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Storyteller builds its tale with free Steam demo today

You are the author in Storyteller, a new puzzle game that tests the ability to put together a cohesive tale.

Ozzie Mejia

July 29, 2021 12:16 PM

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Stories, whether they be fairy tales or blockbuster films, often follow a simple formula. That formula could probably be explained in a few sentences. An urban legend often tells of Ernest Hemingway telling a tragic narrative with just six words. Brevity is the soul of wit and players are about to get their opportunity to tell some brief tales with the upcoming Storyteller, a new game revealed during Thursday's Annapurna Interactive Showcase.

Storyteller comes from the mind of developer Daniel Benmergui, who has been refining this game's concept in various forms since it first made the rounds at indie gaming shows in 2012. We even wrote a hands-on preview at the time! The premise is that players are given a story title, as well as some pre-assigned settings and characters. The objective is to construct a story that meets the title's parameters. How the player ultimately reaches the story's final destination is up to them, just as long as they complete each puzzle's objective.

Benmergui and Storyteller have come a long way since the game was first revealed way back at the 2012 Independent Games Festival. For one thing, the game now boasts a more refined art style, a far leap from the primitive pixelated comics that the original version used. The scale has also been ramped up significantly, with Benmergui aided largely by Annapurna Interactive.

Players will soon get a taste of Storyteller for themselves. A playable demo is expected to come to Steam very soon, offering an idea of the types of tales that would-be authors can put together. There's no finalized release date for Storyteller just yet, but look for it to land on PC (via Steam) and Nintendo Switch whenever it's finished.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?