The Darkest Tales Preview: The Truth About Hood
Well, The Darkest Tales was a pleasant surprise. Taking a spin on the classic fairy tales a lot of us have been raised on (some, the Argos catalogue), Trinty Team’s platformer puts a dark twist on our beloved memories.
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After getting an email notification that a demo was available during the Steam Next Fest, it was one of the first games to add to the to-do list, though knowing nothing about it. I didn’t read the email, sorry, but that’s the truth.
The intro scene was a little lengthy and, in some respects, was losing my interest pretty quick. The subsequent finding your feet, or paws, by jumping on shelves had me thinking “next!”, but the moment the fairy tale world opens up? Wow.
The Darkest Tales Preview
You play Teddy. I’m not sure what kind of toy he is – perhaps a teddy bear? Yep. It’s obvious. He’s got a bit of an attitude and feels a little put out to find his owner, Alicia, who’s gone missing.
A sprite annoyingly follows you about guiding you (annoying as is the character design and appropriate to be a sort of catalyst for Teddy). Within a few hops, skip and a jump, you unlock your first weapon: a pair of scissors.
Said sprite morphs with these to unleash two deadly swords, size appropriate to Teddy. You’ll need them as this beautiful world has lots of dark corners, often occupied by spiky, grumpy things that make your better half look like a saint.
Story Time
After getting past the introduction, there isn’t enough praise to send to the developers, or publishers, 101XP: The Darkest Tales is eye candy, alright. Almost like playing an illustrated picture book, in the short time with the demo, Teddy explores some gorgeous, layered vistas that make you forget where you are for a bit.
It’s perhaps comparable to Ori And The Blind Forest in terms of visuals, but as a platformer, the jumping was a little frustrating in places. Bears are the most agile of animals, and this is apparent when jumping a lot of the spikes: he can’t get enough air as perhaps Jordan could.
Perhaps it was due to playing on the keyboard, but the controls were a bit fiddly. There will be spikes embedded in the paths that look like you could typically walk past, but you have to do a stationary jump here and there, sometimes a dash too. That said, it made enough of an impact to revisit the demo (at the time of writing, it’s still available) and play with a controller.
Below is a quick capture of gameplay, as perhaps the stock screenshots don’t do it justice. Ignore my comments about the controls, though, as I’m sure a controller is better, and The Darkest Tales isn’t just a pretty picture, but the gameplay and characters (especially Little Red Riding Hood) are ggggggrrrrreat!
