Come along on a nostalgic voyage around the world where you’ll visit the Amazon Forest, ride a train in Europe, and take part in a tea ceremony in Asia. Tell Me Your Story is the latest game from RedDeer to arrive on Steam. It is a relaxing puzzle game with a cozy aesthetic that portrays Rose’s life through the eyes of her grand-daughter Amelia. Interestingly the development team is entirely composed of women.

Tell Me Your Story has a beautiful and heartwarming narrative. You play as Amelia, and with Peanut your faithful Corgi you visit your grand-mother’s house. Once you’ve arrived, you find her journal. This is where the story begins. Rose of course is happy to oblige, and shares her life with you. She had quite a life. The game starts with her childhood, and then we follow her travels in the Amazon forest, Europe, and Asia. You will also witness her falling in love on a train ride, marry, and more. The game manages to convey all of this without text or voice. The entire story is unveiled through images and puzzles. The creators did an excellent job of conveying Rose’s story without using a single word. All of her most important life events are represented. I felt the full range of emotions as I was playing. Despite the unconventional narration style, I never had any doubt about what the creators where trying to say.

The stunning artwork is one of my favourite features in Tell Me Your Story. It has the appearance of a lovely children’s picture book, but with a more complex story. The art is colourful and has a certain playfulness that fits perfectly with the theme. I had to pause once or twice to admire the artwork. I wanted to screenshot everything to share it with friends. The artwork creates a gorgeous background for this touching narrative. If you’ve fallen in love with the beautiful aesthetics like I did you can also buy the DLC. Rose, Amelia, and even Peanut each have their very own DLC where you can marvel at each character’s specific artwork. I was however a bit disappointed with the soundtrack. I was expecting more. Considering that the game narrative is told entirely through the image and puzzles I was hoping for a stellar soundtrack. It’s nice and has a relaxing cozy vibe to it, but I would have loved to hear something that matched the emotions expressed in the story. It just didn’t stand out from other games in the same genre.

Every puzzle builds on the previous one to chronicle Rose’s life, and altogether forms a backdrop for Rose’s story. I love how seamless the experience is. The puzzles are an intricate part of the narrative. There is a good amount of variety that kept me interested throughout. There are sorting, pattern matching and so many different types of mini-games. Some are extremely easy while others are a bit more complicated. Most of them where enjoyable to complete, but I was stumped a few times. It’s not that they were challenging, but the lack of directions got a bit frustrating. Sometimes I was just unsure of what to do next. There are 3 hints available. Initially I was holding off not wanting to squander these hints futilely. They are rechargeable, but it’s not specified at all. You only find that out once you’ve already used all of them. Had I known this from the start, my experience would have been significantly better. You will have to complete a simple puzzle to recharge them. It consists of putting a broken teacup back together. I tried depleting them to see if I could recharge them a second time and it seems that there is no limit to the amount of hints you can get. Nonetheless you shouldn’t need more than a couple of hints as most of the puzzles are pretty straightforward. I did like how the hints give you instructions without spoiling the answers. Altogether I thought the puzzles were clever and incredibly varied. The difficulty also varies, but most of them were on the easier side. I found this to be a perfect way to keep me enthralled in the story.

Tell Me Your Story is an emotional game that looks like it could be straight out of a storybook. The creators have expertly integrate puzzles to create the narrative. Without one single word, they have communicated a touching and emotional story. The artwork is simply gorgeous. I would have loved a more prominent soundtrack, but I did enjoy its cozy vibe. It is short. I finished it in under three hours, but contrary to some other games I didn’t feel cheated. Overall I was satisfied with the amount of gameplay. The game truly shines through its stunning artwork, stirring narrative, and relaxing atmosphere. If you’re a fan of cozy puzzle games, you should definitely give Tell Me Your Story a try.

Positives

• Stunning artwork
• Clever puzzles
• Cozy aesthetics
• Touching story

Negatives

• Puzzles lack instructions
• Soundtrack could be more expressive of the story