In the last couple of years, the indie scene has… seen, an extraordinary expansion. People have come to realise that a developer doesn’t necessarily need a huge amount of money to meet gamers’ expectations. As such, games like Minecraft, The Walking Dead, Journey, Slender, or FTL (among many others) have made a big impression among gamers, without needing thousands of dollars worth of advertisements, nor being the usual FPS featuring big explosions or jumps from one action set-piece to the next. So what’s the potential next big indie hit? Ghost of a Tale might be the answer to that.
Ghost of a Tale tells the story of a little mouse who’s on an adventure set in a medieval world. The game’s location is the Island of Periclave, a place haunted by an army of undead rats (among other creatures). The island is full of treasures, but our little hero might be up to more that getting rich. Discovering the origins of your enemies, the island’s, and the protagonist’s intentions will play a big role in Ghost of a Tale.
The game is an action/adventure with some RPG elements to compliment it. The nice thing about Ghost of a Tale is that it doesn’t cross any extremes. The title isn’t “a straight monster-bashing action game,” nor “a purely cerebral adventure [one] with no elements of action at all.” To get a general idea, the game will feature somewhere around 40% combat, and 60% exploration.
Speaking of combat, the game features a little mouse set against an undead army, so in order to keep it more grounded to reality, Ghost of a Tale will allow players to avoid combat as much as possible, by using stealth, or indirect methods of confrontations (traps would be the perfect example of that). You will never have to charge straight-on into enemies, and chances are that the strategy wouldn’t work anyway, since you’re not a super-hero.
As part of the exploration, the game will feature some puzzles along the way, which will rely on observation and exploration. Boss battles are also in, not for the sake of having them, but because they will be integrated into the game’s storyline. Vegetation will also play a big role, alongside rocky, and wind-swept locations.
Among other things, regenerative health will not be included, so players are encouraged to find items with which to restore their health.