Staring At The Sea: Tale of Tales Return With Bientôt l’été

I dunno about that Citizen Kane of videogames nonsense, but one thing we definitely have is the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of videogames. Bring up the name Tale of Tales, most renowned/notorious for The Path, and you will be sure to spark a war. A war between those who believe games can be anything and those who believe games have to stick to a strict definition of games. It's a very boring war and I don't understand why people object to the existence of things they do not themselves enjoy, but THE INTERNET. Personally, I'm not quite sure ToT's games have always lived up their promise or the concepts they explore, but this does not preclude me from being grateful for their existence, and for their continued dedication to experimentation.

So, their new game software product Bientôt l’été. It'll be out later this month, all being well, and appears to be an even more overt departure from traditional game objectives and systems than before.

I have a build here that I've nosed at a little, but I'm pretty sure I need to lock myself in dark room with a bottle of wine and a head full of broken dreams to experience the full force of that. Which I'll do on Wednesday, for those things come easily to me.

For now, I just want to point you to the screens, for this is a very pretty game in its dreamlike, abstracted and yet also simulationy way, and the development blog and reference materials site which is chockful of random imagery, video and other inspirations for this disjointed, sleepy tale of love, loss, waiting and Gualoises.

It is also a two-player dating simulator, based around visual 'conversation', though it can be played solo thanks to an optional simulation of a drinking/smoking/chess-playing/music-listening partner. More on that on Wednesday, however - for now, I just wanted to bring it to your attention. Here's some footage, too: