Ghost of a Tale Out on Early Access

You might remember that we covered action-RPG Ghost of a Tale in the past. The title has now been released on Early Acces on both Steam and GOG. Given the title is currently 10% off, you can grab it for $17.99/€17.99/£13.49.

More information on the title and its current build is available on the official website. News for PC aficionados is a little mixed, as, at the moment the title’s system requirements are a little steep and the game has been designed with a controller in mind, so it will favor that method of control by default. Unfortunately for players who aren’t too comfortable with the English language, there are also no localizations other than English at the moment, though that is understandable and even expected in an Early Access release.

Speaking of what the Early Access build that’s sold right now includes, it is a little more than a quarter of the full content planned for the game. We’re still far from the finished experience, then, but it should still convey the gameplay loop and atmosphere of the title pretty well, as it includes NPCs, quests, dialogue encounters, explorations and secrets:

What can I expect from the early-access version?

A beautiful place to explore, NPCs to encounter, secrets to discover, dialogs, quests, etc…

If you intend to immerse yourself in that world and try to do each quest then you’ll have quite a few hours of enjoyment ahead of you.

The early access represents roughly 25-30% of the game (at most). But by a lot of aspects it only shows a VERY LIMITED slice of what the final game will be. We removed some mechanics, enemies, and systems and walled off several locations linked to quests that are not yet available.

Eventually you’ll be able to explore the whole of Dwindling Heights and meet all of its denizens; this is just a portion of it.

(One last note: the “fancy hat” edition will arrive later on, either as an update to the early access or with the final version of the game…)

As to why the developers didn’t wait for a full release in spite of the story-driven aspects of the game, the Early Access version of the game is being sold because the game’s funds dried up, and more money is urgently needed to complete the development of the game:

Why should I buy the game now instead of waiting for the final version?

That’s a fair question and the answer revolves around money: there’s none left.

Successful games’ crowdfunding campaigns can reach a few hundred thousand dollars, sometimes even close to a million. The campaign for GoaT brought roughly $40K of effective budget.

As some of you know I’ve been working on Ghost of a Tale each and every day of my life for the last three years and I’ve paid myself $500 per month. The rest of the money went to buy hardware, licenses and of course to compensate my collaborators.

Note that I’m not complaining at all; no-one is forcing me to create Ghost of a Tale!

Now we could very well start a new crowdfunding campaign but it would require quite a lot of time and energy and it would push back the game by as much. I prefer to put that effort into development. And given the advanced state of Ghost of a Tale I think the early access route is the best for everyone.

That being said I totally respect players who would rather play the game when it’s finished and prefer to wait for the final version to be released.

If however you choose to buy the pre-release version, know that you are actually making the development of Ghost of a Tale possible. Plus you get a better price while the game is still in early access since the final version will likely be more expensive when it’s out.