The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 89 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 67 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 89
  3. Negative: 11 out of 89

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  1. kraenk
    Feb 20, 2015
    10
    The last game was incredibly charming and funny to an extend it could even rival with some Lucasarts games. This is no less. A worthy successor and one of the best adventure games I have played. Lots of pop culture and gaming references like in the last game. Absolute must buy if you're into P&C adventure games.
    I really hope these games get more recognition.
  2. Sardoc
    Feb 22, 2015
    8
    I'll give it an 8. Now, let's get straight to the point.

    The good: + graphics, + the code seems fairly well optimised, I mean, it runs fine on a 7 year old PC, 60 FPS most of the time, with an occasional drop to ~45 FPS in larger areas, + music, music and once again music, + voice acting, + lots of variety, different places, landscapes and whatnot, + optional tasks, + memorable    I'll give it an 8. Now, let's get straight to the point.

    The good:
    + graphics,
    + the code seems fairly well optimised, I mean, it runs fine on a 7 year old PC, 60 FPS most of the time, with an occasional drop to ~45 FPS in larger areas,
    + music, music and once again music,
    + voice acting,
    + lots of variety, different places, landscapes and whatnot,
    + optional tasks,
    + memorable villains,
    + plot twists,
    + the puzzles and minigames: not SUPER hard, but thoughtful and rather entertaining,
    + dialogues,
    + the developers seem to be more daring to try new things than in the previous games (most of the time it works really well),
    + lots of references to other games and popculture, some of them extremely well done,
    + the humour,
    + Wilbur's first optional task will definitely put a smile on your face,
    + Nate's unlockable costume is the greatest thing ever!

    The bad:
    - there are still a few bugs and typos that need attention, I would definitely expect some patches in the near future, and I'll probably change my score to a 9 when they get resolved,
    - I'm not sure the tutorial is actually necessary, but that's personal opinion,
    - Ivo's first chapter starts rather slowly and takes a while to build up.

    The ending leaves you with quite a few questions, especially if you keep watching after the end credits, so it's safe to expect another sequel in the future.    … Expand
  3. Shiroco
    Feb 20, 2015
    9
    Shiroco
    Feb 20, 2015
    9 TL:DR It's a great point and click adventure game which allows you to play with three (four) memorable characters. There are many references based on popular games (eg. WoW), tv shows (eg Srubs) or books (eg. The Neverending Story) which will make you smile and in my case bring forth some genuine laughter. You'll experience a story in which the three (four) main    Shiroco
    Feb 20, 2015
    9
    TL:DR
    It's a great point and click adventure game which allows you to play with three (four) memorable characters. There are many references based on popular games (eg. WoW), tv shows (eg Srubs) or books (eg. The Neverending Story) which will make you smile and in my case bring forth some genuine laughter. You'll experience a story in which the three (four) main characters (Ivo an elvish princess, Nate a Captain of a skypirateship and his companion "Critter" (think of Han Solo and Chewie) and lastly Wilbur a gnome wizard) get back together to fight a pink menace that threatens the world of Aventasien. It will take you about 20 hours to finish the game which is nothing to sneeze at.

    I would strongly recommend playing the first instalment of the series not because it is absolutely needed but because it adds to the experience of this game and it is another great adventure.

    ----Story----
    I don’t want to spoil too much of the story but it should suffice to say that you’ll be able to play as the gnome Wilbur who just became a teacher at a wizard school, as the elven princess Ivo who is inflicted with some kind of „disease“ and is currently staying at the elven castle, as captain Nate who still has issues with headhunters and their employer and as the Critter who is the loyal companion of Nate. All three of them get dragged into a political struggle for power and something which transforms the world of Aventasien into a pink and cute version of it.

    ----Puzzles----
    The puzzles are designed pretty well and if you are an experienced adventure gamer you shouldn’t have any problems with them. Every puzzle has a logical solution and there are no “WTF” moments like the monkey wrench puzzle in “Monkey Island”. What should be mentioned is that there are optional puzzles which you don’t need to solve to progress in the story. Instead you’ll get a cosmetic Item which your characters can wear e.g. a fishing hat. There is one really great optional puzzle in the wizard school which pays homage to the evolution of adventure games.

    ----Graphics and Sound----
    The graphics are top notch and I’m not sure you’ll find better graphics in a point and click adventure. It is not uncommon for adventures that Items with which the player can interact stand out from the scene. That isn’t the case in this game. Every usable item looks like it’s a part of the background.

    The voice over is great in the german version of the game. All of the old characters have their voices from the original and each voice actor breathes life into the characters. It’s hard for me to judge the quality of the English voice over (because I’m not a native speaker) but I started a second playthrough in English and I’m quite happy with them as well. So in my book they are pretty good as well. The soundtrack is well made and this time most of it is done with a real orchestra.

    ----Conclusion----
    BoUT2 is great adventure which is quite big (~20 hours) and thus is something which is rare nowadays. If you like adventure games in the spirit of “Monkey Island” you need to get BoUT2 (and 1 if haven’t played it). The people at KingArt, who developed this game, poured their heart and soul into it and the game shows it. The lovely crafted scenes in the background, the witty and funny dialogues and the many references to pop culture already earned a sweet spot in my geeky heart. Collapse    … Expand
  4. FallacyEpiphany
    Feb 24, 2015
    10
    as good as part one.
    huge laughs, interesting story, feelings, humor, stuff.
    I laughed my ass of and the puzzles weren't too easy not too hard.
    Nearly never used a walkthrough, but sometimes I did ^^

    Looking forward to part 3 :)
  5. ekolet
    Feb 21, 2015
    9
    +Artwork is amazing
    +Voice acting is godly
    +One of the funniest games ever
    +Writing is top tier

    -Terrible ending
    -Way, way WAY too many wow(or other themepartk MMOs)/monkey island references.
  6. eelegendo
    Aug 12, 2015
    6
    Has less humor and fun than the previous and more of the annoying type puzzles. After a while you get bored of trying to find out what the game wants you to do. What's more there are a lot of bugs (I have the 'finished' version, not the early access), so sometimes you don't know that what you try isn't okay because it's not the solution or because it is a program error...
    There are other    Has less humor and fun than the previous and more of the annoying type puzzles. After a while you get bored of trying to find out what the game wants you to do. What's more there are a lot of bugs (I have the 'finished' version, not the early access), so sometimes you don't know that what you try isn't okay because it's not the solution or because it is a program error...
    There are other bugs, clipping errors, very often when an ingame video is playing and it won't stop. You can't select anything or leave the scene, so you have to reload last save. Also the inventory hides a portion of the scene behind it and you can't move out of the way. What is the meaning of the early access if not fixing these bugs?
    Disappointment after the 1st game.    … Expand
  7. akarnokd
    Feb 22, 2015
    8
    It's a good game, funny, great visuals and voiceover. However, there are a few negatives:
    - feels tedious to replay,
    - inventory sometimes blocks the object to be interacted, - puzzles' logic are sometimes not my logic; kept forgetting that one needs to retalk to people and retry using items, - it feels a chapter is missing at least; perhaps the story's resolution will happen in a    It's a good game, funny, great visuals and voiceover. However, there are a few negatives:
    - feels tedious to replay,
    - inventory sometimes blocks the object to be interacted,
    - puzzles' logic are sometimes not my logic; kept forgetting that one needs to retalk to people and retry using items,
    - it feels a chapter is missing at least; perhaps the story's resolution will happen in a sequel,
    - bugs; some small ones, some cutscene hangs, one or two game breaking.
    In conclusion, the game is worth playing.    … Expand
  8. Thilus
    Mar 30, 2015
    9
    What a great game. I've been playing adventure games for more than two decades and I think I only had this much fun when I was playing Monkey Island seires (to which there are sevral references in BoUT2). Great script, great puzzles (challenging, yet sensible), great characters with good voice acting, and finally great dialogues with tons and tons of well placed pop-culture references andWhat a great game. I've been playing adventure games for more than two decades and I think I only had this much fun when I was playing Monkey Island seires (to which there are sevral references in BoUT2). Great script, great puzzles (challenging, yet sensible), great characters with good voice acting, and finally great dialogues with tons and tons of well placed pop-culture references and humour. The only drawback was the technical side. Sevral game breaking bugs almost did it for me. Fortunately an update was able to fix the game. Apart from that? Can't wait for the third installment. What a great game that will be.… Expand
  9. Umair_Khan
    Sep 7, 2015
    9
    Score: 9/10.

    Story: The game starts after the events of the original. There is pretty big gap between timelines of both stories. The war is over and shadow army is defeated. Now Seastone is rebuilding and it's time for elections. Wilbur Weathervane, who is a Gnome, returns and now he is a Mage teacher in one of the schools of Seastone. Captain Nate and Critter are still together and    Score: 9/10.

    Story:
    The game starts after the events of the original. There is pretty big gap between timelines of both stories. The war is over and shadow army is defeated. Now Seastone is rebuilding and it's time for elections. Wilbur Weathervane, who is a Gnome, returns and now he is a Mage teacher in one of the schools of Seastone.

    Captain Nate and Critter are still together and happen to be inside the palace of Red Pirate for some reason. Princess Ivo on other hand is now a prisoner of her mother. She is locked inside her palace and not allowed to leave Elven woods because she wants to protect her from a new threat. Some characters from the first game also return.

    The game starts pretty slow and takes some time to pick up. But when it does, it's hard to stop playing. Just like the first game, this one also features a lot of references to other games, TV shows and movies. You can expect to laugh a lot due to those references and hilariously funny writing. However, that's not the only thing that you are going to experience because the story also contains some sad moments. Rest assured that almost all of these scenes are handle quite well. The only drawback of the story is the ending. A lot of questions remain unanswered.

    Design:
    It took me 30 hours to finish this game and enjoyed every second of this game. You control your character through mouse and click anywhere on the map to move them. The game uses 3D models and fixed camera facing 3D backgrounds. When characters engage in a conversation, you are given a list of dialogues to select.

    The game also features quick saves and one can save and reload the game anytime he wants. Unfortunately, there are some small bugs and few glitches in the game but nothing game breaking. The good thing is, the game's checkpoint system is extremely good and saves the game automatically after every few seconds and it happens so well that you won't even notice any lag or notification when that happens.

    Gameplay:
    Unlike other adventure games, this game also have side quests. These quests are completely optional but if you complete them, you can unlock some really nice looking outfits for your character. That's not all, some main missions can be completed in different ways too.

    Mostly, you can only control one character but there are some scenes where a puzzle can't be solved by one person and there the game gives you other characters to control. You can switch between characters to assign them different tasks (you hold that lever, I'll hold this one to open the door). Luckily, switching between characters is a lot faster than the original game.

    To progress the story, you click on different objects to get more information about them or pick them up as items. Then these items can later be used on other objects in the environment to solve puzzles. You drag and drop items on objects, you want them to be used on, to progress. You can also combine different items, For Example, attaching the string at the end of a stick creates a fishing rod, to catch fish.

    You can share different items with your friends and sometimes, you also receive important items by talking to NPCs. So don't forget to interact with them from time to time. Sometimes, you are talking about something else and NPCs change the subject and you receive an item from them even if you didn't expect them to do that during that conversation. Which means that you should always check every dialgue option available to not miss anything. Keep in mind that, pressing Space bar highlights important items, which is helpful for those who are not up for the challenge but I would say don't use it.

    Presentation:
    The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is a 3D game. It uses real time lighting/shadows. Character models look very good and while their facial animations are great, in some scenes their lip-sync is a bit distracting. Character animations are great and voice acting is excellent. Captain Nate is once again voice acted by Doug Cockle, voice of Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher.

    The game has great sound effects and excellent Orchestral Soundtracks. Most of the time, the story proceeds in real time but there are also some close up scenes where camera zooms-in on key characters and moves around to make the scene more appealing. The storytelling is great and the game contains graphics settings as well. I also didn't experience any crashes.

    Verdict:
    Unwritten Tales 2 is a worthy successor to the original. It is a great game and a must play for every PC Gamer.    … Expand
  10. curzon_dax
    Apr 18, 2015
    10
    This deserves a 10 for the amount of work they've put into it. It feels like a story that could be done in at least 2 full games. It's amazing how big it is. Well, it's not like it's unheard of in other games but in Adventure Games the past few years mini-games were the norm and they became boring. This has an enormous amount of content for an Adventure Game. Good job.
  11. MR67
    Aug 25, 2018
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I enjoyed and finished the first Book of Unwritten Tales, but, sadly, only the graphics have improved from its predecessor, while the rest of the game has gone downhill. The humour seems more forced than the first one, and a lot of the puzzles are incredibly frustrating and seem to require a trial-and-error approach to solve.

    One example - one of the characters you play as, Wilbur, gets tasked with cleaning up the school of magic he works at, along with a surly, unhelpful troll janitor. He has to get a broom out of a locked display cabinet, but the key is nowhere to be found. To get the key, you have to wedge a coin into the entrance door, then call the troll janitor to fix the "stuck" door. While his back is turned to you, you then notice a set of keys on his belt which you can then remove and use to open the display cabinet and finally get the broom. Firstly, how the hell are you supposed to figure out that you need to wedge a coin into the entrance door, and secondly, how are you expected to know that the troll janitor has a set of keys on him when you can't even see them initially??? No hints whatsoever are given and it seems like you are often expected to take a trial-and-error approach and just waggle random objects from your inventory around the screen in the hope of seeing a prompt to use the object somewhere!

    I had to Google the solution to this one as well as two other puzzles which had me absolutely stumped. Eventually I just got completely bored and uninstalled the game while trying to figure out how to get all the parts for the golem and getting hopelessly stuck once again.

    The game looks wonderfully crafted, but really, the puzzle design is piss-poor. I was able to finish the first Book of Unwritten Tales without looking up any hints online, so why now all of a sudden do I have to resort to continually turning to Google or YouTube for help???    … Expand
  12. Voyou
    Oct 8, 2016
    8
    I'll reuse the main sentence of my review for the fist installment: It's pretty, humorous, surprising, well told, well interfaced, with multiple protagonists, and rich in possible interactions. It's definitely as good as the first one.

    Two things surprise me: I do not mind at all the characters being quite verbose (whereas I do in many recent games,) and I feel no loss of novelty    I'll reuse the main sentence of my review for the fist installment: It's pretty, humorous, surprising, well told, well interfaced, with multiple protagonists, and rich in possible interactions. It's definitely as good as the first one.

    Two things surprise me: I do not mind at all the characters being quite verbose (whereas I do in many recent games,) and I feel no loss of novelty factor, which is a risk with a sequel. That is telling when it comes to the quality of the writing and its delivery.

    Both BoUT are akin to old Lucas Art games with their flaws corrected, like the absurd inventory combinations. On the other hand, it adds a minor but common flaw with the abundance of references to shows and other games. They are distracting when understood, at best useless, at worst awkward when not (as not everybody watches the telly or expensive bad movies.) Still, BoUT creates enough new material with memorable moments and characters to win over its audience.

    P&C well done.    … Expand
  13. Torgall
    Dec 12, 2020
    9
    Nice, charming graphics and excellent humor is what expected after the previous games and I got it.
  14. SherlockHolmess
    Sep 6, 2015
    8
    Great game, even better than the first one. Charming graphics, funny characters and dialoges along with a suitable soundtrack make this game to a relaxing and enjoybale fantasy trip which makes references to other fantasy genres and even real world scnearios.

Awards & Rankings

56
#56 Best PC Game of 2015
83
#83 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 39
  3. Negative: 1 out of 39
  1. games(TM)
    May 28, 2015
    40
    Unwritten Tales 2 comes up unfavourably when compared to the classic games it tries to emulate, contemporary titles that have tried to do a similar thing, à la Broken Sword 5, and games that have tried to modernise the genre such as The Walking Dead. In that context, it would perhaps have been better if those ‘unwritten tales’ remained as such.
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  2. Riot Pixels
    Apr 24, 2015
    67
    The story is short on emotions, the main characters lost their charm, the script is a messy patchwork, but the worst flaw is that the gameplay is repetitive and sluggish.
    Read full review
  3. CD-Action
    Apr 1, 2015
    85
    The sequel revived my faith in point’n’click games by proving that we do not have to settle for run-of-the-mill dialogues and flat characters. King Art is a seriously talented studio that could make a game about a snail crossing the street and still make me laugh regularly. [04/2015, p.54]
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