Parents' Guide to Storyteller

A puzzle game built around telling stories might seem a bit odd on paper, but talk to any writer worth their salt and it makes a lot of sense. What Storyteller does is break down the process into its basic elements while giving players a wide latitude of freedom to find their own voices and to express their creativity in unique ways. There are no time limits to come up with solutions for each challenge, so there's no rush to sort out how each story should unfold. The challenge comes from sorting out exactly how to meet the criteria for the given description. For example, when given the prompt "Story of a Tragedy," you could have two characters meet under the "Love" backdrop, then simply use the "Death" backdrop to kill off one half of the couple and be done with it. Then again, with a few extra pieces and a shuffling of events, you could instead wind up with a story of a rejected suitor taking out his or her competition in a jealous rage. Both solutions fit the requirements, but one allows for a little more narrative flair.

The best part of Storyteller is how inviting it is. The controls are straightforward and easy to pick up. You just choose a story element, drop it into position on one of the blank panels, and then watch as it comes to life in all its cartoonish, hand drawn glory. The game reacts immediately to the players' actions too, so the effects of altering one panel can instantly be seen in all the others. You can even take entire panels and swap their placement to see if it might better serve the story. And if you find yourself with a case of writer's block, you can always come back and revisit any chapter in the Storyteller book. The problem is that, even with more than fifty different puzzles to solve, once you do come up with a solution, the game doesn't give much incentive to come back and try out new ideas. As a result, Storyteller is like most really good books. It's over before you know it, and you're left hungry for just a little more.