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.

Swan Song is a cozy puzzle game with tiles, music notes and a story in a music box. Developed and published by Business Goose Studios, Swan Song released on June 4th, 2026. The gameplay of Swan Song is quite simple—place music notes onto a sheet of music in a specific arrangement to manipulate the board as the swan jumps from tile to tile. On paper, it’s pretty straightforward. However, the puzzles get more complicated the further you progress, adding in different types of tiles, notes and other obstacles. As someone who likes puzzles but isn’t the best at solving them, I found later stages to be quite challenging. The game’s calm and cozy aesthetics misled me to believe that the puzzles would be a breeze, and I love the challenge.

Swan Song is also about a story. Seemingly inspired by a true story from one of the developers, it tells a depressing tale of loss, illness and grief. Different objects are inside the music box, such as letters, mementos and mirrors displaying rooms. A story is put together with each new item and as the game states, is a story familiar by far too many—myself included. Of course I don’t want to critique the story itself, especially since its inspired by a true story. However, I was left wanting more by the game’s somewhat abrupt ending. Depending on your puzzle solving skills, the game’s 9 chapters only takes a few hours to complete. Swan Song‘s ending is touching, but it could have left a more reflective or resounding impact. So, crank that key, because its time to discuss Swan Song!

♫🦢♫🦢♫🦢♫🦢

Each level in Swan Song presents you with a music box puzzle, a sheet of music and some notes. The sheet music follows the same basic pattern, a repeat of music note and swan (see above). The scale consists of four colored lines, each tied to a specific shape—blue star, green circle, pink heart, and yellow square. Tiles in the music box that share these outlines can be adjusted or interacted with. The most common ways are by moving, representative of a spring path, or by turning if the tile is circular. There are other kinds of tiles, but those come into play later on.

Next to the sheet music is a limited number of music notes, typically between two and four. Placing these notes on the sheet will make all of the matching tiles move during a ♫ moment. The swan will jump ahead in whatever direction it is facing during a 🦢 moment. The goal in each level is to maneuver the swan to the end—the lit circular tile with a swan on it. Once you believe you have the solution, you can turn the key to let the melody play. If you are incorrect, the music box resets but keeps the notes on the sheet so that you can try a different solution.

Early on, the puzzles are quite simple. It isn’t until new tiles, music notes and obstacles are introduced that things become more complicated. I believe each chapter introduces one or two new mechanics. I won’t go through all of them but instead mention some. The game first introduces music notes with various shapes. They can stretch in a few directions, from having two back to back actions on the same scale or two actions occurring simultaneously on different scales. You need to place every note on the sheet to reach the correct solution. Later in the game, new note types appear—glass notes that break on impact and sharps that momentarily freeze the swan’s movement. These come into play shortly after the key gets a second crank, meaning that the sheet music plays twice.

Two different obstacles get introduced, hunters and tickers(?). Both of these correspond with one of the scales and knock the swan off if activated in range. New tile types appear as well, including tiles that crumble after a second use and tiles that launch the swan across a space. As mentioned, with each chapter introducing one or two new mechanics, the puzzles become quite complicated the further you progress. I believe it was around chapter 4 that I started having some real head scratchers. With 108 puzzles in total, less than half were genuinely simple, and a good number were intentionally easy to introduce new mechanics. There are also secret levels to discover once you complete the game which of course contain some really challenging puzzles.

When it comes to the puzzles, I give Swan Song nothing but high praise. The pleasing and charming aesthetics and seemingly simple puzzles do indeed make the game feel cozy. As more and more mechanics get added in with each chapter, the puzzles becomes increasingly more complicated. For me, it was never at the point that I become frustrated. I never felt that a solution was impossible to figure out. I just needed to slow down, listen and reflect as the Steam page states. There is a nice balance of challenge here that is done well. With each new mechanic, the variety is here to ensure that no two puzzles feel exactly the same. I never had that feeling of monotony which was surprising given that every puzzle followed the same core set up. Business Goose Studios did a fantastic job and deserves the praise.

A Swan Song Tribute for his Family

Every few levels, the music box opens containing items instead of a puzzle. These items sit waiting for you to pick them up and examine them. The letters come to life through some genuinely lovely voice acting. Other objects hide small lore fragments that help you piece the story together. I typically try to avoid spoilers when it comes to stories. But with Swan Song, I think it’s worth talking about. As I mentioned earlier, the narrative left me wanting a bit more. I don’t blame you if you want to experience the story spoiler free, so from here on, please skip to the following section.

The story of Swan Song is of a family—Amber, a pianist, Tristan, a supportive husband, and Edith, their daughter. Early in the story, players discover that Amber is sick and taking anastrozole, a medication typically used for hormone‑receptor‑positive breast cancer. She feels unable to play the piano, as heard in recordings. She has a close relationship with Edith and inspires in her a passion for music, nicknaming Edith her little muse. Unfortunately, Amber succumbs to the disease and passes away, leaving Tristan and Edith to grieve.

Edith still writes letters to her mom, discussing how a trip to Paris went, how her dad spends a lot of time working on some project, her new punk band and how she wishes she was there. Edith’s punk band, Zeefbek, gets their first gig and performs Spijt, a cover of one her moms and they actually get some recognition from this, including going on tours in the UK and abroad. However, Tristan isn’t the biggest fan of Edith’s music and claims that she is “perverting” it in a crumpled up letter he probably never sent. Their relationship since Amber’s passing has become strained and the two have become distant.

Included in the music box are the blueprints of its creation—the project that Tristan has been working on. A swan song is someone’s final or last creative performance before a person’s retirement or death. I was initially expecting to hear Amber’s swan song, a final song she wrote or produced before her passing. However, the swan song is actually Tristan’s and its the music box itself , or as the steam page states, his tribute to his family. I would imagine he gifts the music box to Edith, as the first and last letters in the box are written from him to her.

It’s full of heart, sorrow and maybe even a little bit of hope and then…it just kind of ends. No, really, after reading the final letter at the end of chapter 9, the credits roll as Spijt plays. I thought it was a little abrupt, like I was expecting something more. What that “more” could be, I’m not really sure. Maybe it could have been another chapter that explores the two coming back together, post final letter. Maybe they go back to Paris together and reconnect as a family? Could it be a final letter from Edith to her mom with a new reflection after she made up with her dad? There’s a few ways it could have proceeded and I wish there was something that tied up the game a bit less abruptly.

Of course it may just be my desire for more puzzles overall that wants a 10th chapter. Imagine a chapter full of puzzles that are like the secret levels—super challenging and combining many if not all of the mechanics introduced throughout the game. I thought that completing the secret levels would get you a final piece to the story, like a “true” ending of sorts. However, the only thing you earn is a steam achievement, and I don’t care for collecting achievements. I don’t mean to say that the lack of this final story beat destroys the story entirely. It certainly does not. Even the final letter itself is heartful and touching. However, I do wish there was something, anything, to give a stronger and at least more obvious ending— a punctuation to the story to mark the end of Swan Song.

Not the Swan Song of Swan Song

Overall, Swan Song is a fantastic game and definitely deserves more recognition and praise. The game’s puzzles are done with a simplistic design that gets more challenging the further you progress. The challenge presented isn’t frustrating or impossible, but is certainly not a walk in the park for most. There’s a nice balance to their complexity, and each new mechanic introduced added to the experience rather than take away from. When it comes to a game with the same puzzle over and over again, it never felt monotonous or repetitive which is a huge positive in my books. When it comes to the puzzle aspect, I can sing nothing but praises.

However, this may be part of the reason why the ending felt abrupt. I love the concept of weaving the story in over time as new items in the music box are uncovered. It is effective and tells a touching story that, as the game states, many are too familiar with. I can certainly relate and of course do not want to critique the story itself. Rather, I felt that the stories end didn’t have a strong enough impact for me and sort of came out of blue. I wanted there to be a little something more afterwards, even if it was hidden behind completing all the secrets levels or a chapter 10. When the game ended, I think I said “oh” out loud because I wasn’t expecting it to end.

Swan Song does have a post-release roadmap, though it mostly seems to be in the form of being able to create levels. This is a welcome-idea, especially if they let players share their levels online so that others can play. However, I would certainly love more to the story of the game. Another chapter to give the story a more reflective ending would be welcome, though that’s ultimately a personal preference. As it currently stands, there is nothing wrong with the story. For fans of puzzles and like a challenge, I can happily recommend checking out Swan Song!

Thank you for reading and keep an eye open for TJ!