The Book of Unwritten Tales

Recommended for: If you're a fan of point'n click adventure games then The Book of Unwritten Tales is a solid option to try out. It features a nice fantasy story full of humor with decent voice acting. The characters are ok, certainly not bad but can be somewhat bland. The puzzles mainly involve using the right item in the right place at the right time, standard stuff. The game is not too hard, but not too easy either, since like many adventure games it sometimes requires thinking outside the box.

I would like to give a warning about one of the puzzles though, which could impact your enjoyment of the game. Like I said, most of the time you're just using items on other stuff to progress like in every other point'n click adventure game, but suddenly halfway through you have to do a rhythm minigame that is unskippable! I'm sure the vast majority of players won't have any problem with it, but I’m certain there will be people who struggle with it, especially those with a disability.

There is a solution given on the official website of the developer, which basically comes down to "git gud" or just use a save file. Seriously, why is there no skip button after a certain number of failed attempts? It still baffles me that adventure game developers think putting this kind of crap in the game is a good idea. There's also a similar puzzle where you have to brew a potion, but that one is less annoying in my opinion. Still, on their website, you can also find a save file for that if you're having difficulty with it as well.

My experience: So overall I had a good time with The Book of Unwritten Tales. I liked the story and the humor it brought, although it’s a bit heavy on pop culture references, so depending on your experience you might not get all the jokes. The voice acting is good, nothing great, but certainly not bad. And I think the game still looks fine graphically.

But I really can't stand it when games radically change the gameplay like that. When I'm playing a point'n click adventure game I’m expecting a relaxing time, trying to enjoy the story and solve puzzles at my own pace. But when I’m suddenly expected to do stupid stuff like what's mentioned above I get very annoyed very fast. I was almost considering downvoting the game because of it, but eventually decided not to because the rest of the game is very good in my opinion.

Technical: I had no technical issues while playing. (Win10,7800X3D,RX7800XT)

Personal rating: 4/5 (ignoring the two stupid puzzles...)

It's a nice, well designed and slow game to play. No hurry and no rush.

I Recommend this point and click adventure!
It has a lot of hints of other nerdy fandoms, probably more than I could catch. The voice actors were good and most of the time the voice and text matches! (Not just long texts) the length of the game was good and I the difficulty did not increased at the end, even though I took a look at a walkthough a couple of times, (because point and click and walking and clicking and then forgetting something and so on)
A very nice game!

I've been playing video games (and board games) for a long time, so I'm well-familiar with large-chested female avatars with low-cut, skin tight outfits. If they are particularly egregious, it might provoke a few laughs, but for the most part, it's just par for the course and usually I hardly notice the avatar after a minute or two. I mention this to give an idea of how awful the female avatar had to be in this game for me to be unable to get past it. The woman is dressed in the equivalent of a balconette bra and boyshort panties. She walked on the screen for the first time, and I was shocked. Which was pretty shocking in and of itself. I continued playing, telling myself I would stop noticing after a few minutes. Nope. Every time she had to lean over to examine an item or flatten herself against a wall to hide, there it all was, front and center.

Now maybe you're thinking, "I love pornographic female avatars! This is the game for me!" If so, you're going to be disappointed because, at least for the little of the game I managed to get through, the game is dual POV, so after the female went through various contortions to cut a bit of rope, the scene switches to the male avatar. A stumpy, homely character who I guess is some kind of gnome or dwarf or something. Where's the ridiculously muscled male avatar wearing nothing more than tight silk briefs so that he can waggle his assets at me as he stands on tiptoe to reach something on a shelf? I'm not saying it would've improved the game or made me willing to play it longer, but an acknowledgement by the developers that a proportion of their audience appreciates the male form over the female would have been a nice gesture.

As for the rest of the game, it's a shame the developers went this route (in 2012 if Steam's release date is to be believed) because the bit of humor I experienced suggests it could've been a pretty entertaining game. The game mechanics do seem like they might get annoying after awhile. You have to click on something to change the cursor to an action cursor (e.g. examine or use) and then click on it again to take that action. But hard to say how annoying that would've gotten when I've only played the game for 20 minutes.

Overall, a potentially entertaining game but definitely not for me.

Running windows 11 cant save or autosave . tried other compatibility settings same cant save help!

Amazing characters with equally amazing (top notch) voice actors. The story is compelling and immersive. A++ point and click adventure. Very funny, great graphics and well worth every penny. Highly recommend.

Overall a positive experience. It was at times witty and charming. Quite a bit though the jokes are a bit forced. The puzzles are pretty easy to solve and in most cases could be considered too easy. Some though are a bit obtuse. This game will not blow your mind, but if you are craving a fun little irreverent point and click adventure, you could definetely do worse. I've seen that there is a sequel although it hasn't been translated into English from what I understand. The game did not leave me craving for more afterwards, so I'm inclined to be fine that there may never be an English version of the sequel to play, but worth noting in case you crave more after this one. I don't know what price this game is going for these days, but if it's less than $10 I would consider it a good price for this one.

It's a decent game with good throwbacks for point and click and fantasy games in general. The humor is a little dated and at times feels like the writers are trying too hard to be funny. Not a bad game though.

Very engaging adventure game, rich storyline, good voice acting and, importantly, very captivating atmosphere. The riddles are reasonably challenging and well-constructed.

🌟 A Must-Play for Point-and-Click Adventure Fans! 🌟

If you love classic point-and-click adventures, The Book of Unwritten Tales is an absolute gem! KING Art has crafted a beautifully detailed world filled with humor, charm, and engaging puzzles.

🧙‍♂️ Story & Characters: The game pays homage to fantasy and RPG tropes while keeping things fresh with witty dialogue and lovable characters. Wilbur, Ivo, Nate, and Critter each bring their own unique personality, making the journey a joy from start to finish.

🧩 Puzzles & Gameplay: The puzzles are well-designed—challenging but never frustrating. The game strikes a great balance between logic and creativity, keeping you engaged without feeling stuck.

🎨 Visuals & Sound: The hand-painted environments are stunning, and the voice acting is top-notch. The music perfectly complements the whimsical tone of the game, enhancing the overall experience.

💡 Final Verdict: The Book of Unwritten Tales is one of the best adventure games in recent years. Whether you're a longtime fan of the genre or a newcomer, this game will entertain you with its clever writing, memorable characters, and fantastic world-building. A must-play!

✅ Rating: 8/10 – Highly Recommended! 🎮✨

Good, traditional point and click with great graphics and voice acting.

Had high-hopes but this went into my book of un-played games.

Funny, engaging, very tongue-in-cheek vis-a-vis iconic adventure games like monkey island. The length is very satisfactory, without getting tedious or repetitive. The puzzles are also very nice. Aside from a couple of them that relied a bit too much on cartoon logic (for me, at least), they were fairly easy to work through, but by no means trivial. Very "fair play", as well, rewarding players for getting close to a solution, even if not there yet.

The only minus I can think of is some occasional pixel hunting and/or changing hotspots, but you can work around that by using space to highlight all active spots.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable game that I definitely recommend for fans of the genre.

A very fun and funny fantasy-set point-and-click. If you enjoy point and clicks, humor, and fantastical (yet goofy) tales, you'll enjoy this.

Brilliant game, wish they'd do more!

The graphical style might be off-putting at first but this is a true adventure game. There are a few places where the waiting for animation can be annoying and a few other places where the humor falls flat but overall it leaves a good taste in your mouth afterwards. Almost none of the puzzles are nonsensical. I recommend to anyone who likes point-and-clicks. My favorite was the section with the group of undead.

great game i miss these games

A wonderful, funny, and immersive game! The Book of Unwritten Tales has clever puzzles, a charming story, and a fantasy world that’s easy to get lost in. It’s a must for adventure fans.

3/5 for me, had some good moments, had some not-good moments.
Gameplay-wise, it was pretty good. Nothing was laggy or buggy on my end, and I'm not always the best at puzzle games so I had a walkthrough open to reference as needed, but most things were pretty straightforward. I LOVED the spacebar being a key to show all the interactable things around you, it really helped me realize when I was finished in a room since I only had so many interactable things visible. I wish more puzzle games had that function. the story itself was okay. I liked a lot of the fourth-wall breaks and references. The final cutscene could have been a bit more fleshed out to be more climactic, but it worked I guess. The main trio of gnome that dreams of becoming a hero, elf princess that can talk to birds, and self-absorbed con man that learns to not abandon everyone, is something that feels like it's been done before, but the game still puts its own spin on it. That said, I just couldn't get over some of the poorly-made jokes when the devs had demonstrated they can be witty and clever in good taste.

Which leads me to my next thing. I know the game came out in 2009, but some of the "jokes" are very much things that only would have flown in a dev room of conservative white men in 2009 making a game for conservative white men in 2009. Ivo's boob window/overall character design is an obvious one, but there's also a male paladin that likes pink and cares about his hair and has a high heel on his banner, and he is openly mocked for it and is manipulated to continue the plot. Additionally, there is a bull-man that lives in a teepee with a feather headdress on the wall that resembles those most people think of when we think of Native Americans originally from the Great Plains region. Additionally, this not-human-man smokes a lot and uses mushrooms, thus leaning into negative Native American stereotypes, and you have to steal part of the headdress for the plot. The reviews for this game are brimming with comments of how clever this game is, and that is true. What is also true is that if the writers were clever enough to write an entire section playing off of LARP and DND and servers, they could have been clever enough to not use toxic masculinity or dehumanizing depictions of Native Americans as humor. I did not have a good time playing those sections, and was relieved when those sections were over. Those section unfortunately resurfaced near the end, which led to me being relieved when the overall game was over. I also didn't like the pattern of tricking other characters into doing what the plot required, but I'm just not a 'the ends justify the means' person.

it is an absolutely great game! if you love point&click adventures: this is your stuff!
the only annoying thing, especially if you wanna replay it: you can't skip all those annoying animations!
they're necessary and fun at the beginning, but if you gotta repeat a few tasks to get something right and/or you replay it, therefor already more or less know crudely the main game....it becomes extremely frustrating and annoying to be forced to watch the same seemingly unnecessary and and annoying animations over and over again without a chance to simply skip them.
yes; ive checked the gnome house before! no, i haven't, yet, found out the right way to proceed. no! i dont wanna watch wilbur annoyingly long climb down the stairs into the basement because i gotta re-check again, if i really checked everything properly in the basement before! i simply wanna quickly check the basement! I HAVE SEEN WILBUR ALREADY SEVERAL TIMES CLIMBING DOWN THE FUCKING STAIRS!!!!!! I DONT NEED TO SEE IT AGAIN FOR A REPEATED TIME!!!!!!!!!

As I write this review, I'm listening to “Night Terrors” by Dream Theater. This new single is the first song with drummer Mike Portnoy since their 2009 album, "Black Clouds and Sliver Linings."

It also happens that The Book of Unwritten Tales was released three months earlier, in April of 2009. Thinking about the late 2000's takes me back to a very different time. It was a time that I've considered the "Dark Ages" for adventure gaming - before the genre was revitalized and became mainstream again in 2012. The Walking Dead and Dear Esther each had different ways of streamlining (simplifying & stripping-down) the adventure game genre.

The Book of Unwritten Tales is also a simplified version of "Monkey Island"-style point-and-click adventure gaming. Because of this more casual approach, it holds up better than most adventure games from the 2000s.

The game removes some of the most annoying things about adventure games, such as pixel hunting (all interactions can be displayed by pressing spacebar), "lune logic" (there are a limited number of interactions, so even if you get stuck, just try everything!), and failure states (you can't do anything that would block progress or end the game.)

I massively enjoyed this game with its casual feel, pre-Marvel humor, lighthearted tone, and excellent voice acting performances. Wilbur and Ivo especially had great voices.

This game has a prequel and a sequel. I'll be playing those at some point!

This is absolutely one of the best point and click games i've ever played, great humor, puzzles, just chef's kiss.
HOWEVER
I am not able to finish any game from TBoUT universum because of bugs.
Simple solutions i found on internet did not work and i am not advanced enough in IT to implement more complex solutions. If i'm buying a game, i shouldn't have to go over extra mile just to be able to open it, right?
It's so sad that developers apparently abandoned the series, it was really a gem this couple of hours i get to play.
For this reasons, with VERY, VERY heavy heart i must say: don't waste your money, it will be only a frustration

Not gonna lie, it has its problems.
Its pretty easy to overlook that one important thing that you cant go on without and there are a view minigames that test you patience and frustration threshhold.
(if developers read this: a skip function would maybe help)
BUT
Every little detail in this game is made by people that not only know ther nerd stuff (mcguffin *cough*) but also put their heart and soul into making a truely bizarre, helarious and unbelievably nerdy game.
The passion that went into this shows in every little detail and it is not only a lot of fun but also really heartwarming to play such a cool homage to everything nerdy (and anything in between)
Thank you for making this.

PS: Have patience with the frustrating mini games: its worth it.

it reminded me a lot of the old Lucas Arts and Sierra On-Line adventures

Tedious. Click read. Click read. Click read. Click read. Click read. .........

So.. Here's the story. I think. You follow a hobbit called Willow who wants to become a mage instead of an engineer. Suddenly he's sent on a quest to deliver a magical ring to an powerful wizard while dodging the evil forces. There's an elf with an attitude and a self claimed treasure hunter. Something like that?

Sigh.. Well I did play a solid point&click game anyways. The puzzles were quite simple and straightforward. Sometimes you had to think outside the box but at least there were no monkey wrenches.

There's quite a lot of things I didn't like here. To me it felt like all the possible originality of the setting was shadowed by constant references and jokes that were hip at the time of release. I lost count on how many Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and gods know what else stories were mixed and ridiculed here. Satires are all well and good but for my tastes, this was rather poorly written..

Recommending this? For the sake of experiencing it yourself. The overall reviews are mostly positive and as I wrote, its a solid game. Just not my cup of tea.

There's a rain dance sequence which requires fast movements and I can't complete it. There is no option to skip it.

Holy cow did I love this game and the sequels. I mean, I think it's spoiled me for all other games. How am going to find another game with phenomenal voice actors, beautiful graphics, and gut busting humor? Not to mention really good puzzles. I can't believe I had never heard of this game before until recently. I wish I could play all three of them again for the first time.

My favorite game!

Well so far I feel this is a parody against RPGs and RPGers.
so far I don't know if I should laugh or be offended..from a game!?
ANd everytime I start getting "Immersed" they do or say something seemingly to purposely? Yank you out of your
immersion. Which is usually some sort of irl joke or insult?

I Really REally wanted to love this one and it is really really well done and made just, ugh... ..I Hope this is just part of its charm and it gets better and I will change my review. Maybe its my attitude, I'll try changing that too; but I doubt it will help, I been gaming my whole life. Dang.. Hope I change this review.

real fun experience, 10/10

Nice point'n'click is your like LOTR and similar. Good things also there's no redundant or repeated guessing with impossible combinations and the solutions are much obvious. Good game. Playing now TBOUT2 for some minutes and it's exactly what you would expect from a point'n'click like this on modern graphics and gamepad support.