An Inviting Fantasy World
Tavern Talk: Dreamwalker impresses with its cozy, soft visuals drawing you in to its slow, deliberately paced world of bartending and conversation. For those looking for a light and comfortable visual novel to decompress with, this world will suck you in.
As a newcomer to the visual novel genre, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I had had experience with dialogue trees and deep character exploration through it with games like Fallout: New Vegas and Baldur’s Gate III, but there is nothing quite like the laid-back style of conversation in Gentle Troll’s sequel to their well received original entry in the series: 2024’s Tavern Talk. It’s design feels in tone with that original entry, and fans of the original will feel at home. It’s colour palette is soft on the eyes, yet manages to still pop, with its over-the-counter view feeling alive, yet beautifully serene all at the same time.
Shaken, Not Stirred
A core part of the Tavern Talk series is the potion minigames. As new characters sit down at your bar, they will ask you to make them a potion. Drawing from Dreamwalker’s D&D sensibilities, these potions will work to buff or debuff a patron’s strength, intelligence, charisma, defence and dexterity. However, you must mix-and-match different liquids, with them each having different traits that may affect other stats. For example, if a character asks for a drink to up their charisma and dexterity, but reduce their speed, you must find the correct mix that achieves that desired effect. This requires some light puzzle-solving, as you have to find the correct mix while managing the stats to the customer’s liking. This was hands down my favourite aspect of the game. It helped to break up what would be monotonous chatting into a push-and-pull of converse, make a drink, repeat. After the end of a conversation, you are then given the opportunity to engage with another key aspect to this game: quests.
The quest system works by piecing together information through gossip and the running of the world’s rumour mill from the varying personalities that visit your tavern. After a conversation or two, you will be taken to a screen to sort various rumours you have heard to create a cohesive story, which will then be put on a noticeboard on the tavern’s wall. Characters will then take these quests to embark on them, or talk about them with you, the tavern keeper. This creates a satisfying cause-and-effect loop with the dialogue, and rewards listening well and engaging with the characters and conversations you come into contact with throughout the course of the game.
You’ve Got A Friend In Me
Dreamwalker’s characters feel alive through their tightly written dialogue and sharp wit. Their responses feel natural and snappy, while still keeping a leisurely pace of conversation; perfect for relaxing with. It’s an inviting atmosphere that allowed me to really immerse myself in the experience of being a tavern keeper in a fantasy world, creating a nice escape from the often stressful and mundane troubles of ordinary life.
The use of chapters allows a certain degree of separation from each main conversation, and stops the different conversations all blending into one long singular talk. This also adds to its suitability to portable gaming, allowing it to be played in short, memorable bursts, and always leaving me wanting to see the next interaction, but satisfied with the one I had, which is a commendable feat from Gentle Troll Entertainment.
I’m also delighted to say that the game works great on the Steam Deck. Being a light game graphically there were no visual problems needless to say, although I was worried about how the in-game menus would work on a controller, where they seem more designed for a mouse setup. Those worries were soon put to rest though, as everything works just fine, making it a perfect game to unwind with on the couch or in bed on the Deck.
Closing Thoughts
As a newcomer to visual novel games, I find it hard to criticise much about this game. As far as I can tell, this is what many would look for in a visual novel, with distinct memorable characters, well written interactions and some great world building. The potion minigames are great and piecing together rumours is satisfying and rewarding. It’s difficult for me to have much to say against the game, but something that did mildly bug me is how sometimes conversations became convoluted through a lot of place names and concepts that I felt weren’t explained as much as I’d like them to be, but that could be down to my relative inexperience with the visual novel genre.
As a whole, Tavern Talk Dreamwalker creates a serene environment for you to return to when the real world becomes too much, as it often can. It’s world is relatively well fleshed out, its minigames satisfying and its characters intriguing, but it can suffer from some, at times, convoluted and a bit too densely packed dialogue. For visual novel fans and fans of the original Tavern Talk, it will be what they love and more, and for newcomers it’s a great introduction to the genre.
