Foretales Review – A TALE OF FATE!
Centred around Volepain, a bird-like creature with the ability to see prophecies, Foretales tells the story of impending doom. Through the aforementioned ability, Volepain can see into the future which helps him to prevent these devastating events from occurring. However, this may not be as simple as it first seems.
The Fascinating Tale of Foretales
The narrative in Foretales is fantastic! Each scenario sees Volepain and his party encounter some fascinating new creatures and challenges that they must overcome, and it is told quite cleverly. The most intriguing part about the narrative is that each decision that you make has an impact on how it turns out. Decide to kill too many creatures? You may be penalised, or something interesting may occur in the story. Choose to not resolve a devastating event? That’s okay! But you may not like the end result. This was an awesome way to tell the story, and is what enticed me to get really invested into Foretales.
Foretales’ minimalist gameplay style is exclusively focused around playing cards to advance the story, as well as for resolving combat encounters and general exploration. However, this decksploration game is not necessarily just about building the best arsenal for combat. Instead, there is a bigger emphasis on problem solving. Even when encountering various enemies! As long as you have taken the time to prepare yourself, you will be able to find ways to diffuse any situation, rather than just charging in head first. This adds an extra layer of depth to the gameplay, and makes you think about what cards to use, and when.
Foretales’ Minimalist Approach Works!
Honestly, the gameplay is great fun! Even though it is fairly simplistic, it really drew me in. I had to take extra time to consider my options quite frequently. This is especially because the cards you use for both exploration and combat come from the same deck. Some are better for certain situations than others, but any card can be used anywhere. So be careful what you choose, you don’t want to run out of a specific card that you may need later.
This does bring me to one big issue that I had with Foretales. Whilst exploring, you must use your cards to progress through various locations. Whilst this in itself is not a negative, it does lead to some rather tedious moments. It is so easy to get lost and be unsure of how to proceed. Because these areas are dealt from a deck as well, in some points of the story it can be really confusing to find your way forward. Sometimes the objective card may just be dealt out randomly as you travel around, whereas other objectives may require you to complete different tasks first. This became much more apparent in later quests, and was a little annoying. But having said that, there is a hints section if you find yourself getting really stuck. But who wants to use hints…
The Outstanding Visual Design
I have to compliment the developers on the visual style of Foretales. It is absolutely gorgeous. The game’s backdrop and card design look stunning! Also, the added animations that occur on the table and whilst a card is played or dealt are fantastic. I really appreciated how they differed on the table when travelling through various places. Inside a prison, the lighting and shadows displayed a reflection of that location. There were also occasional water drops that would fall onto the table which would further help give the feeling of being in a dungeon. Whilst out in the forest, the lighting became a more yellow-green tone with shadows cast from trees. The fantastic sound design also really assisted in setting these scenes!
The music also plays a vital role in Foretales. This is particularly noticeable because of the lack of voice acting, aside from the narrator occasionally speaking a few words about the current scenario. As a result, there is so much space to fill, and the music and sound design together do so brilliantly!
Decision
Foretales may look really simple at first, and its minimalist gameplay style may not initially seem to be that exciting. But honestly, once you get going, the game’s charm, it’s excellent visual design, and the fascinating story will get you hooked. Foretales is definitely worth checking out, even if you have never played a deck builder before.
By Samuel Incze – Reviewed on PC
Great
Foretales is a great entry into the deckbuilding genre. Featuring a very simple gameplay style, this title is really easy to get into, but can still be challenging at times. The narrative is intriguing and the visual design is gorgeous. Foretales is definitely worth giving a go, whether you have played deck builders before or not.
This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Alkemi and Dear Villagers. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website
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