Dark Parables: Ballad of Rapunzel – Review

If you are already familiar with Dark Parables, then Ballad of Rapunzel is just what you have expected. Blue Tea Games is still able to manage to interestingly twist the storyline of this age-old fairytale and makes it captivating. The story in Rapunzel does not require players to play the previous six games to fully understand; however, there are quite a few connections here and there which should be enough to spark your curiosity to check those that you have missed out.

Dark Parables: Ballad of Rapunzel is as usual, stunningly beautiful. The artwork is very colorful and superbly detailed; still, there are a number of fuzzy spots which we wish they could have been sharper. The soundtracks are just fine, suit the environment pretty well and the voice overs are good in quality.

The problem with Ballad of Rapunzel is that it does not improve upon its predecessors. The Dark Parables franchise seems to have stopped developing since Rise of the Snow Queen. All the nice features are there; from the lovely fragmented object scenes to the parable notes. Despite that, this game is not exactly up to the standard we have come to expect these days from a CE game. There is no interactive jump-map, which leaves players on their feet walking back and forth. The puzzles are still repetitive, although fairly entertaining and challenging. The extra content is nothing worth writing home about, at least the bonus chapter is solid enough. Furthermore, Ballad of Rapunzel is a short game – the main game should be concluded under 3 hours for advanced players.