I'd say The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales isn't really worth your time, unfortunately, even if you're already paying for Game Pass. It has a cool world concept and its art is nice to look at, but it's basically a walking simulator with a story that'll only barely tease you with interest before falling flat.
It has an intriguing hook. Just starting in a cramped tenement in first person, you'll likely be a bit confused as most if not all screenshots you've seen show an isometric view. Here you'll get a feel for your character, Etienne: an author who's being punished by a “writer's police” for a heinous crime. His seemingly entire life has been confiscated and he's going to be miserable for the next 30 years, the length of his bar from writing. When a criminal organization offers to remove his literal shackles and give him his life back, of course he's going to pay whatever their price is.
The price, what you'll be doing in the game, is stealing literary objects from books so that they can be “plagiarized” into other, newer books for a fee. The old book loses its value now that what's usually a key plot element has vanished from it, and it has to be taken down from shelves. It's not piracy, you're literally stealing the original item (from inside the story) so some talentless schmuck can use it in his junky novel not worthy of your bathroom's library. How that new author doesn't get caught, I don't know, but I guess it's not important. It's all Etienne can do to get back on track, and you'll want to help him do it.
But, as another reviewer here (Raxun) says, this game is a playable story. However, I deviate from their thoughts as I don't think it's one worth checking out, because the story isn't very interesting after the intro segment. A playable story is only as good as the writing, but you won't learn much more about Etienne and his story until the fifth of six chapters, and by then it's too little too late. The plot rushes to a close after what felt like several hours of stalling. It tries to be sentimental but I don't feel like it's really earned.
The game has turn-based combat that is pretty competent, but also very easy and there'll be only two fights (or sometimes only one) per chapter. It may as well not be there.
The writing of dialogue between Etienne and his sidekick, a character in a chain he names Roderick, is solid. It's believable, but I don't think it's some amazing story in dire need of viewers.
Again, I think this really is unfortunate, because there's definitely potential here. A world where the TV was never finalized and books are more heavily relied upon for entertainment, so how they're created has seen major, basically-magical changes: I'm interested! The art looks nice and the conversations feel like genuine people. But what do you do? Very little. What do you experience? The story that got you hooked basically places you in a waiting room for hours before flashing a few pictures in front of you and then tossing you out the back door.
It's a very linear experience, the dialogue choices are basically optional until you click the “right” one, so (I think) there's only one way to play the story. You can choose between two different fighting upgrades betwixt (sorry) levels, but since the combat is so sparse, I don't think the couple minutes this may barely change across hours of dialogue is worth the replay.
I remember liking Do My Best's other game, The Final Station, though truth be told I don't remember much of it. I think The Bookwalker shows promise, it just fails to see it through. I wish these guys the best on their next project and I hope they learn from this one.
I do not recommend The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales. I do recommend you read more books, we all should.
It has an intriguing hook. Just starting in a cramped tenement in first person, you'll likely be a bit confused as most if not all screenshots you've seen show an isometric view. Here you'll get a feel for your character, Etienne: an author who's being punished by a “writer's police” for a heinous crime. His seemingly entire life has been confiscated and he's going to be miserable for the next 30 years, the length of his bar from writing. When a criminal organization offers to remove his literal shackles and give him his life back, of course he's going to pay whatever their price is.
The price, what you'll be doing in the game, is stealing literary objects from books so that they can be “plagiarized” into other, newer books for a fee. The old book loses its value now that what's usually a key plot element has vanished from it, and it has to be taken down from shelves. It's not piracy, you're literally stealing the original item (from inside the story) so some talentless schmuck can use it in his junky novel not worthy of your bathroom's library. How that new author doesn't get caught, I don't know, but I guess it's not important. It's all Etienne can do to get back on track, and you'll want to help him do it.
But, as another reviewer here (Raxun) says, this game is a playable story. However, I deviate from their thoughts as I don't think it's one worth checking out, because the story isn't very interesting after the intro segment. A playable story is only as good as the writing, but you won't learn much more about Etienne and his story until the fifth of six chapters, and by then it's too little too late. The plot rushes to a close after what felt like several hours of stalling. It tries to be sentimental but I don't feel like it's really earned.
The game has turn-based combat that is pretty competent, but also very easy and there'll be only two fights (or sometimes only one) per chapter. It may as well not be there.
The writing of dialogue between Etienne and his sidekick, a character in a chain he names Roderick, is solid. It's believable, but I don't think it's some amazing story in dire need of viewers.
Again, I think this really is unfortunate, because there's definitely potential here. A world where the TV was never finalized and books are more heavily relied upon for entertainment, so how they're created has seen major, basically-magical changes: I'm interested! The art looks nice and the conversations feel like genuine people. But what do you do? Very little. What do you experience? The story that got you hooked basically places you in a waiting room for hours before flashing a few pictures in front of you and then tossing you out the back door.
It's a very linear experience, the dialogue choices are basically optional until you click the “right” one, so (I think) there's only one way to play the story. You can choose between two different fighting upgrades betwixt (sorry) levels, but since the combat is so sparse, I don't think the couple minutes this may barely change across hours of dialogue is worth the replay.
I remember liking Do My Best's other game, The Final Station, though truth be told I don't remember much of it. I think The Bookwalker shows promise, it just fails to see it through. I wish these guys the best on their next project and I hope they learn from this one.
I do not recommend The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales. I do recommend you read more books, we all should.