Game news Murder, deception and revenge… In this ultra-original video game you can invent crazy stories
What if Cinderella had cheated on Prince Charming? What if Dracula found love? What if the vile baron finds a way to take the throne? All those stories worthy of Game of Thrones’ greatest twists and more, it’s happening in Storyteller!
Write the story like a puzzle
Before we explain the concept of Storyteller to you, it’s important to go back a bit. There was a time during college where I made sure to link most of my homework to video games, even if the link wasn’t always easy to find. A course on the memories of slavery? Why not talk about the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag DLC, The Price of Freedom (and an obscure educational game where you could play Tetris with the bodies of slaves for blocks, yes, there was). A stationery on a hybrid artwork? Let’s look for a game that plays with words and poetry. And so, a few years ago, I came across the work of Daniel Benmergui, an Argentinian independent developer with a slightly different style.
And yes, the little independent game released today by Annapurna is not new. The first prototypes, entirely in pixels, date back to 2008. At that time, Storyteller offered us a small comic strip in which it was possible to modify the boxes and the relationships between the characters to change the ending. What’s changed with the game releasing last week on PC and Nintendo Switch? First, it’s evident that the artistic direction has taken a different turn to offer us cute designs, all supported by fun animations. Secondly, the concept was specified. “Start with the title, setting, and characters, and arrange the stories to fit the suggested titles” The Steam page tells us. It’s pretty clear enough as an idea, isn’t it? It’s basically a mixture of storytelling and puzzles. To make matters worse, you can add some additional constraints, which for some tables take the form of variants. And as you approach the level theme, it generally revolves around tales of love, revenge, betrayal, and plots to take the throne.
Simple, easy, but devilishly effective
We’re not going to lie to each other, Storyteller isn’t a game that will keep you guessing for hours by constantly renewing itself. It’s clearly not an independent game with colossal resources and an impressive lifespan. To tell the truth, it will take you less than two hours to overcome the fifty tables that Storyteller offers. So we’re on a little game, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste. Also, there aren’t billions of mechanics. Admittedly, over time we’ll meet new characters and new settings, making it possible to renew the possible interactions, but they’re not really numerous. So the possibilities are far from endless. Add to this an interface that needs work for faster navigation and a difficulty that is not very present and you understand why the game receives quite mixed reviews. It gets a sober 72 out of 100 on Metacritic and ratings on Steam “rather positive”
But if you know what you’re signing up for, Storyteller offers a welcome enchanted staple, a little cutie with an original flavor. It’s simple, but it works. We want to line up the different images, we never get tired. Storyteller is enjoyed with great pleasure. There are certainly only a few new features, but they are distributed fairly quickly across the game. We get into the game, racking our brains at times, laughing at some well thought out jokes… In short, it’s a really good time to spend. And if the game isn’t meant to be played with friends, there’s nothing stopping you from enjoying it together. I promise it gives it an even more remarkable taste. A tip: don’t hesitate to start the game during your lunch break at work. Storytelling is indeed a good way to bring together a few colleagues around the world to try and solve the most difficult spreadsheets, all with joy, good humor and a few innocent insults (yes, it’s real life). We have seldom seen a session of team building cost so little! Just as we have rarely seen a small game play with stories so well.
As a reminder, Storyteller has been available for PC and Nintendo Switch since March 23rd.
