Creepy Tale

Creepy Tale is a creepy one-shot with a simple plot, friendly visuals, harmonious audio side and also with a few problems that slightly disturb the overall impression. The inspiration of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales is evident in the Slavic setting of the story and only enhances the overall dark atmosphere. If you can manage to arm yourself with more patience, hate jumpscars, but still want to play something horror, this title is perfect for you.

Creepy Tale certainly lives up to its namesake, courtesy of superb sound design and art heavily inspired by the works of John Kenn Mortensen, but it's a title which falls apart under scrutiny. A completely silent narrative is ambitious, as is designing puzzles exclusively around visual cues, but there's barely an hour of actual content in-game. Any puzzle-solving veterans are basically guaranteed to roll credits within 45 minutes. What's worse is that while the atmosphere is palatable (with enough mild scares that feel earned), Mortensen's "influence" borders on plagiarism. He's mentioned in the staff roll for what it's worth, but under a very specific "Inspired By" credit. Regardless of any involvement Mortensen may or may not have had, the fact the game is dripping in his style does it no favours - if only because it's a blatant imitation lacking artistic integrity. Creepy Tale is fine enough on the cheap, but it won't satisfy competent gamers, nor is it a suitable introduction to newcomers given its emphasis on gore.

Although Creepy Tale reasonably represents the genre and is not a bad game, it also has nothing special. Its puzzles are too simple and its gloomy atmosphere is not enough to make the game minimally memorable.

Creepy Tale is aptly titled; it had no trouble giving me goosebumps. The gloomy atmosphere is aesthetically pleasing and the cryptic puzzles will tease your brain, bordering on frustrating at times – patience and trial and error are key attributes here. This one will likely appeal to fans of point-and-click style puzzle games with horror elements.

Despite having a solid atmosphere and an occasional interesting puzzle, it unfortunately fails to capture the depth of the games it's replicating.

Gorgeous game with a short, yet enticing story that left me wanting more. Just be sure to bring your patience with you before trying to tackle the puzzle-based gameplay.

Creepy Tale never relies on typical puzzle tropes, and has a wonderful art style that is both unsettling and beautiful in equal measure. It's to clever for its own good, and the amount of times you'll struggle far outweighs the enjoyment of solving the mystery of your missing brother.

Piecing together the puzzles in Creepy Tale can be quite rewarding but at the same time, frustration is bound to rear its ugly head.

Creepy Tale is an ominous story with frustrating puzzles.

Creepy Tale hearkens back to a time when scary meant something else entirely and modern indie game design was still coming into its own. The story flows wonderfully and is easy enough to follow; it’s only hampered by odd puzzle design and choices.