The initial crowdfunding campaign for this game was completed six years ago
Ghost Of A Tale
WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE RATS? MARTIN KITTS
PUBLISHER SEITHCG / DEVELOPER SEITHCG / RELEASE DATE XBOX ONE / COST £19.99/$24.99
The hero of the tale is a minstrel
mouse called Tilo, locked up in a
gloomy dungeon with various other
second-class citizens and enemies
of the state, dreaming of one day
being reunited with his wife. When
a mysterious benefactor provides
him with the means to escape from
his cell, Tilo seizes the opportunity
and ventures into the labyrinthine
corridors, courtyards and towers of
the castle where he’s imprisoned,
searching for the way home.
Despite the promise of the story,
what follows is largely a formulaic
stealth adventure, with dumb guards
patrolling short, fixed routes around
the castle grounds. When they’re
alerted they’ll chase until they lose
sight of you, either through running
around a corner or hiding in one of the
many chests, cupboards or barrels
conveniently dotted around the place.
There’s no combat, since Tilo is
a mouse and not able to carry a
weapon, but some guards can beHistory is written
by the victors, and
many centuries
ago it was the
powerful rats who
were instrumental
in defeating a supernatural force
that threatened all animal species.
Consequently, rats became dominant
in this anthropomorphic animal
society, while mice, who had been
attempting to negotiate with the
enemy, were deemed to be traitors,
ejected from their homeland and
banned from bearing arms or having
any political influence.
Ghost Of A Tale doesn’t force its
real-world parallels down your throat,
and the story is all the more effective
for crediting its readers (for there is
no speech in the game) with a bit of
intelligence. A lot is left unsaid, and
whether to read between the lines or
just plough on through to the action
sequences is a decision left largely up
to the player.
temporarily incapacitated by dropping
heavy objects on them or daubing the
floor with a slippery substance. You
can also throw things to make them
investigate the noise, then sneak past
or lock them in a room.
Making too much noise is generally
what alerts the guards to your
presence, as somehow a mouse’s
footsteps are loud enough to wake
a sleeping rat. A little marker pops
up over any enemies within hearing
range, filling up rapidly until you stop
moving. Until you’ve found some
better equipment, tiptoeing along
at a painfully slow speed is the only
way to avoid getting into yet another
unwelcome chase.
The guards are little more than an
annoyance, as there’s no particular
skill or cleverness required for
getting past them. There’s a tonne of
backtracking to be done in this game,
which means going past the same
guards countless times, and after
a while we preferred to just blundershort
cutWHAT IS IT?
Unarmed stealth in a
beautiful-looking
fantasy world.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
A one-trick Metal
Gear Solid with small,
angry mammals.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Readers of the
Redwall series of
novels will probably
appreciate this.086 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
REVIEW