Tavern Talk 2: Dreamwalker

TLDR: The drink mixing experience is more complicated than it is in Tavern Talk and can be obtuse at times, but be patient with it and allow yourself to glance at a guide for help if you’re truly stuck. That’s not a crime. The plot is, as always, carried by characters, and the Tavernkeeper (PC) can have what might feel like a very minimal role. Your choices have consequences, yes, and they can be very drastic ones, but narratively it can feel more like you gave fate a slight nudge instead of taking the pen into your own hands. So if you’re looking for something where you have a more blatant impact as a character in your decisions, this may not be the game for you. But if you’re still on board, this is a lovely, cozy game where you can expect a lot of promotion for (reasonably) healthy relationships and conflict resolution through dialogue. Now, for the true yapping. Firstly, to all the reviews complaining about having to “memorize the names of the potions”. You don’t. There’s this handy dandy tab in the book that has a potion bottle on it, and if you look at it, it has all your potions listed out, names and stats. Thought I’d mention that. Anyway. On the subject of drink making, it’s significantly more involved than the original Tavern Talk. It involves a little bit of math and some brain power, so you can’t just turn your brain off and pour some stuff in a cup. It’s a nice way to stay engaged, personally. I don’t think it’s as bad as some are complaining, although there are a couple prompts that I struggled with. Hints and keywords might have benefitted from some polish, but it’s really not bad. Someone also mentioned that the potion bottles for drinks are a little underwhelming. I agree; they’re somewhat plain. However, I think the same level of detail would have made the drinking nook too busy. The final drinks are beautiful, as always. No notes. The book opens to your last-opened page (even while brewing) rather than the drink menu like it did in the original Tavern Talk game. However, this isn’t strictly a bad thing. If you’re someone who likes to refer to the properties of your potions while brewing, it comes in handy. My biggest gripe with Tavern Talk was that there was a lack of emotional accountability from some of the patrons when it came to the Innkeep. They were treated unfairly and never received an apology from any of the other characters for any of the hurtful, ignorant, or downright cruel things that were said. This game does better with it. As Aegeus says, it’s possible to be owed an apology and also owe one yourself, and this game handles emotional conflict in general much better. You can clearly see both sides of an argument, even when one party might explicitly be in the wrong. It does feel like you rehash the same conflict through three different storylines, though. They all have a similar core issue, and at some point you sit there and go, “ah, yes. I think I’ve seen this film before”. But at the end of the day, it does [i]significantly[/i] better with how it handles and resolves conflict between all the characters. 9/10. I quite like the smaller cast as well. It gives me more time to get to know them and less overwhelming. Having a close group of eight regulars also just warms my heart. I might have liked there to be a couple more days to get to know everyone, but that would have risked tedium. I did not play the demo, so it came as news to me that [spoiler]Rune - or rather, “Rune” - is our Innkeep from the original game! This can be good or bad, depending on your personal opinions, but I loved seeing them through an outsider’s perspective and getting a tad more insight into who they might be. Given their Seelie nature, this version of them doesn’t have to be the one that tends to the Wayfarer’s Inn (and due to their backstory, it probably isn’t), so there’s still lots of room for player creativity for their Innkeeps, while simultaneously offering a potential base to build from.[/spoiler] In a similar vein: knowing what I did since I’ve played the game’s narrative sequel, [spoiler]seeing Quasar again was a gut punch that I’m [i]still[/i] recovering from.[/spoiler] I’ve only played through the “Good” ending so far (or perhaps the “Alternate” ending. But the [spoiler]redemption-ish arc we see for Kerebosia healed the part of me that wanted the same for Quasar. We didn’t get to see a lot of her, but it still felt meaningful.[/spoiler] To be fair, I do think that the ending twist comes out of left field for people who haven’t played the original game, but there’s significantly more “ah, I can see where that came from” instead of [spoiler]that jackdaw in the opening cinematic was a spy! Haha! And now you’re going to get blamed for not noticing it when, in reality, who ever could have seen that coming?[/spoiler] It feels a lot better as a player. Finally, if one of your first achievements isn’t petting Captain Beebug, you’re a no-good, very bad Tavernkeep and you [i]should[/i] be ashamed of yourself.

If you loved the first one, you'll love this prequel. I was curious about how they would implement your character from the first game into one of the adventurers in this one since you're not controlling them, but they nailed it. The character is both ambiguous as well as uniquely them in this game so it doesn't remove the ability of them being a self insert for those taking the role playing aspect more seriously. I absolutely fell in love with the song from this one, and enjoyed being able to decorate my tavern with the decor packs and trinkets brought back during the story. Playing this game immediately lead me into replaying the first one because I just couldn't get enough. My only criticism is for some reason this one felt shorter than the last game, but that could just be because I couldn't put it down. I'm hoping we get more content so I can return to the Drowsy Dragon with more stories to experience and guide. Bonus if we get to see what another character was like "way back when" because Una was a hoot!

A really solid prequel to Tavern Talk, in fact it improved almost every one of my gripes with the original. Gameplay in drink making is more complex, so is quest making (although only slightly). I am more invested in the story and world from the get go and the characters are still really cute and charming!

I continue to fall in love with the world and characters of the Tavern Talk universe! This prequel has a great balance of coziness and high-stakes drama, and I can't wait to continue to explore the story on my next playthroughs!

I'm so happy to be playing this prequel to Tavern Talk! Just like the first game, every character is incredibly lovable and endearing, and the story is truly captivating! The drink-mixing requires a bit more thought than in the first game, but it's still just as enjoyable. Once again, you've created a true masterpiece. Thank you for bringing this amazing universe to life. ❤️

I'd stumbled across the first Tavern Talk by pure happenstance and, man, did I fall in love. I replayed it for the different endings and could mix the drinks by heart. The character interactions were amazing and it felt like my choices to help the party members actually had an impact. Sadly, Tavern Talk 2: Dreamwalker feels like it lacks a lot of what made the first game great. -- 1.) The Characters Though some dialogue snippets made me chuckle, it felt like there was a lot less character building and that's not just because we have HALF the roster of the original game. They all felt very one-dimensional compared to the first game and not all characters really were explored on equal terms. I want to know a lot more about our kleptomaniac fae but the fae I genuinely could not stand received so much screentime. It just felt...off. 2.) The Tavernkeeper It felt as the player you could very much affect how the game skewed based on how you reacted to characters and how quests went. This all felt like you almost *couldn't* screw things up. Very much an illusion of choice. Yes, there are different endings but it felt harder to trip the Bad Ending than before. I did enjoy that the Tavernkeeper had personal stakes in this but it still felt as if any player projections onto the Tavernkeeper was lost. Also, not a fan of the voiceovers. I had my own vision on what they sound like, I didn't need a voice in the cinematics. 3.) The Biggest Flaw - The Mixing System No lie, I had to use a guide to get through this game without banging my head against the wall. The potions and drinks are split up on two different pages and trying to memorize how all they mixed together based on extremely vague clues was so frustrating that I pulled up a guide. In the first game, it felt natural to the point that I could slam out drinks without thinking and nail the stats. The drink mixing should be an aspect that compliments the game, not drives you mad to the point of having to pull up a cheatsheet. -- Overall, yeah, sure, I did enjoy a return to the series. Do I think this improved upon the original? No. It felt like a step back. Do I regret buying the game? No. I will say one of the last things that made me sad was the ending credits art. I *adored* seeing all the art of the cast playing around the tavern in the first game. This one didn't have anything besides a static picture of the tavern in different weather! I was very sad indeed. :(

全成就打完了，个人评分给到7/10，如果是前作粉丝的话总体来说是不会失望的www 跟前作比起来，调酒部分可玩性增强了（也可以说变烧脑了，尤其是药剂数量和数值有特定要求的情况下，像我一样在吧台后面琢磨半天算数也是有可能的×），这点是好是坏可以说见仁见智。 剧情上比前作的体量要小，角色和案件都少一些，而且我个人最遗憾的是片尾曲没有演出了……前作的不同结局都可以看到角色们回到酒馆后进行不同活动的场景，我真的很喜欢那个……不过剧情本身质量还是可以的，音乐也依旧好听。如果特别喜欢前作可以直接入，如果只是一般感兴趣的话，我觉得还是可以等更低的折扣的。 最后是一点关于GoodEnding的Tips：好结局“新的开始”需要所有案件都选对处理方式，包括最后两个没有单独成就的案件。（以下剧透）[spoiler]无尽梦魇选去救她，恍惚行军需要选处理方式一，也就是按计划稳扎稳打才行——之前的案件基本都是靠魅力和灵感随机应变来拿好结局，最后来这一手感觉还挺反直觉的（×）我一周目就是栽在这拿了NE[/spoiler]

I love the new drinkmixing! It's more engaging than in the original game (I prefer the new version of it) I also love the story, it feels so much more mature and more up my lane. A worthy prequel! Looking forward to playing through it! (might update this afterwards if possible with a final verdict) PS: The main menu music is a banger!