Genre: Co-op action and cooking simulation
Developer: Scienart Games
Publisher: GrabTheGames, UpgradePoint
Release Date: September 5th, 2024
Edited by AlexKnight2005
Ale & Tale Tavern is a tavern simulator from the minds of the developer Scienart Games. GrabTheGames and UpgradePoint published it, and it is currently only available on Steam. I think it’s a game that would do very well on consoles, though. Anyway, you step into the role of someone who uses a sudden inheritance to buy an abandoned tavern in hopes of fulfilling their dreams. It is playable in a single-player mode or up to four players in a co-op mode. It is incredibly easy to play and can be very relaxing as well.
I will only go into a bit of detail about the story questlines, except that most of them are gated to your tavern level. There is some excellent comedic dialog and interesting characters, like a talking cow who apparently makes a squeaky toy sound if you hit it. I found this out by accident and hit it for several minutes afterward, entertaining myself while I listened to the dialogue. Depending on how quickly you move through the questlines, the story portion of the game is 4 to 7 hours or so long.
Now, there are no other things to do in the game, like secrets to find, but once you finish the story, that pretty much concludes the game’s content. It’s just exploring the world and managing the tavern after you finish. It leaves little to the replayability of the game. That’s not to say that the content there is fun and enjoyable. It is, especially with friends. Now, you may ask what kind of content is there to do. In addition to cooking and making drinks for your tavern, you can breed animals and raise crops. There are also animals and monsters you can hunt for resources.
You can also raid three orc camps that respawn every in-game day with various goodies. As I was exploring, I found several places that looked like they could be puzzles, but I could not figure out how to activate them. Let’s move on to what the game looks and sounds like. The graphics style reminds me a lot of World of Warcraft-era graphics. Speaking of graphics, there are many ways you can customize your avatar in the main menu. Hell, you can run around with a bucket on your head if you so wish. Also, speaking of audio, as far as I could tell, all the quest dialogue was fully voiced. The music gives some incredibly relaxing vibes to the gameplay.
If I had to say, I would love to see changes in the game other than adding some replayability to it. It would be to add an in-game map for the players to use. As it stands, with the price of 15$, I can definitely say the game is worth getting, even with the little replayability it has. It is just a fun experience.
Pros:
- Comedic Dialogue
- Relaxing Vibes
- Tons to do
- Lots of decorations for the tavern
Cons:
- No in-game map
- Little replayability
BoxCatHero gives Ale & Tale Tavern a Drastik Measure of 8.4 out of 10.0 (84)
