Video Gamers Podcast - Gaming Quick Takes - Book of Unwritten Tales 2

Episode Date: February 18, 2023

From gaming hosts Paul, Michael and Josh, we're bringing you even more gaming content each week. Gaming Quick Takes are a short series of game recommendations, funny moments, off-topic chat and more. A small dose of gaming to brighten your Saturdays! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hey, everybody, it's Josh, and I'm back with another Gaming Quick Takes episode, our way of saying thank you for supporting the show, and just a little something in return there. So I'm going to talk about a game that I am willing to bet that you have not heard of today, and that is a game that is called The Book of Unwritten Tales 2. Now you're going, okay, you're right, I've never heard of that. What is it? This is a game that harkens back to the old point-and- click style adventure games that I grew up on. Now, before you tune out, just take a second, because these games are awesome. Now, they are a different style of game. And if you've never played one before, it is a genre that you

have likely never experienced. But man, this was one of the most popular genres back in the probably 80s and 90s. It started to fade out in the 2000s, I think, because gameplay just kind of became a little bit more enhanced. But I'm telling you right now, point-and-click adventure games, they're some of the best games out there. One of the most famous is probably the Monkey Island series. Even if you haven't played a point-and-click adventure, you've probably heard of Monkey Island. You've probably heard that it is a very much well-beloved series, and there's a good reason for that. So the way that these games play is you take on the role of a character. You use your mouse. You click around either a screen or an environment or something like that. Your character will move over to where you clicked.

They'll investigate. A lot of times there's clickable and interactable items. You might be able to pull a book off of a bookshelf and look at that. And usually what happens is your character will kind of narrate what they're doing or what you're clicking on and say, yeah, there's nothing in that book. Or they'll be witty and they'll say, hey, this is War and Peace. I'm not going to spend the next five years reading this book or something like that. But generally speaking, the characters are what set these games apart. The environments are what set them apart. And the puzzles are what set them apart. And through the interaction there, that's kind of how the gameplay works, I guess. You do start to become attached to the characters. That is kind of the point. It's almost like playing a really good story without a lot of

combat and a lot of the other systems that games have kind of moved to to try to enhance them. So sometimes the simplest things are the funnest. And in the case of the Book of Unwritten Tales 2, that is the case on this one. So why do I like this game? Well, number one, it's beautiful. Number two, it's humorous. There's a very good wit and parts that are funny. It is, for me, a perfect throwback to the point-and-click adventure games. I found this story to be entirely charming. I really had a good time with this one. It's funny that I forgot about it because I remember being very excited when I found out about this game, and it hadn't actually released yet when I first found out about it. It released back in 2016,

but don't let the age of it throw you off. It is a fully fledged, just graphically beautiful, fully voiced over game with some very interesting characters. And you play as different characters throughout the game as well. So you play as Ivo, the elf princess that is kind of trapped in her castle by her parents. You play as Wilbur, the gnome who wants to become a mage. You play as Nate, who's a human, as they embark to save the land of Avantasia. So you do kind of have this overall arcing goal, but you play as these individual characters. They do come across each other in the game as well, but it's really neat to play from the different perspectives that each of these characters has. So what is gameplay like?

Well, I kind of mentioned it a little bit earlier. You are exploring these different environments. If you're playing as the little gnome guy, Wilbur, you're probably in something that looks like Hogwarts Castle. This game does an amazing job of referencing a lot of pop culture type stuff. There are a lot of references to Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter series and stuff like that. So there's a lot of those very clever, identifiable moments in the game as well. But yeah, so you're put into this environment. I think, you know, if I remember right, it's been a while since I've played it. But, you know, when you're playing as Wilbur, you're walking through what, you know, is basically Hogwarts.

You're trying to explore your way around. You find a door that's magically locked that you can't get through. And so you have to explore the environment, find items, you add those to your inventory. As you do that, you can use items in your inventory on things in the environment. And that's kind of where the little bit of a puzzle aspect comes from. It's actually a lot of fun. I find these games to actually be fairly relaxing. I mean, they do require you to think, but these are not puzzle games in the sense of The Witness or The Talos Principle or Portal 2, even games like that. Yes, you have to figure things out. You have to find them in the world. You have to figure out how items interact with each other and stuff like that.

But usually when you do, it's very clever. And then you get to see the results of that. So as you explore this area that looks like Hogwarts Castle and find stuff, you'll figure out, oh, I can use this item on that item. And then that will let me obtain this new item. And then I can take that item over to this screen where I remember there was this well that I couldn't do anything with. And now that I have this bucket, I can use that to climb down into the well. And then that will open up a new part of the map for you. And then you can explore down in the well and find an item down there. Or maybe you find some crazy character that's been living down in this well that teaches

you a magic spell that will allow you to unlock the locked door that you've been trying to get through. And so that's kind of just the progression of the gameplay. But what really makes these games fun are the, like I said, the characters involved, the storyline involved. These are like, they're almost like playing like really good Pixar cartoons, if that makes sense. You are not playing this for the action. You're not playing these games for very much else other than figuring out the puzzles, which is rewarding in itself. The characters are great. That's really the best description I can give is if you ever wanted to play like a Pixar cartoon and get to know the

characters in there and actually control them and tell them what to do, that's what these point and click adventures are like. They're usually filled with very, very good writing. The characters are memorable. The puzzles are fun. It's just a relaxing and kind of chill game to play. And the Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is one of those ones that stands out to me in recent memories because it was so true to the genre, and it followed everything that I remember and did it very, very well. Now, I know what you're saying. Hey, Josh, why are you telling me about the book of Unwritten Tales 2 if I've never played the first one? I never played the first one either. I didn't even know this series existed until I found out about 2 coming out,

but you don't need to play the first one. I guess it gives you a little bit of background into some of the characters, but in this case, it is completely unneeded to play the first one. I never played it, and I thoroughly enjoyed the second one. This game is $29.99 on Steam right now. I will say I think that's probably slightly overpriced. If it was $10 less, this would be an absolute no-brainer. I have not looked to see if you can find this game on sale. I am willing to bet that you can.

Now, overall, this game is sale. I am willing to bet that you can. Now, overall, this game is about 20 hours worth of gameplay. So even at the $30 price point, you're definitely getting your money's worth. I just know that sometimes there's, oddly enough, there's a big barrier between a $20 game and a game that starts getting to the $30 or the $40 range. But this is one that flies under the radar big time. I know that a lot of our listeners have probably never played a point and click adventure game. And if you've ever wanted to try out that genre to see why it truly was one of the most popular genres for decades, this is a very good

entry into that. I think you'll really, really enjoy it. And I think it will be a breath of fresh air because like I said, it is unlike anything that you have probably played before. So check it out. The Book of Unwritten Tales 2. Look up some gameplay. Look up some screenshots. You'll kind of get an idea of how whimsical and how beautiful this game is. It's really just a lot of fun to play through. It's one of those relaxing type games that you're glad you played. And like I said, it's just different than most other games out there nowadays.

So, all right, well, I hope you enjoyed this one. Hopefully I can point out some games that maybe you've never heard of that you should take a look at. But again, look up some gameplay footage on this. Don't look up spoilers because again, there are puzzles on this one and there are some reveals and stuff like that. So you probably don't want to go down

that rabbit hole too much, but I highly recommend at least taking a peek at this because I think it's going to be enjoyable for a lot of people. All right, that's it for me for this Quick Takes episode. Thank you for the support of the show. You guys are incredible. Paul and I really appreciate everything that all of you do to support the podcast, like leaving us reviews, telling your friends, uh,

and just tuning in. So thank you guys very, very much for that. I will see you on the next one. Thanks a lot. Bye. Bye.