Ghost of a Tale - Review

Rock Paper Shotgun reviewed the Adventure Stealth RPG Ghost of a Tale:

Ghost Of A Tale is a stealthy RPG with bright whiskers

Ghost Of A Tale is out of early access, letting you squeak your way past an army of rats, in a rodent stealth-cum-RPG. Is it the big cheese, or lost in the rat race? And considering these incredibly obvious puns, why on Earth isn’t it called “Ghost Of A Tail”?

I love the premise. You’re a mouse called Tilo, ridiculously cute, who starts off in a rat prison. Slipped a key by a mysterious stranger, you begin your escape from the jail, only to emerge into a daylight plagued with more rat guards. Your wife is missing, and you’re determined to find her, and doing so is going to involve helping out a lot of other creatures. Tilo, a minstrel, can (in theory) gather multiple outfits of other classes, and thus adopt their abilities, sneak into new areas, and delve deeper into an RPG of fetch quests and combat-free stealth.

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But then it’ll charm your pants and underwear clean off with its lovely writing right when you were feeling too cross with it. Other characters are properly funny, have good gags to drop on you, and the way you react to their banter feels like it makes a difference. Heck, the clothes you’re wearing makes a difference. And this is all given a decent pathos through Tilo’s genuine sense of fear, perhaps even grief, for his missing family. It’s full of chuckles, extraordinarily sweet, and hides the fact that it is just a bunch of fetch quests extremely effectively.

I rather love it. I love that the day/night cycles really change the behaviour of everyone in this little world (and you can sleep to whichever time of day you need it to be), even though it’s ridiculously dark at night. I love the way Tilo scampers on all fours when he runs, even though the sprint stamina is far too brief and takes far too long to refill. I love finding a secret tunnel through gained skills, even though the maps are abysmal and unlabeled. Gosh, it could be a lot better, but I really enjoy playing what it is.

More information.

I had this game on my wish list for years. I basically stayed away from early access and all reviews until it came out. And now I'm in.

I'm having some fun with the game but it is a bit different than I expected. Done some fetch and a lot of stealth but no skills building yet and I am about 3 hours in. I did get some points for meeting this guy but that's it. Inventory looks to be unlimited, very cool. But regular saving is done only in hiding spots. However the game does have quick save anywhere, so I'm cool with that.

No combat thus far or for all that I can foresee. But that's fine. You're a tiny little mouse and the rat adversaries are bigger and far stronger than you. So thus far it is either evade or stay hidden. I just hope there is no end game boss monster because that is not what this game is about (I'm talking to you Risen 1)

The art work is great. While there is little or no music, the sounds of the game world are critical to game play. Sadly the camera work can sometimes be wonky and at the wrong time. No talking, all text but that's okay. I do miss my gaming music however. Anyways I'm going to get back to it. The game kinda reminds me of NOLF with the kind of stealth stuff you have to do.

Not sure what to think of it. All the hidden and sneaking so far. I will put a few more hours into it and if it is just more of the same I will most like stop at that point.

This seems like the sort of game Sierra would be putting out if Sierra were still around.

Originally Posted by Dajjer
Inventory looks to be unlimited, very cool. But regular saving is done only in hiding spots.

Are you a mouse or a pack rat!?

I'm what others say I am.

Originally Posted by CelticFrost
Not sure what to think of it. All the hidden and sneaking so far. I will put a few more hours into it and if it is just more of the same I will most like stop at that point.

I know exactly what you mean. I've only explored the jail and the court yard but after 5 hours in, I would have liked to see more of the game world. I think the next place I have to go to in the game is the dungeons below the jail. The game is kinda claustrophobic so far.

And yes all hiding and sneaking. There is a set up for a potential masquerade changes via equipment you secure in your travels. But getting the goods seems to be more luck than anything else. Oh well, as CelticFrost so aptly put it, I will put some more time into the game and . . .

Originally Posted by Dajjer
I know exactly what you mean. I've only explored the jail and the court yard but after 5 hours in, I would have liked to see more of the game world. I think the next place I have to go to in the game is the dungeons below the jail. The game is kinda claustrophobic so far.

And yes all hiding and sneaking. There is a set up for a potential masquerade changes via equipment you secure in your travels. But getting the goods seems to be more luck than anything else. Oh well, as CelticFrost so aptly put it, I will put some more time into the game and . . .

Well I am done with it for now, I might come back to it at sometime as I hate not finishing a game. I found the camera was to glitchy in the court yard and it was more of hitting rats with bottles hiding saving …

Really enjoying the game.
Video bug bringing it down to 0 FPS makes it unplayable.
Waiting for a patch to fix it.

One thing I don't like at all is that since you cant really defeat any rats/guards, you have to continually evade the same rat/guards again and again. In many sneaks you could kill the guards and not have to worry about sneaking in that area again. But in this game you are continually going over the same terrain and thus continually sneaking past the same rat/guards. Thus far the game world is small and the back and forth is getting tedious.

Thanks for the warning. I'm gonna skippit. It's Styx all over again and I stopped playing both of Styx games midway - you can sneak/kill guards yet the area gets repopulated and you need to pass through it over and over again.