What dreams brought you here today?
The team behind 2024’s Tavern Talk is heading to Kickstarter again to mix up a little more magic for their upcoming project, Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker.
The 2023 Kickstarter for the first game was fully funded in just six hours, surpassing every smash goal, including a Nintendo Switch release. Personally, it was one of my favorite games of 2024, featuring a great set of diverse and delightful characters, fantastic stories, and fun mechanics for crafting drinks and creating quests.
You can play the demo now for Dreamwalker on Steam, but here’s a little of what I had to write about the experience:
It’s a lot of what made the first game so special to me and many others: gorgeous art with a warm glow to it that jumps off the screen, packed with all kinds of details from the lighthouse in the window to the mounted fish on the wall, to the small peek of the quest board that returning Tavern Talk players know well. I wanted to pull up a bench right next to Mariyam and shoot the breeze about what’s happening in Phesoa.
In announcing Dreamwalker, Gentle Troll mentioned certain mechanics in the game were going to be revised, and you notice that immediately as you craft your first drink. Instead of one potion each for strength, charisma, dexterity, intelligence, and defense, you’re faced with six potions at the start. Some will boost more than one attribute, while some will subtract. As I played the demo, I was given two more potions to work into the mix, which meant I could make the same drink in different ways.
Gentle Troll notes that they’ve “come a long way” in developing Dreamwalker with the revenue from the original game as well as funding from the FFF Bavaria. Still, they’re coming to Kickstarter again to give the game the “final push and polish it deserves to be the best it can be.”
If they reach the campaign’s initial goal, trinkets will be added to Dreamwalker. They were a part of the first game, but here, you’ll be able to look through the items adventurers bring back from their quests.
Additionally, if the main goal is achieved, Gentle Troll would like to add more details to characters, including those related to story events, introduce three more drinks, and provide the adorable Captain Beebug with additional animations. Right off the bat, though, the team would love to hire someone to “lend their enchanting voice” to Dreamwalker’s opening cutscene.
Make sure to head to Kickstarter to be notified of Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker’s official launch, and head to https://linktr.ee/taverntalkgame to follow them on social media and more!