Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown
- September 14, 2021
- Tin Man Games
- 3h median play time
"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.
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 narration by the magical bird adds a delightful D&D atmosphere, enhancing the overall experience and making it feel like a living story.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including soft locks and unresponsive controls, which can hinder gameplay and lead to frustration.
- Many players find the combat mechanics to be overly simplistic and the overall gameplay too short, with a single playthrough lasting around 4 hours.
- The repetitive dialogue from the narrator can become intrusive, detracting from the immersion and enjoyment of the game.
- story54 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story is well-crafted and engaging, featuring a classic D&D atmosphere enhanced by a narrating dungeon master bird. While the narrative is somewhat linear, it offers meaningful choices that impact the gameplay, providing replayability and depth. Players appreciate the blend of humor, camaraderie, and immersive storytelling, making it a standout experience for fans of tabletop RPGs.
“The game's charm begins with its engaging story, which expertly weaves together adventure, humor, and camaraderie.”
“Amazing storytelling and great choice-making; I 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, with a more in-depth story and mechanics; its narrator tells a story and voices different characters, providing a bigger narrative than just 'big bad lives there, kill it because reasons.'”
“The story is pretty decent.”
“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.”
- gameplay22 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "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 enjoyable combat scenarios and varied enemies, some players note issues with camera responsiveness and a reliance on basic mechanics that may detract from the overall experience. Despite its short length and simplicity, the game offers a polished and immersive experience, particularly in virtual reality, appealing to both board game enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
“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.”
“Enemies are varied, characters evolve their stats and new skills can be unlocked, expanding gradually the tactical level of the gameplay.”
“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.”
“Having to move characters to interaction zones slows the gameplay.”
“The mechanics of the game are simple.”
- graphics9 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are highly praised for their charming and polished art style, which creates an immersive tabletop experience in VR. Users appreciate the minimalistic yet captivating visuals, detailed textures, and varied environments that enhance the overall gameplay. The morphing elements and diorama-like aesthetics contribute to a delightful and engaging atmosphere, making it a standout feature for players.
“The popup art style creates a really enthralling scene that moves and transforms before you, without you moving.”
“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.”
“The visuals are minimalistic, but they lack detail and depth, making the game feel flat and uninspired.”
“The graphics are outdated and do not meet the standards of modern gaming, which detracts from the overall experience.”
“The art style is inconsistent and often feels disjointed, leading to a confusing visual experience.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game offers moderate replayability through story and character upgrade choices that allow for varied combat tactics and decision-making, encouraging players to explore different paths. However, some reviewers note a lack of procedural elements, which limits replay value for certain players. Overall, while the game is enjoyable and easy to learn, its replayability is primarily driven by the choices made during the story rather than diverse gameplay mechanics.
“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 seem to be many choices and ways to solve different paths.”
“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.”
“Nothing procedural or roguelike, so replayability is nonexistent.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, glitches, and unresponsive controls, which detract from the overall experience. Players have reported problems such as unexpected camera movements, repetitive dialogue, and instances where the game becomes unplayable, leading to frustration. Despite its charm, these stability concerns prevent a positive recommendation.
“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, the locks, strange camera movements, and the dialogue that just keeps repeating in a loop, I can't give it a thumbs up.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % 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 scores that set a captivating tone. Users appreciate the charming narration and the overall atmospheric quality created by the music, which complements the game's visual elements effectively.
“Table of Tales reminds me so much of The Invisible Hours and the way they handled the narrative, intersplicing newsreels with dramatic music that helps set a wonderful tone.”
“Charming narrator, music, and a table full of scenery and figures.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Users note that while the game's performance is strong on a 1080 with Valve Index, there are concerns regarding the optimization of hero or card placement. Additionally, using Vive wands as controllers proved effective, especially given reported issues with Index controllers.
“Performance was great on a 1080 with a Valve Index. I used Vive wands for controllers because I read about some issues with Index controllers, and the wands worked great.”
“The placement of heroes or cards needs to be optimized.”
“The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to frustrating performance issues.”
“I often find that the optimization of resources is lacking, making it difficult to progress.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is heavily influenced by the dungeon master’s narration, which effectively immerses players in a Dungeons & Dragons-like experience, enhancing the storytelling and character interactions.
“The dungeon master narrates all of the character lines and storytelling, instantly creating a D&D atmosphere.”
“The immersive sound design and haunting visuals transport you to another world, making every moment feel alive.”
“The rich lore and detailed environments draw you in, making exploration a captivating experience.”
“The dungeon master narrates all of the character lines and storytelling, instantly giving it a D&D atmosphere.”
“The game lacks any real sense of immersion; the environments feel flat and uninspired.”
“Despite the potential for a rich setting, the atmosphere feels lifeless and fails to engage the player.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization of "Table of Tales" is viewed positively, as players appreciate the game's polished quality and charm, contrasting it with other VR titles that often feel like cash grabs. Many users express a willingness to support the developers due to the game's evident care and craftsmanship.
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is noted for being both funny and charming, contributing positively to the overall experience.
“Even that part is funny and charming to watch.”