Dive back into the medieval world of Grimm fairy tales with Creepy Tale 2!
Format: PC via Steam
First playthrough time: 3.5 hours
Total play time: 4.7 hours total
Cost: 9.99 USD
Released July 16th, 2021 by Creepy Brothers
Quick Overview
Major Pros:
|
Major Cons:
|
Minor Pros:
|
Minor Cons:
|
A counter-stealth section
Finding this review helpful? Consider following to see more!
In-Depth Review
Creepy Tale 2 is a point-and-click style adventure game. Players take on the role of Lars, the son of the local huntsman. After his family is attacked and his sister kidnapped by a possessed little girl and a monster, Lars takes off on a mission to rescue her. There are 3 chapters taking about 3.5 hours to complete in total. All the characters are fully voiced and the art is a superb creepy style throughout. Music and background sound effects do a great job of setting the mood in every level.
Scene selection unlocks as the player progresses
Rather than traditional mouse controls, Creepy Tale 2 uses a keyboard/controller to move the character and interact with objects. The controls are fairly simple: move, interact, use items, and open inventory. Although, on the keyboard I found the inventory and close menu buttons to be awkwardly placed and I wished I could rebind it. When players move close to an interaction location, an icon will appear over it to show the type of interaction (such as talk to another character or pick up an item). Interacting will usually give information and clues on how to move forward, as will using the wrong item or the correct item too early. Items can only be used at locations already marked for interaction.
Controls scheme for the game
Each scene in Creepy Tale 2 requires solving a number of puzzles consist of three main mechanics. The primary mechanic is using the correct object in the correct location, such as a shovel to dig up loose dirt. These are the most obvious types of puzzles and the main character, Lars, will often give hints about what to use or why something doesn’t work. The secondary mechanic is puzzle locks. There are a number of locks, typically combination locks, which require the player to observe the surroundings and deduce the code. Lars will not give hints for these (except one that’s pretty abstract) and the player must observe and interact with the rest of the scene to find the code. Not all of the locks look like locks either, though this is more toward the end of the game when the player is more experienced. The last mechanic is stealth/escape, which shows up almost exclusively in the second half of the game. This is the only mechanic that can force a player to lose some progress, but players keep most inventory and scenery changes they accomplished before getting caught. In these puzzles, players are expected to experiment and learn what to do and the patterns of the enemies through their multiple restarts.
A large maze stealth section
Players familiar with the first Creepy Tale game will recognize the main enemy of Creepy Tale 2. Some of the scenes are also similar, such as sneaking around a witch’s house while she’s cooking, however, the solutions are different. While the stories share many themes, they aren’t linked so a player can easily enjoy the second game without having played the first. Though if you do play Creepy Tale 2 and enjoy it, I recommend playing the original Creepy Tale for similar content.
Players of the first game will recognize the monster on the left
Recommendation
Overall, I enjoyed Creepy Tale 2. I felt the atmosphere was on point and the art was superb. The puzzles were interesting and I enjoyed the non-standard enemies and how they contributed to the story. Restarting some of the stealth sections and having to rewatch cutscenes was a bit annoying, but not egregious. I recommend Creepy Tale 2 for players looking for a horror-themed puzzle adventure, particularly if they played and enjoyed the original Creepy Tale.
Found this review helpful? Consider following to see more!
Categories: Desktop games, Video game reviews
Cthulhu's Critiques 