Tales from Candleforth Review | Bytesized

[@TroutsNose]

Love these honest reviews! Jess has very quickly become my favorite reviewer for her insightful comments and thoughtful critique. You can tell she is well-versed in her genres and knows her biz. And yes, love the more "chatty" comments at the very end -- gives us personality to match the voice :) Keep it coming, Jess!!

[@PrettyGrimGames]

🖤

[@thedudewhoeatspianos]

Glad to see Jess doing such good work, especially since she's the only person on the staff who can see colors.

[@PrettyGrimGames]

It's one of my many skills.

[@charlottecreature2281]

Love that you gave a shout out to the cube series, but don't forget all the other rusty lake games and fireproof's original "the room" games!

[@beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee1]

Loving the voice overs on the credits. Letting the peeps add a bit more of themselves in makes the whole vid feel more complete to me.

[@davidcook793]

Where the Water tastes like Wine has a folk, musical storytelling and mystery narrative theme - give it a go!

[@PrettyGrimGames]

I'll check it out! Thank you. 🖤

[@ciaralee2529]

Man I have like 25 hours from that game!!

[@betwrixolive9431]

🎶 The big rock candy mountains 🎶

[@Luanmm]

My only problem with the game is how, when we "evolve" the tales, we don't have access to their old versions anymore. Sometimes the evolutions are so different that I forget/can't see in which situation they were best to be told... But very nice game, indeed!

[@ClockworkDodo89]

Amazing review. Really engaging and insightful commentary. Ambience and intrigue are essential in a decent puzzle game. After seeing your review, I’m definitely keen to give this one a try. Thank you. 👍

[@ty_sylicus]

A horror themed puzzler ranks pretty low on my list of interest but, the art often looks very good.

[@frog42]

Glad to see she added some end of credit comments : ) I do not have a recommendation unfortunately

[@cheesi]

Looks neat! Love having attention brought to little games like this. It would be good to have the currency stated with the price though, I know you're a US-based company but it just takes a second to say and makes things clearer for people who don't have that context.

[@jonw1599]

this art style for some reason really reminds me of the Cube Escape series

[@joshuatealeaves]

I’m at the age now where I can truly appreciate all these fun indie games. AAA games are impressive in scope but man the fun just isn’t over there anymore. For me at least

[@waarschijn]

I feel like I'm being eased into the psychological horror genre. Machinarium => Hidden Object Games => Tormentum => Cube Escape => this?

[@OrangeLightning]

Mundaun is a great folk horror game, incredible art style

[@PrettyGrimGames]

I like this one too! I haven't finished it yet, though.

[@GmodPlusWoW]

Hell yeah, it's a GREAT game. Not only does it have that slow burn of relative normality, but it also has that mechanical tension that a lot of horror gaming kinda lost after people took the wrong lessons from Amnesia. Helpnessness in horror is still a viable ingredient, don't get me wrong, but it's all about how you use it. Starting out helpless can make finding a good problem-solver feel all the more gratifying, as it recontextualizes said problems in a satisfyingly aggressive fashion. And on the flipside, losing one's faculties after a certain point can help recontextualize problems that you could normally solve with clever use of a good problem-solver. Hell, when I finally realized that Oswald Mandus was a big game hunter in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, but the game has no combat options whatsoever, it made me wish that The Chinese Room had actually reached for Chekov's gun and let you shoot the pigs. You'd think that would break the tension, but limited ammunition would help maintain a different kind of tension, where not only do you not have enough bullets for all the pigs, but also you have to be wary of attracting MORE pigs because you're firing a gun in the middle of London. (don't take that out of context)

[@deebzscrub]

Oooh this seems neat. Bummer about the story not quite coming through though. I feel like that's a pretty important aspect for these types of games

[@benzur3503]

Gives rusty lake vibes, looks great 👍

[@aturchomicz821]

Rusty lakes newest game is set in a goddam metro, yeah nah this wishes it had the sharpness and charm of RL lmao

[@guybrushmonkey97]

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a great folk horror game, for those searching for more!

[@PrettyGrimGames]

It’s so good!

[@Jaybirderino]

Bytesized is a fun watch! I'm wondering what happened to the Songs of Conquest review though??

[@thetruemandalorian2637]

I don’t have recommendations for games or movies, but have you heard of this fellow Darren Mooney? Legend says he also loves movies and can’t stop once started.

[@PrettyGrimGames]

Hmm, sounds familiar.

[@SuperheroChuck]

If you like detention, then you should check out red candles second game, devotion

[@bearcataquatic]

Maybe less horror but in terms of folklore I ADORE " black book". Also have to mention Darkwood, which is definitely more horror xp

[@PrettyGrimGames]

Darkwood is great! I'll have to check out Black Book.

[@bearcataquatic]

@@PrettyGrimGames oh definitely! The gameplay can get a bit repetitive and it's not hard to make broken decks later in the game. But the love and research poured into the folk tales and songs is such that i can't help but admire it

[@brokastel9269]

Have you ever played Theresia - Dear Emile? It's not exactly /folk/ horror, but I'll take any chance to recommend it. Very unique and macabre game, it's a wonder that it ended up on the DS of all platforms.

[@PrettyGrimGames]

I have not played it, sadly!

[@rd-um4sp]

Jessica always bringing the goods! thank you

[@PrettyGrimGames]

🖤

[@tommysalty5864]

Jess made another great review! I mean, using "sleuthing" shows that you're serious about your vocabulary. I respect that .

[@PrettyGrimGames]

Ha. I'm a fan of alliteration, so I think I subconsciously gravitated toward an "s" word to follow "some."

[@prestonbyrd8443]

I can personally recommend Creepy Tale. It is the definition of unnerving. It's also rather difficult since many of the puzzles require giid timing and are usually not so intuitive. Just remember that butterflies aren't friendly.

[@PrettyGrimGames]

Well, consider me intrigued.

[@JULR0W]

I love Escape Room style puzzles! onto the wishlist it goes

[@SACworks]

The game looks cool! I like it's aesthetic. Somehow feels comfy. 3:14 - Cube Escape mention! Yeah those are mostly enjoyable. I've recently played Rusty Lake's latest game, Underground Blossom, also set in the Rusty Lake franchise. It's pretty solid. Haven't finished it yet as I'm currently achievement hunting. :D 4:04 - Recommendations? Hmm...I have 1, and I will always bring it up as I've heard almost nobody play it. In Sound Mind. It's a psychological horror game. I thoroughly enjoyed it as someone who likes horror but is an absolute wuss. ^_^; Edit: Scratch that, got another one. Prognostic, where you use divination to solve crimes. Bit lackluster, especially in the story front, but I like the concept. :P

[@PrettyGrimGames]

Thanks for the recommendations!

[@SACworks]

@@PrettyGrimGames no problems! And once again, what a great review of a neat little game! :D

[@jimbrenneman2040]

Not really folk horror as such, but Fran bow

[@ReclaimedDasein]

JESS! WHY U NO DO POST CREDITS THOUGHTS?!? Also, it seems like a cool game. Well delivered. Great job.

[@PrettyGrimGames]

I did do some post-credit rambling and even a vaguely threatening request for recommendations. ;)

[@ReclaimedDasein]

@@PrettyGrimGames fair, but I prefer rambling the whole way through. :p

[@ashuggtube]

The discrepancies in the story setup between the store description, the web site and the game itself would definitely irrit me …

[@PrettyGrimGames]

Yeah. I don't buy that it was intentional (as some people are suggesting), but I'm willing to give it a pass because there was a lot that I really, really liked about the game.

[@ashuggtube]

@@PrettyGrimGames I'm sure it's just a little QA issue

[@seanw1783]

Looks worrh grabbing on a small sale

[@zvenlin]

she ll be watching 👀 Changing pseudos do sinister homie.

[@PrettyGrimGames]

👀

[@TheCreepypro]

an interesting puzzle game

[@damie9412]

Nice

[@zombieowen]

good recos!

[@Cryten0]

Looks fairly bleak in setting, with several uses of symbols of suicide.

[@gimligimlass5509]

There being different versions of the narrative in the various official resources for the game is a very "fairy tale" thing to do, to be fair.

[@omnijack]

Price seems unusual for a 2 hour game. Perhaps I’ve become a boomer…?

[@DJKokaKola]

$10 for two hours is too much?

[@JustinKoenigSilica]

@@DJKokaKola considering the absolute plethora of games that can be had for

[@PrettyGrimGames]

It's less than I'd pay to see a two-hour movie in theaters, and I get to keep the game/replay it as much as I want. That's the comparison I usually find myself making (even though I haven't actually been to a movie theater in years, haha).

[@JustinKoenigSilica]

​@@PrettyGrimGames Yes, that's the comparison YOU would make. you are likely not most games, whom are used to hundreds of FTP games to occupy their time. most gamers do not compare their spending to a cinema.

[@DJKokaKola]

@@JustinKoenigSilica why would you compare a niche art house game to f2p swill?