The Book of Unwritten Tales

The war between the Shadow Army and the Alliance of the Free Races has been raging for ages in Aventásia. No side has been able to get the upper hand. This is about to change when a goblin archaeologist named Mortimer MacGuffin discovers a clue to a legendary artifact which could decide the fate of the world. Sadly, things go wrong from there. The forces of evil captured and tortured his delivery boy who was on his way to the arch-mage to tell him the good news. Now they are after MacGuffin. Luckily the female elf Ivo is nearby and manages to free him - at least long enough to give Wilbur, a young gnome, the One Ring in order to bring it to the arch-mage. Soon Nathaniel Bonnet and his mysterious companion join the party and it's up to the the four adventurers to save Aventásia.

The Book of Unwritten Tales is a classic point & click adventure with a big focus on humor and obscure references. From the obvious "One Ring" over a scarecrow looking like Indiana Jones to more subtle hints hidden in the various locations and the many multiple-choice dialogues, the game takes every chance to make fun of famous pop-culture elements and often even breaks the fourth wall by doing so. By controlling one of the four characters and switching between them either when the story dictates it or later in the game at any time, the player collects everything that isn't nailed to a wall - and sometimes even that - and talks to everyone he meets in order to solve the many riddles in the game and ultimately advance the storyline by doing so. The game even allows the solving of some riddles with different characters without forcing the player to use a specific one. While the outcome is, of course, always the same, the way to solving the riddle can be quite different.

To help the player progress, the game not only drops subtle hints on the next step during conversations but also shows all the hotspots in a location with the press of a button. In addition once a hotspot has been used up, meaning the character doesn't have any more comments on it or it has served its purpose, it becomes inactive. If the player selects an item from the inventory, the game only shows the one point where it has to be used. If the player hovers over any other hotspot, the game doesn't show any possibility of interaction. Also the player often has to interact or speak with a NPC multiple times before the next step is available to him.

Followed By The Book Of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles
Series Unwritten Tales (1)
Added March 8, 2020
Published By THQ Nordic
Developed By KING Art
Other (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Other (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Media (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Austria,Germany,Switzerland) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Media (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
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Front Cover (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Other (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Other (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Media (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Other (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Other (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Media (Germany) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (Worldwide) (Linux) from mobygames.com
Header Image (Windows) from Steam
IGDB Cover from igdb.com
Main Menu (Windows) from mobygames.com
Main Menu (English) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Settings (Windows) from mobygames.com
Loading Screen (with funny messages) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Ivo tries to rescue Mortimer. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur does what he does best: dream. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur comments on the rather old food in the kitchen. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Mortimer gives Wilbur the One Ring. No not that one, the other one... (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur's home: An empty dwarven keep. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur visits his bedroom. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur's family. He's the one that doesn't really fit into the picture. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur suddenly thinks that whole "adventure"-thing over. (Windows) from mobygames.com
That's were the bad guys live but I guess you knew that. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Mortimer has been captured by Mother. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Ivo visits Mortimer's house. Notice the guy on the left. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Showing all hotspots inside Mortimer's house. (Windows) from mobygames.com
This nameless mummy is one of the funniest guy's I've ever met in an adventure. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Solved the riddle and found the book. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Find Wilbur in this picture. (Windows) from mobygames.com
As the dwarven keep, the human cities is also devote of any people. (Windows) from mobygames.com
These two are playing a MMORPG. I think it's called "Reallife" or something. (Windows) from mobygames.com
One ugly city guard. (Windows) from mobygames.com
I always knew it: A monkey controls the server of an MMORPG. (Windows) from mobygames.com
In the pixie caves, Nate finds a talking helmet. (Windows) from mobygames.com
The flying dragon, as Ivo and Mortimer make their escape. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Bottom of Mortroga's fortress. Hmm, I see a whole lot of "Simon the Sorcerer" influence in this game... ;) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur can use this map to travel between places. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Master Markus reveals the sad commercialism of modern mana potion production. ;) (Windows) from mobygames.com
My umpteenth swamp view after "King's Quest", "Quest for Infamy", "Heroine's Quest", "Gabriel Knight", "Hand of Fate", "Simon the Sorcerer" and others... ;) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Preparing the magic potion - it's a minigame! Looks somewhat interesting as long as there are ingredients on the right side, otherwise it's not an interesting view. (Windows) from mobygames.com
I really regret and just can't understand one thing: why Wilbur's quest on the other side of the ghost mirror wasn't a visible, interactive sequence. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Back to the swamp - now Wilbur has to persuade Death to bring him back to life. (Windows) from mobygames.com
I really loved the Arch-Mage's tower in "The Critter Chronicles". Here's a daytime view of the same place. (I know, it's earlier, but I played the games by plot chronology.) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Inside the temple. You can choose any of the three to pass through the door, the puzzle solutions just differ a tiny bit. I chose Ivo because she's female! :) (Windows) from mobygames.com
Another example of technical proficiency of the Gnome race. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Entrance to the earth pixies' mine. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Inside the mine. Nate should avoid the pixies until, with a bit of cheating on his part, their god "speaks" to them and "tells" them to accept the human. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Nate's map is a little illogical. Some places can only be accessed by the map (no exit of their own in the screen), but you can only go to the teepee and the orc camp directly from the graveyard. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Mortroga's fortress. Mortroga and Munkus don't realise how flexible Critters are and how easily they can escape... (Windows) from mobygames.com
The warrior contest in the orc camp - as long as Nate is inside, Ma'Zaz can't harm him because rules of hospitality prohibit this. (Windows) from mobygames.com
Wilbur learns how to hack the chieftain's magic circle. ;) (Windows) from mobygames.com
The credits sequence, with hand-drawn views of places and characters from the game... (Windows) from mobygames.com
...Really, they make me wonder (as usual): why didn't the developers stop at this point? Why does everything has to be 3D nowadays?... (Windows) from mobygames.com
...To me, more polished hand-drawn graphics would have simply looked better than 3D... (Windows) from mobygames.com
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Official Screenshot (Windows) from Steam
Trailer 1  2  3 

Year of Release:
2009

Genre(s):
Traditional

Camera View:
Third-Person

Control Type:
Point and Click

Setting/Theme:
Comedy Fantasy

Available From: