Author: Ray McGill
A lot of people still have toys from their childhood. I have a bunch of Transformers in a bin, some of which I have had since I was 3. I gave my niece a stuffed bear I had as a child, it was the bear from the Snuggle ads. Point is, carrying trinkets from your early years into your adult life is nothing new, and is a pretty universal experience to use for the start of a story. Releasing October 13, on Steam, Xbox, and Switch, The Darkest Tales is a story of the stuffed toy of Alicia’s childhood entering her dreams to save her from these sort of nightmare demons. You’re accompanied by a sparkling blue fairy, Navi-ish in nature to try and save your now grown-up owner.
The Darkest Tales (Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC[previewed]
Developer: Trinity Team
Publisher: 101XP
Release Date: October 13, 2022 (Steam) Other platforms TBA
The dreams Teddy and the fairy find themselves in are twisted versions of classic fairy tales; sort of a riffing on the dark nature we know a lot of the Grimm’s tales used to have before Disney came along. The first area is based on Little Red Riding Hood, and the second is Jack and the Beanstalk. I wouldn’t reveal more, but that’s also as far as I got right now. The tone of the game, from what I see is Toy Story meets Tim Burton’s sensibilities. The game isn’t gory, but it is a soft, storybook version of unsettling. The first area plays around a lot with the fact you’re starting in a bedroom, but gets away from that quickly in the second area.
Speaking of the visuals, the whole aesthetic of the game is fantastic. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and the visual themes so far are spot on. For instance, in a rotting kitchen, you have to deal with zombie gingerbread men, and bugs that would love rotting food. The story riffs on classic characters, turning some into interesting adversaries. Little Red Riding Hood so far has been my favorite character. Even the choices with how Teddy looks are great and consistent with his life as a toy. His dual swords are two halves of a pair of scissors, and as far as I can tell, his arrows are toothpicks. You heal by having the fairy stitch you back up, using mana you replenish quickly in combat.
Moving onto the gameplay, there is some great, and some not so great at this point. The combat, at this point (again, not far), is pretty stiff. Enemies get swatted away a little too much when you connect with them, and getting more than one hit in at a time seems hard. Also the bow feels incredibly loose with the aim, and almost requires too much precision. I really hope the combat gets more involved, something like Dust: An Elysian Tail comes to mind. However, Teddy moves great. There is a lot of platforming in this game, with some pretty tight jumps early on. You get a dash move quickly, and a grappling hook soon after that. The skill tree is large enough, and the game expansive enough to accommodate a lot more movement options, but what I have at this juncture feels well put-together. Dying is something you’re going to do a lot in this game, you don’t start with a lot of health, and the enemies can at times come at you at odd angles. The penalty for dying seems to be very little, however, you get transported to the last save/checkpoint you were at, and those seem to be all over the place. I think the most time I lost because of dying was about 100 seconds.
One last thing before I wrap this up, I am not sure if the game is a Metroidvania. I have noticed some paths at the starting area where it looked like I would have to come back, and the game does feature teleportation areas, where you can skip around to places you have been to, and there seems to be a completion percentage under each area. I am sure that will become more apparent as I play the game, but for now I can safely recommend this game. As always, check your Game Pass and such before spending any money, but if it’s not free anywhere, I can say that The Darkest Tales is a charming game that is worth your time, especially if you like your fairy tales dark, and your teddy bears running with scissors.