Tails Noir Preludes

About

"Tails Noir Preludes" is a narrative-driven game that explores the formative moments of four characters through interactive vignettes. Your choices in conversations and actions shape your character traits and impact the characters around you, with branching dialogues and randomized events offering multiple paths and outcomes. With a focus on deep and meaningful storytelling, players can track their choices in a branching tree and discover the various scenarios that unfold. This prequel to "Tails Noir" features twice the word count and invites players to reflect on the choices that define us.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 175 reviews

story46 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The writing is engaging and feels real, allowing players to influence every part of the game.
The game features beautiful pixel art, an exceptional soundtrack, and well-developed characters, making it a visually and emotionally captivating experience.
The branching choices add replayability and depth to the narrative, making each playthrough feel unique and impactful.

The game is relatively short, which may leave players wanting more content and depth in the stories.
Some character arcs feel underdeveloped or less engaging compared to others, leading to an imbalance in storytelling.
While the choices matter, they often do not significantly alter the overall outcomes, which can be disappointing for players seeking a more dynamic narrative.

story
177 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
72%
2%
The game's story is a compelling prequel that delves into the lives of four characters from the original game, offering rich backstories and emotional depth. While the narrative is primarily linear with limited branching choices, it effectively enhances character development and provides context for the events of the original game. Players appreciate the engaging storytelling, beautiful art, and immersive soundtrack, although some express a desire for more impactful choices and a longer playtime.
- “The story is compelling and it adds a lot of context to the previous entry.”
- “The touching story is brought to life through characters that feel as real as they are complex, with raw emotions that will have you feeling a range of emotions, from happiness to sadness.”
- “Tails: The Backbone Preludes is a fantastic game that expands on the first one and improves it; the story is gripping, the gameplay more interactive, and the beautiful art and soundtrack are both great.”
- “Despite the summary of the game in the store mentioning there are branching choices, they do little if anything at all to change elements or the outcome of each character's story, and each story is linear.”
- “The game looks beautiful, the sounds are great, but the overall story is quite confusing and oddly structured.”
- “I would have loved this game to be longer and actually tell the story of the characters up until the first game, and then the end cutscene being Howard walking into his place.”
music
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
66%
28%
6%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising its exceptional quality and ability to enhance the atmosphere and emotional depth of the narrative. The soundtrack is noted for its improvement over the previous installment, featuring a blend of jazz and ominous tones that complement the game's themes and character arcs. Overall, the music is described as integral to the gaming experience, contributing significantly to immersion and storytelling.
- “The music is top notch, and is an improvement over the first one, where the story feels a little bit less linear, with little changes in the story depending on your actions.”
- “The music is an integral part of the game, enhancing the atmosphere and emotions of the story.”
- “The beautifully crafted pixel art sets the mood perfectly, while the soundtrack perfectly complements the gripping narrative.”
- “The music went from 'rubbish' in the first game to 'average' in this one.”
- “If you are playing for the soundtrack, you might be a tad disappointed.”
- “Standard backbone art and music style, not enough scenery I think!”
gameplay
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
66%
9%
The gameplay in "Tails: The Backbone Preludes" is characterized by a narrative-driven experience with branching choices and dialogue-heavy interactions, which some players find engaging despite the limited gameplay mechanics. While the game introduces new elements and improves upon its predecessor, "Backbone," it still faces criticism for having minimal gameplay, often feeling more like an interactive story than a traditional game. Overall, the immersive narrative and strong character development compensate for the lighter gameplay elements, creating a compelling experience for players.
- “The branching choices mechanic was a good addition, and I loved learning more about the characters.”
- “Its deep, nuanced narrative and unique stylization accentuated by its immersive gameplay mechanics and beautiful soundscapes foster a riveting gaming journey.”
- “Overall light gameplay elements but the more involved puzzles and branching dialogue spiced things up a lot.”
- “One of the general complaints about Backbone was that it barely had any gameplay... this has even less gameplay.”
- “Backbone was kind of lacking in gameplay; it was basically like watching a movie.”
- “- prototype vibes: it feels like this game is a beta test of larger gameplay elements and concepts for a sequel.”
graphics
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
69%
19%
12%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful pixel art style, which continues the high standards set by the original. Reviewers highlight the stunning visuals, immersive atmosphere, and exceptional soundtrack, noting that the art design enhances the storytelling and character development. Overall, the game successfully builds upon its predecessor's visual appeal while introducing new elements that captivate players.
- “Great game, builds more onto the first game and improves on heaps; visuals are lovely and the storylines are superb.”
- “Tails, just like Backbone, exceeds flawlessly in its visual and atmosphere department, pushing the boundaries for how modern pixel style graphics can be presented.”
- “The graphics are still top notch, and seem to have a new fabric effect that is very mesmerizing.”
- “The art style, story, and characters are all incredibly in-depth and clearly show that a lot of thought was put into them.”
- “It keeps the feel of the first game, and I don't just mean the art style.”
- “About it that Backbone had regarding sound, graphics, characters, writing, and so on, even improving some things.”
emotional
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highly praised, with players noting its ability to evoke a wide range of feelings, from happiness to sadness, through well-crafted characters and immersive storytelling. The narrative builds tension and culminates in impactful confrontations, making the emotional experiences resonate deeply, especially for those familiar with the characters' backstories. Overall, the game is described as an emotional roller coaster, effectively capturing complex themes and relationships that leave a lasting impression on players.
- “Her story builds up with tension, shock, and leads to an emotional confrontation with a satisfying payoff.”
- “The touching story is brought to life through characters that feel as real as they are complex, with raw emotions that will have you feeling a range of emotions, from happiness to sadness.”
- “But that’s life, and the fact this game was able to capture some of the hardest moments anyone will face in a believable and emotionally resonant way is a gift.”
replayability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
The game is highly praised for its replayability, featuring branching paths and impactful choices that encourage multiple playthroughs. Players appreciate the ability to unlock traits and experience different storylines, making each run feel unique despite the game's shorter length. Overall, the combination of sharp writing, engaging characters, and varied outcomes significantly enhances the replay value.
- “This time around the game is designed more for replayability, with branching paths and choices galore - impactful and non-impactful both.”
- “I really enjoy the addition of unlocking traits when you select a choice and that trait stays there for the character for the entirety of the game, which adds a ton of replayability in my opinion.”
- “The game is short, a lot shorter than I expected, but that in itself is not a con since this game was built with replayability in mind.”
- “Following the trend of Backbone, the story of each character hardly ends differently depending on your choices, but you get the power to choose how the story is told leading up to that point, and sometimes the scenes might play out slightly differently as a result, which warrants some level of replayability.”
- “This game offers an endless amount of replay value considering you are able to make different choices per playthrough, to assign a different personality type at the beginning of the game that shall further unlock hidden pieces of dialogue inside of the game depending on your choices to further immerse yourself inside of the Tails experience.”
atmosphere
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
18%
27%
The atmosphere of the game is consistently praised for its beautiful artwork, strong world-building, and exceptional music, which enhances the emotional experience. While some reviews note a slight downgrade compared to the original, the overall ambiance remains captivating, with well-written dialogues and engaging characters contributing to a cohesive and immersive experience. The combination of stunning visuals and stellar sound design solidifies the game's atmospheric appeal.
- “Nevertheless, the game has great dialogues, amazing atmosphere, world building, and soundtracks.”
- “The music is an integral part of the game, enhancing the atmosphere and emotions of the story.”
- “Tails, just like Backbone, exceeds flawlessly in its visual and atmosphere department, pushing the boundaries for how modern pixel style graphics can be presented.”
- “Nothing stands out, nothing does more than simply provide a mild atmosphere.”
- “But we have good music and this is almost the only thing that brings joy and atmosphere to the game.”
- “The slight downgrade in atmosphere was made up with stellar sound design, of which the original lacked in some regards.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is praised for its depth and emotional resonance, featuring well-crafted writing that explores complex themes with empathy and sincerity. Reviewers highlight the combination of great character design, background art, and music, which enhances the overall narrative experience.
- “Great character design, great background art, great music, and writing that both dares to plumb uncomfortable conversations and philosophy, and also approaches a complex world with a surprising amount of empathy and heartfelt content.”
- “The writing was beautifully done and the character development is full of heart.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in Howard's story is highlighted as a standout feature, with users noting that it is primarily comedic and filled with funny, awkward conversations that elicit significant laughter.
- “Howard's story is mostly comedy and is definitely the story that made me laugh the most.”
- “The funny and awkward conversations were so great.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of effort akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The grinding feels endless and tedious.”
- “I spent hours grinding, and it felt like I made no progress.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, while users report some minor bugs in gameplay, these issues do not significantly detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.
- “The gameplay can be slightly buggy, but never enough to remove enjoyment.”