Lord_Potato
Arcane
I recently completed A Bavarian Tale, so allow me to give you some of my thoughts!
I must confess I very much enjoy investigative games with more or less pronounced RPG elements, like Disco Elysium, Gamedec or Pentiment. Bavarian Tale now joins this small but interesting sub-genre. At this point, I can assure all those in doubt: Bavarian Tale is a RPG. While there is a set protagonist (Valentin Schmidt, civil servant at the Home Ministry of the Kingdom of Bavaria) we can freely improve his stats each time he levels up - and he will do so frequently, because experience points are granted often and in decent number for investigating leads, questioning witnesses and successfully studying evidence.
There is also combat! Despite being a public official Valentin can fist fight foes and his ability to do so increases with his physical stats. At the same time combat is not a mandatory part of the experience and if you wish to avoid it, there are options like sneaking and hiding in darkness.
The game is set in the tiny Bavarian town of Wolpertshofen in the late 1860s. It is a time of rapid changes - of both political and social nature. Prussia is in the process of uniting divided Germany into a single state and Bavaria (together with the Austrian Empire) lost a war trying to prevent this. Veterans and deserters of this conflict still roam the land and engage in common banditry. The lower classes are revolting against the elites, inspired by the ideas of socialist thinkers like Ferdinand Lassalle. In this tumultuous period, the Bavarian king decides to send his civil servants to the countryside to receive credible intel about the living conditions of his subjects. As soon as Valentin arrives at the outskirts of Wolpertshofen, he learns that something is not right. The bridge leading to the town is barricaded, citizen militia is on guard, and everyone suspects him of being a member of a notorious Pascolini gang that threatens the safety of the small community. And when he manages to pass the guards and get into the town proper, he learns that his problems have only begun: recently there was a murder after a brawl in a local tavern. The brawling parties represented two of the factions in Wolpertshofen: conservatives led by the mayor and the pastor and progressives led by the teacher and the doctor. The murdered man was closer to the progressive faction, so of course they accuse the traditionalists of killing him. Since the only policeman in the region left to run some errands in Munich, Valentin must take his place and investigate the murder, before the situation escalates and the town tears itself apart.
How do you help Valentin conduct his investigation? First and foremost, by talking. To many, many people. Apart from the topics of conversations you can also pick the general tone (authoritative, scientific, playful), different tones allow you to score points with different people. Sooner or later there will come a time when you have to convince someone to tell you more or search for discrepancies in the testimonies. Then the skill checks appear. The difficulty of each task is tested against a throw of 4 20-sided dice and when the result of the throw is below the difficulty level, the difference is covered with points subtracted from your skill pool - as long as you have them. You can also increase your pool with specific consumables, so the skill check becomes a kind of gambling minigame. You have to decide, if you really want to be sure that you'll pass the check (which requires an investment of certain precious items) or will you leave it to luck. This system is used both in conversations and in other activities like lockpicking (only then other stats are being tested - like dexterity).
Interactions with the colorful citizens of Wolpertshofen and exploring the town and nearby fields and forests will inevitably lead to receiving various sidequests that allow you to gather valuable intel, gain some favors that may prove useful down the line - and amass more experience to improve Valentin's skills. The main plot of the game is interesting and engaging, side stories are more uneven but there are some decent ones there. Or rather indecent ones, like the one about the Prussian soldier trapped in the shithouse.
Regardless of how the investigation goes, sooner or later Valentin will have to deal with tensions in the town - which culminate in a scene quite reminiscent of Disco Elysium's Tribunal. This confrontation will test the limit of your character's skills and may potentially end in a tragic way. The conclusion of the criminal case is also quite satisfying - and much more 'earned' than in Disco Elysium's case. When you finally discover the identity and motivations of the murderer everything becomes clear and you might ask yourself why you didn't see it sooner.
As you perhaps sense already, I'm quite fond of the Bavarian Tale. It's a solid crime story and the RPG mechanics included in the game suit it well. However, there are also flaws that decreased my enjoyment. First, the English translation is unfinished. During the game, you'll find a lot of untranslated dialogue and sometimes even plot-critical documents. Second, while the game is fully voiced, the quality of English voice acting is terrible, completely amateurish. However you cannot really turn it off - sometimes the written lines are not translated, but the spoken lines are, which allows you to understand the conversation. Third, the combat is very limited - Valentin and his enemies can only fight with fists. You can spot rifles laying here and there, but they only serve as decorations and are never utilized. Pistols only find usage in scripted scenes, when you don't shoot them directly but via specific skill checks.
As for the visuals, they're typical for a small indie team that created Bavarian Tale. The town and its outskirts look very nice, especially with the dynamic light (probably built with purchased assets), on the other hand the characters are pretty ugly, and animations are completely wooden. The music kind of is there and that's all that can be said about it.
So if you like detective games and already completed Pentiment 7 times - perhaps try and visit Bavaria again, this time in the 19th century. Just don't expect a polished experience. It is an indie game and it shows (and especially sounds).
However, if you're not filtered out by its slightly amateurish character, give Bavarian Tale a try. The game's pretty cheap and if you can get it on sale, you'll have around 10 hours of fun for a bunch of pennies.
I must confess I very much enjoy investigative games with more or less pronounced RPG elements, like Disco Elysium, Gamedec or Pentiment. Bavarian Tale now joins this small but interesting sub-genre. At this point, I can assure all those in doubt: Bavarian Tale is a RPG. While there is a set protagonist (Valentin Schmidt, civil servant at the Home Ministry of the Kingdom of Bavaria) we can freely improve his stats each time he levels up - and he will do so frequently, because experience points are granted often and in decent number for investigating leads, questioning witnesses and successfully studying evidence.
There is also combat! Despite being a public official Valentin can fist fight foes and his ability to do so increases with his physical stats. At the same time combat is not a mandatory part of the experience and if you wish to avoid it, there are options like sneaking and hiding in darkness.
The game is set in the tiny Bavarian town of Wolpertshofen in the late 1860s. It is a time of rapid changes - of both political and social nature. Prussia is in the process of uniting divided Germany into a single state and Bavaria (together with the Austrian Empire) lost a war trying to prevent this. Veterans and deserters of this conflict still roam the land and engage in common banditry. The lower classes are revolting against the elites, inspired by the ideas of socialist thinkers like Ferdinand Lassalle. In this tumultuous period, the Bavarian king decides to send his civil servants to the countryside to receive credible intel about the living conditions of his subjects. As soon as Valentin arrives at the outskirts of Wolpertshofen, he learns that something is not right. The bridge leading to the town is barricaded, citizen militia is on guard, and everyone suspects him of being a member of a notorious Pascolini gang that threatens the safety of the small community. And when he manages to pass the guards and get into the town proper, he learns that his problems have only begun: recently there was a murder after a brawl in a local tavern. The brawling parties represented two of the factions in Wolpertshofen: conservatives led by the mayor and the pastor and progressives led by the teacher and the doctor. The murdered man was closer to the progressive faction, so of course they accuse the traditionalists of killing him. Since the only policeman in the region left to run some errands in Munich, Valentin must take his place and investigate the murder, before the situation escalates and the town tears itself apart.
How do you help Valentin conduct his investigation? First and foremost, by talking. To many, many people. Apart from the topics of conversations you can also pick the general tone (authoritative, scientific, playful), different tones allow you to score points with different people. Sooner or later there will come a time when you have to convince someone to tell you more or search for discrepancies in the testimonies. Then the skill checks appear. The difficulty of each task is tested against a throw of 4 20-sided dice and when the result of the throw is below the difficulty level, the difference is covered with points subtracted from your skill pool - as long as you have them. You can also increase your pool with specific consumables, so the skill check becomes a kind of gambling minigame. You have to decide, if you really want to be sure that you'll pass the check (which requires an investment of certain precious items) or will you leave it to luck. This system is used both in conversations and in other activities like lockpicking (only then other stats are being tested - like dexterity).
Interactions with the colorful citizens of Wolpertshofen and exploring the town and nearby fields and forests will inevitably lead to receiving various sidequests that allow you to gather valuable intel, gain some favors that may prove useful down the line - and amass more experience to improve Valentin's skills. The main plot of the game is interesting and engaging, side stories are more uneven but there are some decent ones there. Or rather indecent ones, like the one about the Prussian soldier trapped in the shithouse.
Regardless of how the investigation goes, sooner or later Valentin will have to deal with tensions in the town - which culminate in a scene quite reminiscent of Disco Elysium's Tribunal. This confrontation will test the limit of your character's skills and may potentially end in a tragic way. The conclusion of the criminal case is also quite satisfying - and much more 'earned' than in Disco Elysium's case. When you finally discover the identity and motivations of the murderer everything becomes clear and you might ask yourself why you didn't see it sooner.
As you perhaps sense already, I'm quite fond of the Bavarian Tale. It's a solid crime story and the RPG mechanics included in the game suit it well. However, there are also flaws that decreased my enjoyment. First, the English translation is unfinished. During the game, you'll find a lot of untranslated dialogue and sometimes even plot-critical documents. Second, while the game is fully voiced, the quality of English voice acting is terrible, completely amateurish. However you cannot really turn it off - sometimes the written lines are not translated, but the spoken lines are, which allows you to understand the conversation. Third, the combat is very limited - Valentin and his enemies can only fight with fists. You can spot rifles laying here and there, but they only serve as decorations and are never utilized. Pistols only find usage in scripted scenes, when you don't shoot them directly but via specific skill checks.
As for the visuals, they're typical for a small indie team that created Bavarian Tale. The town and its outskirts look very nice, especially with the dynamic light (probably built with purchased assets), on the other hand the characters are pretty ugly, and animations are completely wooden. The music kind of is there and that's all that can be said about it.
So if you like detective games and already completed Pentiment 7 times - perhaps try and visit Bavaria again, this time in the 19th century. Just don't expect a polished experience. It is an indie game and it shows (and especially sounds).
However, if you're not filtered out by its slightly amateurish character, give Bavarian Tale a try. The game's pretty cheap and if you can get it on sale, you'll have around 10 hours of fun for a bunch of pennies.
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