Ghost of a Tale, the RPG about a minstrel mouse, gets a date and new screens

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It's been almost five years since we first looked at Ghost of a Tale, a fantasy RPG about a mouse named Tilo who goes on an adventure through a world populated only by animals. Following its successful Indiegogo campaign in 2013, developer SeithCG released a beautiful trailer in 2014, completely missed its planned 2015 release, launched an early access version in 2016, and said in 2017 that the game would be out in full in 2018. Whew!

Today, the studio firmed up the March 2018 launch window with a proper date of March 13 on PC, with Xbox One and PS4 versions to follow. The extra wait for consoles is for what may be the most indie reason imaginable: "I want to make sure we address everything before we start entering the 'certification dance'," developer Lionel "Seith" Gallat wrote. "I have a very poor internet connection and I can’t upload huge files back and forth as quickly as I wish."

Ghost of a Tale follows Tilo on his quest through Dwindling Heights Keep in search of his true love, Merra. As a mouse, he's not great in a fight, so the gameplay emphasis is on stealth, disguises, and evasion, rather than simply punching a path to victory. Gallat said in the launch date announcement that the game should last 8-10 hours "if you don't care much about the quests and story," and nearly double that time if you do.

He also released a bunch of new screens showcasing the current state of the game's gorgeous visuals, and a couple that compare it to the game as it was in 2015, which you can see below. Ghost of a Tale is available for prepurchase from Steam, GOG, and Humble for $20/£15/€20; the price will increase to $25 at launch.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.