Pay What You Want For Tale Of Tales Bundle

In one of the more strange press releases I've seen, Tale Of Tales have announced that the Day Of The Dead bundle of their games - The Graveyard, The Path, and Fatale - is to be "pay what you want" for the next five days. Because, um, they want us to think about death. Which is cheery! It's all in aid of funding their next project, codenamed The Book Of 8.

Their games are about death, of course. The Graveyard is the extremely short game in which, well, you die. It's a visit to a cemetery by an elderly lady, and I think it's still their best project: a genuinely moving experience, beautifully constructed. Then there's The Path - one of the most chilling and peculiar games I've played. You can read my extended thoughts on it here, and Kieron's review of it here. I've yet to play Fatale, but I understand it's another vignette game in which you play John the Baptist, um, after he was beheaded.

Tale Of Tales explain why this is exactly the right time to buy these, with Halloween on the horizon.

"It's ironic that Halloween has become such a joyful holiday," ponder Tale of Tales' directors Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn. "On the eve of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, humans try their best to forget their fear of death. But why? Death is a fascinating phenomenon that we have explored in the three videogames offered in the Day of the Dead bundle. We hope our games allow players a moment of silent contemplation, away from the cheap scares and the rubber monsters. We all know people who have died. We will all die ourselves. This is the time of year to remember that. As the days get shorter, and nature around us withers, let's be quiet for a little while, and connect to the darkness and the cold. Maybe we will find it's not so frightening after all."

Happy times!

This is definitely the moment to get hold of them if you're interested, but have never felt quite able to commit to games that go out of their way to be uncomfortable experiences. And those who choose to pay $50 or more will get "a special surprise". Eek.