Summary
- Tell Me Your Story is not a farming simulator like Stardew Valley, but it offers a cozy and heartwarming story set in grandma Rose's home.
- Players take on the role of Amelia, exploring her grandma's past through puzzles and scrapbooking, evoking a similar emotional investment as Stardew Valley.
- Although the demo is short and lacks dialogue, Tell Me Your Story has the potential to deliver a meaningful narrative when it launches.
Cozy games like Stardew Valley are known for immersing players in relaxing gameplay and a colorful world and cast of characters. While some might associate Stardew Valley-like games with farming simulators, others also find notes in story-rich titles where the protagonist engages in activities to build loving connections with their family and peers.
The new indie game Tell Me Your Story explores the exciting life of grandma Rose through the eyes of her granddaughter Amelia. The puzzle game is simple on the surface and definitely different from Stardew Valley, but players can expect vibrant stories as they go through each chapter of Rose's life.
How Stardew Valley Fans Can Relate to Tell Me Your Story
Right off the bat, Tell Me Your Story isn't a simulation game like Stardew Valley. Players don't have a farm they inherit from their relatives where they can plant crops, nor is there an open world where they can meet and interact with villagers. Tell Me Your Story is mostly a point-and-click puzzle game that lets players explore grandma Rose's cozy rural home and her exciting past as a young adventurer. This being said, the gameplay is more similar to Witch Beam's Unpacking, especially the sticker collection feature and the puzzles where players need to organize items.
Tell Me Your Story's relaxing vibe and heartwarming story will resonate with a lot of Stardew Valley fans though. In Tell Me Your Story, players take the role of Amelia, a schoolgirl with a vivid imagination who collects memorabilia for her scrapbook. Together with her loyal dog Peanut, they spend their summer vacation at her grandma Rose's home, where Amelia helps with chores and discovers old photos and souvenirs from her grandma's travels to Asia, Europe, and South America.
Tell Me Your Story doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, but players can download the demo on Steam. It will be available on PC and Steam sometime this year.
As Amelia flips through her grandma's albums, she is transported to various sights of different countries, from historical landmarks to unique flora and fauna. Each page contains puzzles that uncover Rose's special memories in each location, giving her granddaughter a glimpse of the life she had as a young woman. Some puzzles may be confusing because the game doesn't provide instructions, but most of the time, they're easy enough to figure out.
Tell Me Your Story might not have the option to tend to a farm or romance villagers like in Stardew Valley, but fans of the popular franchise can still appreciate being part of Amelia and grandma Rose's story. Amelia's scrapbook filled with memorabilia from her grandma encourages a similar level of emotional investment.
Tell Me Your Story is Quick, But Filled With Heart
In Tell Me Your Story's demo, the story progresses without any dialogue -- just icons that provide context clues to Amelia and Rose's conversations. This makes it easier for players to understand the story without having to read through blocks of text, and probably makes it faster to breeze through the game. Based on initial impressions from the demo, Tell Me Your Story seems to be a short game too, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Unpacking received negative reviews for its short game length, even though the game managed to convey a meaningful narrative amid all the puzzle levels.
Players should bear in mind that the story structure might change in Tell Me Your Story's full game. Developer RedDeerGames, which also developed the farming sim Sprout Valley, might add more dialogue to provide context to the story, which may affect the game's length. Hopefully, Tell Me Your Story will still be able to deliver with its heartwarming narrative when it launches.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- February 26, 2016
- ESRB
- E for Everyone (Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco)
- Developer(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Engine
- Proprietary
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Stardew Valley does not currently support crossplay between different consoles and PC
