izigame.me

TLDR: A game with great marred by a lack of content. At the time of this review I have 119 minutes of playtime (Below required steam playtime for refund) 100% completion (except some achievements) and I had more than half an hour AFK. Thankfully there is a custom levels mod, you can find information about it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1624540/discussions/0/3821911405394704811/
Foreword: I had initially intended to write this review on September 27th 2023, one day after the "Devilsh First Update" because I played it start to finish then, but life happened as it often does. All of my comments are from that play period because I really wanted to keep the 119 minutes for the review.
Storyteller is a rather unique puzzle game, the gameplay regarding around the panels and the timeline they construct. In each level you try to finish the goal set by the level (And some additional ones that come into play later), creating different stories with the provided actors and stages to meet the goal. The game is rather short, currently featuring about 13 Chapters, all of which can be completed in less than an hour and a half, even with the optional objectives and some levels having a "devil mode" in it adding the devil as a character and changing the level goal.
One thing I'll like to mention is that the game has no sandbox mode. I'm not the first one to say that a sandbox mode would fit this game extremely well, and I certainly won't be the last. The thing with the game being that across the 13 Chapters we see a variety of characters and scenarios, but they are all self contained, for the most part with interaction between chapters being very rare. Which is a shame because the potential is there, what would Edgar say to the the magic mirror? What would the witch do if she and Snow White were family? Can a gun kill Dracula? Seeing these interactions play out would be certainly fun but it would also take a lot of development time too.
One thing that people may not know about Storyteller is that the game has been in development for a long time, like a LONG TIME. Here is early gameplay footage from a literal decade ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXQQjiOs0Pk. So this game has been in development for at least 10 years before release, changing wildly from then to now. So I have to assume that there are technical limitations at play that limit development. So a sandbox mode may be out of the questions but thankfully there is a custom level mod that adds some replayability (The game has close to no replayability right now). You can find more information about it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1624540/discussions/0/3821911405394704811/
I think this game would benefit from any kind of content, if they still exists somewhere the old gameplay versions would be fun extra content, it would allow us to see how the "Story of Storyteller" developed and we can see bonus content. Of course this is a pipe dream but it would help with the lack of content if it did happen. For future updates if we are going to get more expansions like the one for the Garden of Eden that we got in the Devilish update, I'd like to see more interplay between existing chapters, also the "Monsters" chapter desperately needs to be expanded. It adds a lot of cool little features that would be great for future levels, but they each last for 1-3 levels, for example the Dracula level alone adding multiple new mechanics let being a single level is such a waste as there is incredible potential in both that level and the whole chapter.
To finish, I believe that Storyteller is a one of a kind game, and I'm sorry that I feel conflicted in recommending it. While I love what it does and believe that it is full of potential, the length of the game with high price tag makes it really hard for me to do so. Yet I ultimately still do, I believe in the potential of the game and in the dev to expand on it further in the future, especially considering that he worked on this game for over a decade. The price tag is a bit too steep to buy out of discount for the content present, but if you have some spare money (or a lot, depending on the region) and want to play a one of a kind puzzle game I would thoroughly recommend it. But be aware of the amount of content, you will likely finish the game in a few short hours (3 at most) so make your purchase accordingly.