It's been a couple of weeks since the release of the stealth RPG Ghost of a Tale, the story of a mouse minstrel in a medieval dungeon on a quest to reunite with his true love. The game is now "what it should have been right from the start," developer SeithCG says, courtesy of the update that was released over the weekend, which clears up "the vast majority of the remaining bugs." 

"In case some of you are wondering why those bugs were there to start with, the answer is simple (besides the fact that Ghost of a Tale is quite complex under the hood): a dozen persons testing the game on and off over a period of 2 months is simply no match for having thousands of people all starting to play at the same time. That being said, it's my fault of course," developer SeithCG wrote.

"When I realized what was happening it was obviously too late to say, 'Whoops, sorry I’ll put it back in the fridge for moment.' The fact that most sounds didn’t play in the second half of the game furthermore gave the impression that it wasn’t finished. And that sucked." 

Despite the troubles, it doesn't appear to have been a disastrous launch by any measure. Steam user reviews are "very positive," and it boasts a solid 76 aggregate review score on Metacritic. But SeithCG said the problems were especially frustrating because the Early Access period went so smoothly.

"Today ... the game is what it should have been right from the start. So let this serve as an apology to the players who felt the game was not up to their technical standards when it launched, and an invitation to those who've been waiting to come and visit the world of Ghost of a Tale." 

The fixlist: 

• No ambient sounds playing in the catacombs, harbor, great hall and shore.
• Abrupt transitions between ambient sounds.
• Elevators (courtyard, baskets, bells, etc…) don’t play their sounds.
• Ravik’s arrival sequence (on the bridge) doesn’t play any sounds.
• Sounds during dialogs are sometimes too loud.
• Spiders don’t play their sounds.
• No sounds when climbing ladders.
• Several reverb zones are not kicking in.
• Gallworms don’t play their sounds.
• Pressure plates don’t play their sound.
• Pinecones don’t play their sounds (collapsing worm holes, etc…).
• All ambient sounds are turned off after quitting and relaunching the game.
• The rebel mice remain visible although the skiff has left the harbor.
• An invisible wall keeps Tilo from crossing the already-opened metal gate in the harbor near the crab’s pen (coming from the elevator).
• The commander is sometimes not visible in his office.
• It is possible to sleep in the commander’s bed.
• Rolo at the forge is not hammering and talks about weird unrelated stuff.
• The camera is too close to Tilo after reloading a save.
• Cases where reloading an autosave results in the camera remaining locked on the spot.
• Cases of invisible Ravik on the bridge.
• The Gusto & Fatale’s achievement is not triggered.
• The Lore Master achievement is not getting unlocked.
• The wrong map is shown after getting to the shore via the cave.
• Some map markers for items on the maps are wrong.
• The well key can sometimes get stuck in an unreachable place.
• The HUD is not properly restored after leaving photo mode.
• The guards in the harbor can chase Tilo beyond the harbor (and disappear).
• Some French characters are not properly displayed in the books UI.
• The grid ladder in the jail tower can sometimes get stuck (after reloading multiple times).
• Problems when reloading a save while the end sequence is still playing.
• Some trees on the shore are missing their colliders.
• Rare cases where Silas is awake instead of sleeping.
• Some missing colliders in the catacombs walls.
• Tilo can sprint and sneak while wearing the armor when launching the game and loading a save with the armor upgrade skill.
• Ambient music abruptly kicks in instead of fading in.
• Guards’ knocked out timer UI remains on screen after leaving the area of the guards.
• Shutters don’t play their sounds when Tilo opens them.

There are separate fixes with spoilers which you'll have to hit up Steam to see, because I don't want to spoil any surprises. The developers are also still trying to bring Chinese support to the game. There's no timeline for it yet, "but it will happen eventually!" In the meantime, why not ogle the adorable GIFs Chris made of the game's mousy protagonist? 

Vermintide 2 isn't the only rodent-based game out this month: There's also Ghost of a Tale, which launched yesterday. I've been playing it but I'm having a little trouble progressing through the beautiful stealth RPG because I keep stopping to admire my character, The Cutest Damn Mouse Ever.

I mean, come on, just look at this fuzzy fellow (his actual name is Tilo). Look at Tilo in his little hood, lute strapped to his back (he's a minstrel), as he lifts and carries a stool under a key-rack and then clambers on top and grabs the key and escapes:

The cuteness is seriously slowing me down. I'm not really exaggerating—I'm so engrossed in the look and animations of this game that I'll sometimes stop playing it just to watch the Tilo's idle animations, as he looks around, wiggles his tail, and scratches his butt. Whenever I do something for the first time, like hide in a barrel, I'll immediately do it a few more times just to admire the details of the animation. When you're close to an item you can interact with, you can hold the right mouse (heh) button, and he'll lower his head as if examining it carefully. I do that a lot, too. I spent about five minutes with Tilo just standing outside in the sun while butterflies flapped around lazily.  It's a pretty game.

Ghost of a Tale begins with Tilo in prison (along with a few other offbeat characters), looking to escape and find his wife who is being held elsewhere. Guarding the prison are towering rat guards in armor and weapons. You sneak around, gathering up whatever items you can find, locating keys to unlock doors, and evading the rats. If the rats spot you, they'll give chase, and if they catch you, they'll kill you.

Which makes it good that you can tip-toe around. As you might expect, it isn't just useful but adorable as hell:

You're not powerless against the giant rats: collect bottles to fling at their heads and you can knock them out for a few seconds. I've also collected a few small vials of slime that you can smash on the ground, which will then cause a guard to slip and KO itself if it walks through the slippery goop. At one point, I pushed a barrel off a balcony onto a guard's head, letting me steal his key and unlock a door. So you've got some moves.

The environments of Ghost of a Tale are impressively detailed, and while items you can interact with will pop up text when you get close, they otherwise blend in perfectly, so it never feels like you're just hunting for glowing objects (as in some other games) but really searching your surroundings for things you can collect and use.

The stealth is pretty forgiving. The rat guards I've encountered are pretty slow to notice you provided you're not directly in their sight or holding your lit lantern or candle, and the rats give up pretty quickly and return to their posts and routines once you've hidden. Which doesn't mean it's easy to lose them: your sprint meter exhausts itself pretty quickly, so it's best used to zip around corners to get out of their sight for a moment before climbing into a barrel, chest, or wardrobe. Also, when Tilo sprints, he does it on all fours. Again: it's cute as all heck.

Currently, I'm trying to find some guard armor so I can dress as a guard rat (a very cute one, I'm sure) which will hopefully allow me to just stroll past them whenever I please. I've got two pieces already, and I need is a few more. I'd probably find them quicker if I could stop looking at how darn cute I am.

Ghost of a Tale is an action RPG about Tilo, a mouse minstrel searching for his lover Merra in a world populated exclusively by (freaking adorable) animals. Quite frankly, mouse musician is all I need to hear, but there's also this little tidbit: Ghost of a Tale is now available on Steam for $25. 

You might find it odd that a game about a mouse—mice generally not being known for their CQC or swordsmanship—is an action RPG. You'd be right, which is why Tilo's adventure focuses on "stealth elements, disguises, conversations with allies and enemies, and quests," according to developer SeithCG. It's more about exploring the world than cutting your way through it, and the studio reckons it will take you up to 20 hours to experience everything Ghost of a Tale has to offer. 

As previously reported, Ghost of a Tale had a hell of a time making it here. SeithCG launched its successful Indiegogo campaign in 2013 and released its first trailer in 2014, but delayed its initial 2015 release date and wound up releasing an Early Access version in 2016. Last year, a tentative 2018 release was announced. The studio only recently committed to a day, but here we are. 

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.