A Bavarian Tale – Totgeschwiegen Released

You would expect a premise along the lines of a narrative RPG that takes place in Bavaria and puts you in the shoes of an amateur detective to be a fairly rare thing. But, mere months after Obsidian Entertainment released Pentiment, we get another game the above description can be applied to.

Developed by Active Fungus Studios, A Bavarian Tale – Totgeschwiegen is now live on Steam, priced at $16.19 or your regional equivalent, which includes a 10% launch week discount. This historical title will take us all the way back to 1866 and invite us to uncover the dark secrets lurking underneath a picturesque, pastoral village.

Unlike its more medieval predecessor, A Bavarian Tale will allow us to explore its world using the 3rd-person perspective, employ a wide array of skills, sneak around, engage in some fisticuffs, and eventually reach one of eleven different endings.

If you’d like to see the game in action, here’s a trailer narrated by an individual you would expect to invite you on an urgent helicopter ride:

And here’s the game’s description:

Right before your eyes, the picturesque, pastoral village turns into a world full of dark secrets, inexplicable events, social tensions and a hostile hush of a village that seems to hate nothing more than a stranger poking around in other peoples’ business. Can you find out who supports you and who is trying to set you on the wrong track without risking your own life?

The most important features at a glance:

• Historical crime RPG from the 3rd-person perspective
• Action takes place in the Upper Bavarian State village of Wolpertshofen in 1866
• Skills can be improved freely and are used in pen & paper style
• Decisions have an influence on the outcome of the story
• Complete voice output in Bavarian and English
• German and English subtitles
• Playtime: Approx. 10 hours
• 11 different endings

Lead intriguing conversations: use the dialogue-mechanic to collect information, find out who is hiding something from you and convince the villagers to help you out.

Make difficult decisions: your decisions have an impact on the course of the story, the world and the villagers. Will you find the right words?

Level up your skills: decide wich skills to level up and use them wisely in classic TTRPG / pen’n’paper skillchecks.

Find hidden clues: use the detective-mechanic to find clues and evidence.

Move around in the shadows unnoticed: sneak past enemies and guards to stay unnoticed. Or knock them out from behind.

Defend yourself: if your sneak-mission has failed, you can use the fight-mechanic as a last resort and defend yourself with an old fashioned fist fight.

Craft items to boost your skills: with the things you find in the world you can craft items that will allow you to succeed in difficult skillchecks

Decide how you want to solve the tasks at hand. With charisma, diplomacy, brute force, the art of stealth or strategic escape? The mission, however, is clear: solve this case!