Tale of Two Cranes
- March 7, 2024
- Hosted Games
Get on SteamIn "Tale of Two Cranes," a 750,000-word interactive novel, you are a Yǒngshì warrior with magical powers in mythic ancient China. As war breaks out and the Qin dynasty falls, you must choose your side in the civil war and uncover the mystery of your rival, Chan Mi, who shares a bond with the same heavenly spirit. Your decisions will shape the course of history and your own destiny.
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Reviews
- The writing is well-crafted and engaging, with a captivating story that picks up significantly in the latter half.
- The game offers a variety of choices that can lead to drastically different outcomes, encouraging multiple playthroughs.
- The immersive lore and interesting characters contribute to a rich setting, making the overall experience enjoyable despite some pacing issues.
- Many choices feel misleading and lead to frustrating outcomes, undermining the sense of agency and immersion.
- The game suffers from excessive time skips, often skipping over significant events and leaving players feeling disconnected from the narrative.
- Romantic options are underdeveloped, with limited interactions that make it difficult to form meaningful connections with characters.
- story34 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The story is described as being more focused on gameplay than narrative, with a solid setting and intriguing plot that often feels disconnected from player choices and character development. While the writing is praised and the story captivates from the start, it suffers from pacing issues and a lack of depth in character interactions, particularly in the early chapters. The second half of the game improves significantly, with meaningful choices and a more engaging plot, though many reviewers feel it could have benefited from being split into multiple parts for deeper exploration.
“The writing here, in terms of prose alone, is good; the setting and the overall plot are a solid backbone to build a story off of.”
“The story's pretty captivating from the very beginning and, while there were some weaker moments (looking at you, chapter 4), it really picks up around chapter 5.”
“The game redeems itself with the second half where player choices start to truly matter and the story picks up.”
“The story is much more on rails than most choice of games stories.”
“The vast majority of the story is also barely about the central conflict.”
“There's a whole entire mechanic around building up your estate and deciding what to do with it, but it is only tangentially relevant to the plot and you never get any sense of connection to it.”
- gameplay2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay features a mechanic focused on building and managing an estate, but players find it lacks meaningful integration with the plot, resulting in a disconnection from the overall experience.
“There's a whole mechanic around building up your estate and deciding what to do with it, but it is only tangentially relevant to the plot, and you never get any sense of connection to it.”
