The StoryTale Review (Nintendo Switch)

Review code used, with many thanks to RedBlack Spade!

Prologue

The story begins with a princess storming into her room, slamming her door, and throwing her crown across the room. She reads an adventure novel and falls asleep, but a bolt of lightning breaks through the window and strikes her book, opening a mysterious portal. With one last look at her crown, she kicks it aside before diving in.

The premise of The StoryTale is fantastic, and it drew me in immediately. However, will her adventures live up to the expectations set by the introduction?

Crossing the threshold

The StoryTale LadiesGamers — Dreaming of adventure.

While the introduction is told completely through a wordless cutscene, the rest of the game’s story is delivered in two- to three-line snippets at the beginning of each level. To be honest, these snippets aren’t nearly as compelling or interesting as the introductory cutscene. They go away once you start moving, making them easy to skip, and their content is inconsequential to the gameplay itself. This makes the story (in a game called The StoryTale, no less!) lackluster, easily forgettable, and difficult to keep track of.

The story snippets will be automatically read out loud by a narrator, which makes the game accessible to children who can’t read, but the narration is a bit awkward. Don’t worry, you can turn it off in the settings.

Traversing the tale

Another aspect of the game that makes it accessible to children is the controls. They’re very simple: use the left joystick to move, and your pick of A, B, Y, or X to jump. The levels have little page-shaped tutorial tips scattered around them that teach you other mechanisms, like how to hang off the edge of a cliff or how to double-jump, though these tips occasionally repeat themselves between levels. While the controls are simple, they can also be quite touchy, so be careful where you jump!

If you do end up getting stuck on a level, fail enough times and the enemies will begin falling asleep or ignoring you out of boredom, making it easier to pass. You’ll also encounter chances to help enemies find lost items, which will make them friendly to you in later levels.

Pixel princess

The StoryTale’s pixel graphics are very charming, and the animation is surprisingly fluid and graceful! The pixel-art backgrounds are well done, and the settings panel is an open book, which is a cute touch.

A novel-length tale

This game has seventy levels, but by the time I’d finished fifteen, I was worn out. The gameplay is overly simple and repetitive. If there were other types of gameplay to break up the incessant platforming, I could imagine getting further into it. However, I didn’t feel any compelling urge to platform using the same two basic controls for fifteen more consecutive levels, much less fifty-five more.

Final thoughts

The StoryTale is family-friendly and accessible to children, so if you’re looking for a game that will entertain a child without overwhelming them, this may be a good fit! However, unless you yourself have a passion for platforming, I wouldn’t suggest picking this one up. The story seems to run alongside the game rather than pushing it forward, and the gameplay itself is repetitive and monotonous.

Final Verdict: I’m not sure.