Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown
- September 14, 2021
- Tin Man Games
- 3h median play time
Get on Steam"Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown" is a role-playing adventure that brings tabletop gaming to life, immersing you in a world of swashbuckling and sorcery. With a fully-voiced Dungeon Master companion and a narrative-driven campaign, guide your party through a captivating story filled with important choices and thrilling turn-based combat. Experience high replayability, as no two playthroughs are the same. Play in VR or on your monitor, ensuring everyone can join the adventure.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Virtual Reality
Windows
PlayStation
PlayStation VR
Reviews
- Table of Tales offers a charming and immersive VR experience with a beautifully crafted tabletop aesthetic and engaging storytelling.
- The game features meaningful choices and tactical combat mechanics, providing replayability and a sense of progression as characters evolve.
- The unique presentation of the game, with a magical board that transforms and a delightful narrator, enhances the overall enjoyment and immersion.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including soft locks and unresponsive controls, which can hinder gameplay and frustrate players.
- Many players find the combat mechanics to be overly simplistic and the narrative choices to lack depth, leading to a linear experience.
- The game is relatively short, with a single playthrough lasting around 4 hours, which some players feel does not justify the price.
- story108 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The game's story is well-crafted and engaging, featuring a standard D&D narrative enriched by player choices that enhance replayability. The mechanical bird serving as the narrator adds a unique touch, immersing players in a beautifully designed tabletop experience. While the story is generally enjoyable, some players noted issues with linearity and occasional glitches affecting gameplay.
“The game's charm begins with its engaging story, which expertly weaves together adventure, humor, and camaraderie.”
“Amazing storytelling and great choice making, cannot wait for more from this developer in the future, please do not let this be the only one.”
“Table of Tales is a bit different, a bit more in-depth story and mechanics-wise... its narrator tells a story and voices different characters, there is a bigger story than 'big bad lives there, kill it because reasons.'”
“Honestly, simply going through a story and moving figures didn't seem like it was going to keep my attention.”
“I highly recommend it, but there is something that I don't like... the voice of the bird that narrates the story.”
“Also sometimes the win conditions are either unclear or glitched (for instance in one mission it seems like you can either win by killing all the monsters in the sea cave, or by convincing the NPC that you need to leave before the tide comes in... I killed all of the monsters and then just kinda shuffled around for 3 or so turns before it just gave me a game over).”
- gameplay44 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Table of Tales" is characterized by simple and intuitive mechanics that blend tactical combat with a captivating narrative, making it accessible yet engaging. While the game features varied enemies and evolving character stats that add depth, some players find the mechanics overly simplistic and the camera unresponsive outside of VR. Overall, it offers a fresh tabletop experience with enjoyable storytelling, though its short length and ease may prevent it from being considered a top-tier title.
“The combat scenarios are legitimately good with different twists in each battle that keep gameplay fresh.”
“With a well-written narrative, perfect narration, and polished gameplay, 'Table of Tales' provides a captivating and immersive experience that feels perfectly suited for virtual reality.”
“The gameplay is simple and intuitive, although some additional information on status effects would have been appreciated.”
“Definitely worth playing if the style of the game interests you at all, but the short length and simple gameplay mechanics keep it from being a top-tier VR game.”
“Which is another extreme annoyance with this game: it relies too heavily on the 'keep moving, they won't stop coming' mechanic, aka zerg rushing.”
“Having to move characters to interaction zones slows the gameplay.”
- graphics18 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are widely praised for their charming and polished art style, which effectively creates an immersive tabletop experience in VR. The minimalistic yet detailed visuals, including varied maps and textures, enhance the overall appeal, making players feel as though they are actively engaging with a dynamic board game. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's enchanting atmosphere and gameplay experience.
“The art style is fantastic, like you're looming over a proper board game table and actively moving the pieces by hand; it's delightful to behold in VR.”
“Graphics are very nice, textures are detailed and look great up close, maps and locations are varied, as are enemies and their powers.”
“Short and sweet D&D-style turn-based strategy game, where half of the appeal is the very polished and charming tabletop aesthetic that looks great in VR.”
“The visuals are minimalistic, but they lack detail and can feel empty at times.”
“The graphics are outdated and do not meet the standards of modern gaming.”
“The art style is inconsistent, making it hard to immerse myself in the game.”
- replayability12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game offers a moderate level of replayability through story and character upgrade choices, allowing players to explore different combat tactics and decision-making paths. While some reviewers note the absence of procedural elements limits replay value, many appreciate the variety of choices available, making it enjoyable to replay despite its relatively short length. Overall, the replayability is present but varies depending on player engagement with the decision-making system.
“Story and character upgrade choices offer replayability with varying combat tactics.”
“The game is also very replayable as I can tell by now, as there seems to be many choices and ways to solve different paths.”
“Nothing procedural or roguelike, so replayability is nonexistent.”
“Interesting decision-making system allows for some party customization and replay value, but not much.”
“Although it is a little short, there are many options for replayability to make different choices.”
- stability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its charm but criticized for significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, strange controls, and glitches that disrupt gameplay, such as unexpected ship appearances and repetitive dialogue. Many players report frustrating experiences that lead them to quit due to these persistent problems. Overall, the game's stability is a major concern that detracts from its potential enjoyment.
“This game is great but very buggy and has very strange controls.”
“Could use some UI polish and there are some glitches, like a ship suddenly popping up in the middle of a battle.”
“This game has so much charm going for it, but with the buggy behavior of the game, the locks and strange camera movements, and the dialogue that just keeps repeating in a loop, I can't give it a thumbs up.”
- music4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in "Table of Tales" is praised for its ability to enhance the narrative, reminiscent of "The Invisible Hours," with dramatic compositions that effectively set a captivating tone. The charming narration and accompanying music contribute to an immersive experience, complemented by a visually rich environment.
“Table of Tales reminds me so much of The Invisible Hours and the way they handled the narrative, interspersing news reels with dramatic music that helps set a wonderful tone.”
“Charming narrator, music, and a table full of scenery and figures.”
“The music in Table of Tales beautifully complements the storytelling, creating an immersive experience.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Users note that while the game's performance is solid on a 1080 with a Valve Index, there are concerns regarding the optimization of hero or card placement. Additionally, some players have reported issues with Index controllers, but found that using Vive wands provided a satisfactory experience.
“Performance was great on a 1080 with a Valve Index. I used Vive wands for controllers because I read some issues with Index controllers; the wands worked great.”
“The placement of heroes or cards needs to be optimized.”
“The placement of heroes or cards needs to be optimized.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is heavily influenced by the dungeon master’s narration, which effectively creates an immersive Dungeons & Dragons-like experience, enhancing the storytelling and character interactions.
“The dungeon master narrates all of the character lines and storytelling, instantly giving it a D&D atmosphere.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviewers appreciate the monetization of "Table of Tales," viewing it as a fair investment to support developers who deliver a polished and charming experience, especially in a VR market often criticized for cash grabs and unfinished products.
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently described as funny and charming, contributing positively to the overall experience.
“Even that part is funny and charming to watch.”
