Developer: Studio Kraze
Platform: PC (Reviewed)
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Studio Kraze
Courier Tale is a single-player game where you control a courier named Max, who explores the wonders of the desert island he’s stuck on. It is a semi-open world game where you walk at your own pace, exploring the map and talking to the other characters. You get to take on side job deliveries that help to run the gameplay. Through these side jobs, you can collect 24 special cards. Courier Tale is a short narrative game with roughly 2 – 4 hours of gameplay and has multiple endings. The multiple endings are something I really enjoyed about this game, which meant I could replay the game to unlock all achievements and enjoy the story.
The controls for Courier Tale are very simple. Everything is mainly done with movement keys (WASD) and the enter button to interact with items. The ESC key will bring up your phone, which has multiple sections that include your jobs, cards, items and more. These controls make it extremely easy to play this laid-back game.
The art style of Courier Tale is a retro 2D-pixel game. Its limited colour palette gives it a nostalgic and old-school aesthetic feel. Max is grey, along with other small parts of the game, such as some of the optional characters and buildings. But the cats and the desert are all coloured along with the oasis. The usage of minimalistic colours brings great detail to the environment and the characters. I really like the character designs, which make everything look 8-bit, and with the animations, it brought the game to life. The game also blends really well together with the sound effects and soundtrack. The mix of real-like sound effects such as clicking noises, wind whooshing, cars driving, and the instrumental music that includes synth, piano and triangle sound create a lighthearted, relaxing hip tune.
Now, the gameplay for Courier Tale was something I found so enjoyable. Max works for T.A.L.E. Couriers and is delivering packages to various characters that are spread around on the map. The order you want to make these deliveries is completely on you. You can take side jobs and interact with many people, and these are not required but add another extra layer to the gameplay that makes this game so interesting even; with its short gameplay. The story is driven by the dialogue and conversations that are held with each character and progress in the game. Another extra part of this game would be to collect the 24 cards that are given by the characters in the game once you interact with them or deliver them a package. This is for the players who want to ensure that they explore each corner of the world. This game also features three possible endings that are determined by the choices you make. I loved that this game is short and laid back with easy controls. I really enjoyed the ironic and humorous commentary, which went well with the story that unfolded. Without giving away any spoilers, it is really worth investigating the story, which all starts falling into place.
Courier Tale is a game where you can delve back into the retro world of gaming and solve a so-called mystery. You are a courier who’s delivering packages on an island and just wants to go home after having a crazy “dream” of staying on an island of talking cats. If you’re looking for a game that you can wind down to then, be sure to check out Courier Tale.
Overall: 8/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
