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A delightful and charming short puzzle game | Full Review - Storyteller

2K View2023-03-26

Storyteller is a charming puzzle game where you literally need to tell stories in order to solve the puzzles and achieve the required ending.

🟩Pros

+captivating gameplay

+fun puzzle mechanics

🟥Cons

-too short

Storyteller is a unique drag and drop puzzle game with fascinating novel mechanics and a cute medieval inspired artstyle. You are given multiple empty panels for a given scenario, plus a multitude of settings and characters to place per scenario. It’s up to you to arrange them in a way that will fit the scenario’s objectives. Be it somebody dying, living happily ever after, or getting revenge; you need to satisfy the objective in order to solve the puzzle.

Sometimes, there are bonus objectives that might require a very specific event to happen. Such as instead of just killing a character, a certain character needs to perform the task. Sometimes, the objective is riddle-like, not clear and specific, further adding to the puzzle solving aspect.

The panels affect each other chronologically, a character dying early in the story will become a ghost if placed later on. Making two characters fall in love with each other will induce heartbreaks for any additional lover you might want to add… unless the setting specifically calls for an affair. This mechanic is just cleverly made, intricately designed, and it has led me to trying out many different combinations of characters and settings just to see what would happen in the other panels.

The different settings on the other hand sets the situation and tone for the characters, they can either fall in love, hate one another, fight, or kill each other depending on the setting. Marriages, kidnappings, poisonings, forests, ballrooms, and throne rooms are all part of the possible options.

The game comprises 12 short standalone chapters, with 4 unrelated scenarios each chapter, bearing the same narrative themes. Many of the characters are recurring, appearing in multiple scenarios and chapters that help players to easily identify and familiarize themselves with their personalities. Despite that, I still got confused for at least this one group of characters, with their bearded looks and identical hair colors.

These characters have their own personalities built that players should take into account for the story. For example, Isobel is a woman with strong convictions, and perhaps has evil tendencies. While Lenora is easy to get depressed and prone to being sad. Some characters have a tendency to do good or bad actions; and get happy or sad. Other characters will have a starting disposition to one of the other characters, such as the Knight being loyal to his Queen, or a King being in love with his maid, adding a dynamic to the storytelling aspect.

Proper motivation is needed for characters to perform desired actions, you cannot just place a character together with a poison and expect him to drink it. He must need proper motivation — a broken heart or an unsuspecting soul ought to do it.

There are also slightly multiple paths to take, for example, a detective requires solid evidence in order to arrest a criminal. You can either set up the detective as a witness, or have a witness tell him the crime, both paths will meet the objectives.

As captivating the gameplay is, it doesn’t overstay its welcome being only around 2 hours long, provided that you can solve the puzzles in a modest amount of time. Some puzzles are straightforward, some will require a bit of brain finesse to solve.

Conclusion:

Storyteller is a really fun game, but there is not much content right now. I find myself wanting for more puzzles to solve, especially one with a much longer continuity and spans multiple scenarios together. There is great potential for modding and third party content, but right now the $15 asking price can prove to be too much for a game beatable in around two hours.

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