Boreal Tales blows onto Windows PC

Written by Jack Allin — May 19, 2020 at 10:15

The early 3D days of the original PlayStation console are long gone but clearly not forgotten, as evidenced by the recent release of indie developer Snot Bubbles Productions' highly unusual new adventure, Boreal Tales.

The game is set in a remote northern community that has been "cast adrift in an increasingly urbanized world." Populated by humans and anthropomorphic animals alike, the once-thriving town is now sick and dying, afflicted by something called a "Degraded Wave" as "anger seethes and builds like static in the signal." Against this ominous backdrop, a young woman named Sarah disappears while attempting to complete a ritual and now her sister Bree must find a way to bring her home. But Bree is just one of seven playable characters, as you'll come to explore the "interweaving narratives" of the bizarre townsfolk through a series of vignettes playing out in this "web of Trees and Streets."

You wouldn't know it to look at it, but Boreal Tales is not actually a PlayStation title at all (even the current gen variety), but rather a PC exclusive. Controlled via keyboard and presented in third-person perspective with a menu-styled interface, the game takes its cues from "the fixed-camera angle games of the PS1 era, and the dream logic of works like Yume Nikki." Expect a certain amount of "strong language and gore such as disembodied heads, heads floating in blood, bodies hanging, rivers of blood, zombies eating corpses and disfigured people" along the way. But most of all – at least if the trailer is any indication – brace yourself for enough weirdness to blow even David Lynch's mind.

Originally released late last month on itch.io, Boreal Tales has now found its way to Steam for Windows PC.
 

Update: Since time of writing, the title of this game has been changed to Boreal Tenebrae.