The Steam Next Fest demo for this magical adventure game is like a mix between Little Nightmares and It Takes Two

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Once a Tale turns the story of Hansel and Gretel into a stop-motion platformer

Once a Tale
(Image credit: Carcajou Games)

I can't stop playing the Steam Next Fest demo for this fairytale adventure game as it's making the wait for Little Nightmares 3 slightly easier. 

Just like Tarsier's spooky 2.5 platformer, Once a Tale sees players take control of two children as they explore unfamiliar surroundings, work together to solve puzzles, and uncover the truth of how they got there in the first place. Unlike Little Nightmares, this adventure game is a bit more family-friendly and takes inspiration from the Brothers Grimm story of Hansel and Gretel, as well as other well-known tales. 

One of the most endearing qualities of Once a Tale is its stop-motion art style that feels like you're navigating the fairytale world as a pair of little wooden dolls. I recently played (and loved) a similar game, Bramble: The Mountain King, but rest assured this version has less monsters and gore and more talking pigs and breadcrumbs. It's also got a similar vibe to games like It Takes Two and the soon-to-be remastered Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. 

As you'd expect with the two protagonist platformer, Hansel and Gretel need to stick together to work their way through their story. Both characters have their strengths - Hansel can crouch and crawl to fit into small spaces, while Gretel can hang off of ledges and shimmy along them. Unfortunately, unlike the other games mentioned here, Once a Tale isn't a two-player game and instead will have players switching between the two siblings with the touch of a button.  

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At first, I thought Once a Tale was designed to just look like a stop-motion animation, but it turns out a huge chunk of the game was actually crafted just like a stop-motion film. In this dev log video, Carcajou Games & Triple Boris - Once a Tale's developers - gave future fans a glimpse into what went into crafting this hand-made world. Everything from the game's backgrounds, props, and even its characters have been constructed out of clay, wood, and other materials. 

I really enjoyed playing the Once a Tale demo and can't wait to play more of it once we reach its full release. You can try out Once a Tale during Steam Next Fest, which is still running for another few days until February 12, 2024. Don't forget to add this one to your wishlist on Steam and follow its developer on Twitter to keep up to date with the magical platformer ahead of its March 2024 release date. 

With a few more days left of the Steam event, why not try out some of the other indies we've enjoyed this week, including a Life is Strange-like visual novel, an impossibly colorful Metroidvania, a physics-based farming sim, and a stunning post-apocalyptic city builder.

Find out what else is on the way with our upcoming indie games list. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.