The Mage's Tale

The Mage's Tale is a first person virtual reality dungeon crawler role-playing video game developed and published by inXile Entertainment in partnership with Oculus VR. It is a spin-off of The Bard's Tale, set before the events The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep. It is inXile's first virtual reality title.

The Mage's Tale
Developer(s)inXile Entertainment[1]
Publisher(s)inXile Entertainment[1]
Producer(s)Brian Fargo
Composer(s)Ged Grimes[2]
SeriesThe Bard's Tale
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Oculus Rift
Release
  • WW: June 20, 2017
[2]
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The Mage's Tale is a first-person dungeon crawler. Gameplay centers on exploring subterranean passages, solving puzzles, and fighting enemies. Unlike other games in The Bard's Tale series, The Mage's Tale focuses on a single character and class, a mage. Combat is real-time, using physical gestures to throw spells, and a magical shield to block incoming attacks.

The game makes use of a deep spell-crafting system that allows players to mix various ingredients to create different effects. These ingredients affect the element, behavior, and strength of spells.

The Mage's Tale makes use of both free movement and a teleport mechanic for locomotion. Movement is step-based, and confined to four directions, similar in feel to grid-based dungeon crawlers, but without being limited to a grid-based map. This allows players to navigate and dodge in real-time, but the short bursts of movement help to mitigate the sim-sickness suffered by some with smooth movement.

Development and release

The Mage's Tale was developed in parallel with The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep, and the two projects share some assets. Development took place at inXile's New Orleans studio, and was fully funded by Oculus VR. The two titles were developed by separate teams, but share some assets and tools.[3]

The Mage's Tale was released on June 20, 2017, exclusively for Oculus Rift, with plans to bring the title to "platforms other than Oculus Touch" in the future.[4]

Reception

The Mage's Tale received mixed reviews upon its initial release. Aggregate review site Metacritic lists a score of 72, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]

At the time of release, The Mage's Tale was notable for its length and depth compared to other VR-exclusive titles. UploadVR awarded The Mage's Tale an 8/10 or "Great" score, citing its "engrossing 10+ hour long adventure" and "addictive spellcrafting system" as well as the many boss fights.[6] PC Gamer's Tom Marks touted the title as "one of the first VR games I've played that feels like the full package," but lamented the lack of strategic depth compared to more traditional dungeon crawlers.[7] VRFocus awarded the title 5/5 stars, again citing it as one of the few RPGs of its size and scope available in VR.[8]

In one of the more mixed reviews, Destructoid rated the game a 6/10, indicating "All right." Although the reviewer hailed the game as a "minor milestone" for VR, he was critical of the long loading times, particularly for spell crafting, and the reliance on gestures and physical interactions for basic gameplay functions that would normally be handled by buttons or menus.[9]

References
  1. "The Mage's Tale". June 10, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  2. "Master the Mystic Arts: 'The Mage's Tale' Now Available on Rift". Oculus VR. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  3. "The Mage and the bard". Kickstarter. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  4. "Update 37: Bringing an Iconic Series into the 21st Century". Kickstarter. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  5. "The Mage's Tale for PC reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  6. "The Mage's Tale Review: A VR Dungeon Crawl RPG 30 Years In The Making". UploadVR. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  7. "The Mage's Tale is one of VR's biggest games yet". PCGamer. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  8. "Review: The Mage's Tale". VR Focus. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  9. "Review: The Mage's Tale". Destructoid. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
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