The Necromancer’s Tale Review – A Beautiful Story Driven RPG

The Necromancer’s Tale, developed by Psychic Software, is a captivating narrative-driven role-playing game where players unravel the mystery of the protagonist’s father’s death in the fictional city of Marn.

Initially uncertain about the game’s appeal, I found it increasingly compelling, making it difficult to put down for a review. This hidden gem deserves attention for its strong storytelling and compelling narrative, and so, I will do my best to keep the review as spoiler-free as possible. Here is everything you need to know about The Necromancer’s Tale.

TL;DR

The Necromancer’s Tale is a beautiful narrative driven gothic RPG firmly rooted in reality that explores the decent of a noble into the dark arts. Filled with moral decisions, tough choices, and a truly well-written story, the developers at Psychic Software crafted a unique and eerie gem of a game.

Where Fiction Meets History

The Necromancer’s Tale takes place in the Sovereign Monarchy of Rulsthen, a fictional kingdom near Venice on the Adriatic Sea, and you will be playing in the City of Marn and the surrounding wilderness areas. The city and the world, however, are inspired by historical events, drawing on the culture and history of the 18th century.

Throughout the game, we hear stories about other countries, are introduced to characters, and learn about real historical developments that give a sense of grounded realism to The Necromancer’s Tale. It makes the entire journey feel based on reality and draws players to become more invested in the story.

The game itself takes place in the year 1733. It takes places in the decades after the Sovereign Monarchy of Rulsthen emerged victorious in a war after resorting to dark powers and magics. As part of the story, your father and two others were faced with a decision: to utilise a tome of dark magic or not. As a result of these powers, Rulsthen emerged victorious, but the cost of the magic was too great, and they vowed never to use the powers again.

This leads more into the setting, where society has a serious apprehension not just towards magic, but also towards science and progress in general. Anything that is new is seen as evil or warped. This comes about beautifully in a short side quest later on in the game, as a scientist is utilising chemistry and biology for his own experiments.

The way I describe the feelings of the world and NPCs is evident in how much detail goes into the worldbuilding and dialogue. There are over 180 NPCs, all with unique dialogue interactions, stories, and motivations.

Members of the same faction will have different motivations for doing things, and this provides so much more depth to their characters. You’ll find that you can speak to almost every character in the game. Even what seems like a small inconsequential character, or a general store shopkeeper, has their own flushed out emotions, mentalities, and motivations.

The level of detail given to each NPC and how they interact with you is astounding. This was one of my biggest points when I reviewed Baldur’s Gate 3, and to see this level of detail and interaction here is one of the highlights of the game. Choices matter in this game, and almost every conversation has the ability to shape the trust of the city and your standing amongst different factions.

The City Comes To Life – Worldbuilding In The Necromancer’s Tale

Interactions have meaning. Choices have meaning. Almost everything you do in this game is impactful as The Necromancer’s Tale does an amazing job at making the world feel alive and reactive. When you start the game, you are given an interactive prologue.

The narrator reads out your backstory, and as he does, you answer questions that will shape not only your stats but also the NPCs you meet early on in the game and some optional dialogue choices and missions throughout the game. At the end of the prologue, you will be able to redistribute your stat points, so I really emphasise choosing what you want narratively.

Throughout the game, all of your decisions will impact either the trust of certain factions and individuals or the overall tension in the city. Dialogue choices, how you choose to accomplish certain objectives, and evidence of your actions will determine how the NPCs treat you and what is available to you.

Trust will simulate how various factions react to your presence, and will simulate gossip amongst the NPCs. Tension is raised when evidence of your dark magic and crimes is uncovered, affecting the overall demeanour of the city, the environment, and NPC habits. Even if you weren’t witnessed committing a crime, the aftermath can still raise tension.

Personally, I love how The Necromancer’s Tale utilises all of their NPCs, giving them set schedules and where to find them during the day/night cycle, flushing out their personalities, and giving even the most minor characters motivations and aspirations.

Each NPC has their purpose, and rarely does it seem like an NPC is in the game without reason or purpose. And this leads me into the next biggest strength of The Necromancer’s Tale. How open it is and how much agency you have.

Freedom of Choice – The Necromancer’s Tale Does Not Hold Your Hand

This was one of my favourite parts of the game, and was perhaps the second biggest factor that had me hooked, outside of the story. While the overall game has an objective to complete and an overarching story, how you go about accomplishing this is entirely up to you. Probably one of the greatest examples I have is that at some point in the game, you are required to find a reagent for a ritual of yours. And here is where the game shines. It does not hold your hand whatsoever.

Even from the first task, you’re left to your own devices on how you progress. Do you go and speak to the town herbalist or apothecary? Do you go to the academy and read books? Do you try and buy the reagents from a shop in the market square that might have it, or if not, ask where to get it? All you have is your journal that says what you need, and it’s up to you how you try and obtain the supplies.

I encountered some questionable NPCs at a tavern and managed to convince them to give me the reagent I needed, despite having no prior direction from them. This experience underscores the game’s emphasis on player agency, allowing for multiple ways to achieve goals. Players can use the Journal to document dialogue and clues from NPCs, fostering independent discovery of solutions. I truly appreciate the flexibility in how to progress in The Necromancer’s Tale.

Legions Of The Night – Exploration and Combat

The Necromancer’s Tale features a hex-based turn-based combat system. While I do appreciate the combat, this is one of the features I feel players will have the most issues with. It’s a fairly minimalistic combat system where you control your character and other allies you have, and later on, you unlock battle spells and the ability to control your summoned creatures. The combat is satisfying enough to play through, but it’s not something I would say is game-defining or stands out a lot.

I would say the best feature is the ability to manage your Action Points and leverage your allies and minions. It does feel good to have a front rank of minions with swords and a bank rank with spears, all being able to attack the same large enemy. The combat is fine, and it accomplishes what it needs to, even providing good challenges in the optional hidden dungeons.

These optional dungeons really make gaining power and exploration worth it. There are many hidden caves and crypts to explore, all of them offering great resources and unique powers. One of the best pieces of equipment, as well as some extremely powerful battle spells, are found through these entirely optional and easy-to-miss dungeons. I won’t spoil these surprises, and one of these battle spells was one of the best, most insane of the game.

Probably one of the things The Necromancer’s Tale does best with necromancy is that it really makes you feel like a necromancer. Most games give you a few minions, some dark spells, and call it a day. But here, you can control hordes of minions. In this little screen capture, later in the game, it shows how ridiculous it can get.

I’m sure if I really tried, I could have gotten my undead legion into the hundreds. I will say, I do wish there were perhaps a post-game, or even some combat challenges, just to see how far I could take it. While I understand combat is not the main focus of the game, I would have loved some more large-scale battles to really scratch that itch. I was left wanting just a bit more combat.

Breath of the City, Scent of the Grave – Atmosphere and Ambience

The Necromancer’s Tale has an amazing soundtrack that really enhances the overall atmosphere of the game. There were times when I would be exploring crypts at 1 am, and the music and sound effects had me on edge the entire time. Coupled with the beautiful gothic art style and oil painting effects, I was truly immersed in the game.

When it comes to gameplay in general, I would say that The Necromancer’s Tale is quite a slow burn. It takes a good while to get going and is quite text-heavy at the start. For the first couple of hours, I did feel that it was quite a slog to play through, or at least had to sit through a lot of reading and little action and puzzle solving.

Much of the early game feels like those point-and-click mystery games you’d play on old flash websites, and while it is very nostalgic, I feel many players will drop the game before it really gets going.

Final Words

The Necromancer’s Tale is a beautiful narrative-driven gothic RPG firmly rooted in reality that explores the descent of a noble into the dark arts. Filled with moral decisions, tough choices, and a truly well-written story, the developers at Psychic Software crafted a unique and eerie gem of a game.

It’s a bit rough around the edges in terms of pacing in the early game, and the combat could be improved a bit, but overall, I had an amazing time playing this game and really cannot recommend it enough. The Necromancer’s Tale is currently available on Steam, and I sincerely urge everyone to give it a shot.

Big thanks to Critical Hit PR for providing us with the review copy!