The Book of Unwritten Tales is the best point and click adventure in recent years . Everything about this game is great . Is it perfect .? Definitely not , no game is without issues . Is it worth it .? Find out below .
Story :
The Book of Unwritten Tales have great storyline , it takes place in a world torn by war, between two forces . During the war the aged gremlin archaeologist Mortimer McGuffin appears at the beginning of the game and gets kidnapped by dark forces . The reason behind his abduction is an artifact that can change the future of the world and outcome of the war .
Soon after his abduction , players are introduced to an Wood-Elf , known as “Ivo” . As the game progresses , she is introduced to other playable characters such as ; a Gnome by the name of “Wilbur” , a Human “Nate” and his strange pet “Critter” . There is only one section where players take control of Critter , and that’s a good thing because that creature becomes really annoying and his section is next to nothing compared to rest of the epic game . The whole game tells the story brilliantly . The whole game is full of funny Clichés and references to different movies like Lord of the Rings among others and Games like The Elder Scrolls , The Witcher , World of Warcraft and other RPGs/MMOs . Despite being funny from start to finish , the game also tells very serious story with high stakes . This is also the funniest game I’ve ever played .
The only problem I had with story was how it ended . Lot of questions remain unanswered and it leaves you wanting more . Luckily the sequel of the game is in the works and planned to launch early next year .
Design :
The Book of Unwritten Tales have impressive art of the world and characters . The game features mixture of 3D and 2D backgrounds , and characters in the game are 3D . The game isn’t like The Walking Dead , so don’t expect interactive movie . At the beginning of the game , puzzles are pretty easy to solve and it immediately immerses player into the world and encourages him to continue the game . As the story progresses , the game becomes more difficult and offers you harder and harder puzzles and tradition continues until credits roll out .
Gameplay :
Like any point and click adventure , the game is played through mouse . To pick up items , players will need to press LMB on item that they want to pick . Sometimes you’ll have to do it multiple times since the first time the game explains what that item is and what it is used for , through characters .
Once the item is picked it goes straight into inventory which can be accessed by moving mouse curser at the bottom of the screen . To listen details about these items , players can press RMB on these items . To use items the game asks you to select them with LMB and drop it on object , on which you want it to be used . To solve some puzzles , players will find themselves combining different items by selecting an item and then dropping it on another item in inventory to form a new gadget . Casual gamers can always press Space Bar which highlights selectable items on the screen , while hardcore gamers can totally avoid this feature . The Book of Unwritten Tales also features RPG like dialogue system which is important to progress the story and to require certain objects from characters or give them different items . Gamers can engage in conversations anytime they want to get more info about the puzzles , items , characters and lore of the world . There are few places in the game where players can switch between characters , anytime they want but most of the time , this feature is used to solve puzzles that can’t be solved by one character , like pulling both levers together to open hidden door . When game allows you to switch between characters , players can give different items to other characters which is necessary to progress since each character have its own set of expertise and there are certain items that only he/she can use .
Later in the game , players are also given a map that can be used to fast travel between different locations . The gameplay takes some time to get used to but once you become familiar with it then it is hard to let it go .
Presentation :
This game is one of the best looking Point and Click adventures out there . Not only the art of the game is fantastic but character models are fairly well detailed for an adventure game . While animations in cutscenes are bit stiff , the gameplay animations are better than any adventure game out there . The game features great visuals with effects like grass movement , dust effects , cloth physics etc . Voice acting is impressive . Sound design and soundtrack makes everything even better . Since this is adventures game , most PCs shouldn’t have any problem running this game . The only thing that annoyed me a little bit and could be improved was minor glitches , here and there . While it is nothing serious or game breaking , it is something that I would like to be fixed in sequels because rest of the game is polished and great experience . These issues may have already been fixed with updates (if they have released any) , I used vanilla version of the game .
Final Verdict :
The Book of Unwritten Tales is one of the best games out there . If you are even remotely interested in adventure games , you should check this out . While the game have minor issues which every game have , the overall experience and story that lasts over 20 hours will keep you engaged for hours .
Pros :
Story
Characters
Gameplay
Interesting Puzzles
Soundtrack
Voice Acting
Art
Sound Design
Map
Clichés and funny moments
Length of the campaign
Cons :
Minor glitches
Lot of questions remain unanswered
Ending leaves you wanting more