart from many modern adventure games is that there is no combat whatsoever, for as brave a little Tilo is, he is not warrior, but a (very talented) bard, so the only way for us to avoid our enemies will be by completely avoiding them. If one the rat soldiers spots us, we will have to run away and find a place where we can hide to wait till our chasers gives up. On top of being able to hide, Tilo will always be able to use several items that will allow him to distract the rat guards or even render them unconscious for a few seconds. However, this is where we find some of the first issues of Ghost of a Tale, for the stealth elements, which will be our main way of confronting our enemies, seem to by lucking some polishing and depth, perhaps due to the lack of experience of the team, and although on the first couple of hours we might not mind them, they could soon get repetitive for some players. In fact, our enemies won’t particularly clever. They can chase us, but it seems that they don’t teach you how to search for enemies in hiding spots in the rat academy, so in many occasions it won´t be that hard to get rid of our chasers, till the point that sometimes we will be able to do it by simply running. Other of the main gameplay futures will be the different costumes that Tilo will be able to use during the adventure once we find all the necessary parts to create them, and which will grant him special skills, like a solider disguise that will allow us to walk completely unnoticed in front of the guards. As I mentioned before, Ghost of a Tale includes elements typical of the graphic adventures, so we will be able to talk with a wide variety of characters that will give us all kind of information about the world as well as hints that will help us to complete our missions. Another point in common with the graphic adventures will be the use of items, and just like in those, many times we will have no clue about what to do with them till we talk to the right character or explore and specific area of the island in which the adventure will take place. Ghost of a Tale also contains elements typical of the RPG games, such a level system, which will allow us to improve our vitality and stamina as we level up (the more vitality, the more stamina and the more we will be able to sprint), puzzle solving elements that involve activating switches or pushing objects, as well as a fair amount of secondary missions. All this helps to enrich the experience of Ghost of a Tale, although once again, the game can never quite shake off the feeling that all the elements could benefit of some more polish and depth to avoid them from being a little bit too simple at times.

Regarding the game presentation, the truth is that Ghost of a Tale is beautiful and charming game. Be it the detailed environments or the charming characters, it is easy to see how much love and dedication Lionel has poured into this aspect of the game. The characters models are really well done, starting by the cute adorable Tilo, who will surely make you wish you could hug him every now and then (even if you deny it in public), although this is not limited to the main character, for all the characters in the game, be it enemies or allies, have very detailed models that display all kind of details and smooth animations that make them feel alive, as well as well-written dialogues, which on top of providing all kind of interesting info about the magical and mysterious world of Ghost of a Tale, they help to give more personality to the characters. And the environments in which the adventure will take place are not less magnificent, with designs that encourage their exploration and that fuse perfectly the gameplay and the story, creating a coherent world full of life. Another aspect that is also worth to mention would be the lighting effects, which will be a very important aspect of the game, as the game include night and day circles that will affect the different areas of the island, for depending on when we visit an area, the characters we will find in it will vary, or we might need a source of light in order to be able to explore the area properly. Finally, we have the game’s beautiful soundtrack, which fits perfectly with the world, helping to set the perfect mood to emphasize the feeling of medieval fairy tale.

Ghost of a Tale is not a perfect game by any means, in fact, the game still contains several bugs that could affect the gameplay and that will require of a patch to fix them (which the team is already working on), which together with the luck of polishing of some of the game mechanics, it evidences the lack of experience of the developers. However, the result is still impressive, especially if we keep in mind that we are talking about a 3D game developed just by five people (or one person with the help of another four, which it’s even more impressive). Ghost of a Tale is a game with soul, with a very special charm that many other big productions can only wish they had, and with a formidable artistic design that benefits greatly from its creator talent to deliver a complex and coherent world that manages to absorb you and takes you to a place full of adorable characters that it is almost impossible not to love from the very beginning, thus compensating some of the previously mentioned design flaws. In my humble opinion, there is no doubt that Ghost of a Tale will be one of the indie games of the year. The game is available on PC via Steam, with PS4 and Xbox One versions scheduled for later this year. If you like classic adventures or if you just want to try something different, Ghost of a Tale is a game you definitely shouldn’t be missing. It’s just one more cleat example of the huge talent that there is among the indie scene, which year after year keeps growing and delivering small surprises that the help us to remember that not everything should be about big budgets in this industry. Enjoy the rat tale!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYVCnTqvS-o