The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (Xbox One) Review

This type of game is all about the story, and The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is pretty damn solid in that area. It continues from the previous title, which makes following the plot fairly tough at times, but everyone can appreciate the brilliant pop culture references that are scattered throughout, poking fun at everything from Harry Potter to Game of Thrones. Voice actors may nail their lines and certainly help create immersion, but reading through (literally) thousands of lines can be slightly tedious when just sitting back and relaxing is desired.

This delightful little adventure revolves around four key characters: an amateur gnome mage called Wilbur; Nate the narcissistic human; an elf princess named Ivo; and, finally, a small, furry, alien-like little buddy. These four err... heroes have noticed that the wonderful world of Aventasia isn't quite right, as a magical force is slowly mutating the world and they're here to stop it.

Gameplay is certainly a notable point of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2. Point-and-click games revolve around the world being as interactive as possible, and in this there are dozens and dozens of things to fiddle around with in every scene. As soon as the player enters an area, they'll be able to move around with the left stick and use the right stick to target specific objects in the world, making picking from the vast amount of items in the vicinity much easier than it normally is in other console-based point-and-click adventures.

The controls are super simple to pick up, and by using a varying combination of A, B, X and Y, the player will be tasked with solving a variety of different puzzles by examining, collecting and combining objects in the world, hoping to progress through the story. Thankfully, a basic hint system has been implemented; otherwise, it's doubtful some people would even be able to finish the title as some of the puzzles are painfully difficult to figure out. The developers have done a decent job at bringing this PC title to consoles, but it certainly falls short in the controls department at times, and moving from area to area inside the same building should be seamless, but it takes a lot longer than it should.

For small geniuses that can solve these puzzles first time, this will still take a good 15+ hours to complete, but it does start to drag near the end. The value can't be faulted, though; it's packed with (mostly) enjoyable content, it hasn't launched as a full price game and it's available from 99% of retailers for well under £15, making it well worth the price for any point-and-click fan.

Even after just a few minutes with it, it's difficult not to admire just how gorgeous The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 really is. It's unbelievably colourful and well detailed from start to finish; whether it's exploring the castle grounds or wandering through an eerie cavern, it's bloody stunning! The great audio certainly helps, too; the voice acting is spot on and the background music is just lovely - it's tough to say anything negative about it.