Summary

• Brilliant writing with natural dialogue and humour.
• Lovely character art and animations add charm to the game's world.
• However, I'd like more mechanically.

In many of its plauditory previews, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tavern Talk has been compared to cosy fantasy novel Legends & Lattes. While the vibes and setting are fairly similar, I feel like this is an unfair, or potentially lazy, comparison. Sure, your role as a fantasy innkeeper is to serve drinks in a fantastical wor🦄ld where the sky is falling and adventurers aplenty pass through your doors to quench their thirst, but Tavern Talk is far more exciting than Travis Baldree’s novel. The writing hints at great quests occurring outside your walls, and the characters change and grow as you get to know them by 💜serving their drinks.

My preview was devoid of literary comparison.

Tavern Talk could comfortably be describ𒁃ed as cosy, but that’s not necessarily synonymous with boring. This is a game about forging relationships (not like that) and helping others, whether that be by talking through their problems, sending them on a gallant quest, or just mixing up their favourite brew. Whil🧜e I’d like some more mechanical involvement, the narrative and writing make for a compelling tale. Now, settle down and let me pour you a pint, for this is a tale of anxious adventurers and affectionate assassins that you won’t want to miss.

The first thing that drew me into the world of Tavern Talk when I played the preview was its writing, which I’m happy to say remains brilliant throughout the full game. The writers know exactly when to crack a fourth-wall breaking joke and when to keep things serious. Dialogue flows naturally, something that many far bigger games fail to achieve, and character🥂s are immediately endearing. Following their growth as they take on the various challenges in the world of Asteria is heartwarming, and the fact that your magical concoctions can impact their journeys adds an interactive element to the visual novel.

The discussions of elfin anxiety, the weight of familial expectations, and post-battle regret for having killed a beautiful creature in exchange for monetary compensation offer an alternative look at your classic D&D party or RPG protagonist. Every topic is han✨dled delicately and every modern problem feels appropr⭕iate in the fantasy setting. The characters themselves are drawn beautifully and have adorable animations with unique quirks, which really endears them to you and sells the whole concept.

This is a unique take on a fantasy adventure, where you don’t see any of the action firsthand. Therefore, the writing needs to be up to scratch to relay great tales – which it thankfully is – and the drinks m📖echanic allows you a small degree of choice in the outcomes of quests and fates of characters.

However, I’d like some more mechanical depth. Mixing drinks is very easy. You follow a recipe, usually adding three parts of the strongest ingredient (which bestows a buff to strength, defense, dexterity, intelligenc꧃e, or charisma depending on the liquid) and one part each of two others. Adding in infusions adds another layer of mixology, but it’s still very difficult to get a drink wrong.

That said, mixing up drinks feels fun. The tinkle of glass on glass and glug of mysterious liquid added to potent concoction is satisfying. Binning a mis-mixed brew by feeding it to your pet is neat. Pouring delicate rainbows into your beverages – like a fantasy version of a logo on the foam – doesn't improve your rewards, but it does look great.

It's nice when you're given a choice of drinks to prepare. I found that characters tended to want strength or dexterity potions a lot more than intelligence or charisma, so I tried to take the more brainy route when offered a choice. This then affects how that character approaches their quest, and has further ramifications upon their return.

The quests themselves are another mechanic, albeit a pointless one. You overhear rumours in the tavern, and can slap three related rumours together in order to pin a quest to your noticeboard. The proble🍃m is, these are all micromanaged and impossible to fail: the rumours are colour coded to match their partners, and pinning the wrong rumours to the wrong partners just encourages you to try again. I get that Tavern Talk is trying to be cosy, but the quest mechanic is insultingly easy, to the point of almost being condescending.

You can't even attempt to put a quest together until the game prompts you to at scripted moments in the story.

If Tavern Talk had a worse story, or poor writing, the mechanical boredom would be unforgivable. As it stands, there's plenty of narrative interest to keep you clicking, even if the puzzles you're presented with are rote. It would be easy for this game to descend into drudgery, but it steers well clear.

The characters are engaging, the stories they tell are exciting, and their growth over the course of the game is equal parts realistic and fulfilling. While you don't do a great deal of adventuring yourself, the yarns of grand exploits spun at your bar are exciting enough, and your role as part-time therapist, part-time questgiver makes you feel a part of the tale.

Sometimes, you don't need to be the hero of the epic adventure. Sometimes, it can be more fulfilling to enable others to maximise their potential in your stead. Sometimes, the safety and security of your own four walls are the escape from your traumatic past that you needed. Buy another round, and I'll tell you that tale, too.