Developed by DO MY BEST, The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales is a narrative adventure with a twist; the power to traverse between reality and book worlds. Using such power, you are tasked with stealing legendary items like Thor’s Hammer and Excalibur, and by doing so, restore your ability to write.

You take on the role of Etienne Quist, an author who loses his freedom to write after being found guilty of an unspeakable crime. Receiving a long sentence, longer than most, Etienne will do almost anything to get his status back. Before you know it, your phone rings with an offer from a criminal boss, and now your journey begins. All you need to do is dive head-first into these stories and acquire a series of legendary items.

The story here, or more accurately, the stories, are rather interesting. Following the main plot of Etienne Quist and his quest to get his status back is quite good on its own. What was interesting, though, is you follow along with stories that we are all familiar with, but with their own twist. One of my favourites was being tasked with stealing Thor’s hammer, which you would think leads you into the traditional story of Thor, but it wasn’t quite that at all. I won’t say much more, as we don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I can say that these alternative stories definitely kept me entertained.

Navigating these worlds is quite a unique experience, using the power to travel between reality and these book worlds whenever you feel like it, or when you might need to. Early on in your first story, you come across an unstable-looking wall, and a trusted source lets you know that there are no tools in the story that will break it down. This is where traversing back to reality comes in handy, as you might just find the tool you need there to take back in with you.

The narrative and general gameplay are great, but there are also some other great features Bookwalker offers, like turn-based combat. This was quite enjoyable, managing health and ink as you fight for your life, whether it’s against characters in the current story or other unworldly monsters that might appear. I just mentioned ink, and this was quite fascinating with the multiple ways it’s used.

Essentially, it is a tool for re-writing the story a little in your favour, but not entirely in a way where you can completely alter a story. It is used in multiple ways, such as in combat mentioned before, though it gets more interesting than that. Attempting to unlock doors, alter an item or persuade some characters to benefit you are a few things you can do. This does sound kind of like a cheat, but it is well-balanced and might not always work.

Controls are a big factor in most games, and who would have thought, right? With this being a strong narrative-driven game, there’s still plenty of running around and puzzle-solving to be done. Playing on Xbox worked well for the most part, however, there were plenty of times when I felt it to be a little unresponsive. There were multiple times I wanted to change directions, and quickly moving my thumbstick in the opposite direction would lock my character up, which would only be resolved by releasing and reapplying my input.

The movement issue was only a small problem and easy to look past as the narrative was gripping and kept me going. Unfortunately, I came across a slightly more frustrating issue. Positioning myself when trying to interact with objects was sometimes a nightmare, especially objects you have to move.

I thought I had a hold of them, but instead, my character would move. So I decided to boot it up on PC and had a much more enjoyable experience, so if you can look past the few problems, feel free to continue on Xbox, if not I do recommend the PC version.

Bookwalker is obviously not riddled with amazing high-resolution next-gen textures, though what it is, is very creative and stylish. The real world doesn’t have a whole lot going on as you are locked to your apartment building and room, but it is ever-changing as you progress though, making it not so bleak and boring. The world inside the books is all unique, making each story feel fresh and interesting. The worlds are divided into what I would call tiles, and only having a small area to navigate gives a book-like feel to it, almost as if you’re locked into your current paragraph or chapter and that’s your main focus.

I’m quite lazy at times and usually can’t be bothered reading, luckily the narrative here, with all its twists, characters, and alternative take on stories made me want to read, though I would have enjoyed it if there was some voice acting to bring the stories to life that little bit more. That’s not to say the rest of the audio in Bookwalker was anything but great. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, with great combat sounds, and ambiance for most areas and stories, along with many others working in unison.

Bookwalker, for me, was a rather interesting title. One I wouldn’t usually find myself playing at first, but I’m glad I got the opportunity to. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good narrative experience, and even more so if you’re an avid reader who would like to see some unique takes on stories and even storytelling.

Written by: MrVibeAU