A Juggler's Tale

 PlayStation 5
A Juggler's Tale Image
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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  • Summary: A Juggler’s Tale is a cinematic puzzle-platformer. Play as Abby, the marionette, and make your way through a medieval fairy tale world to find freedom. Use the puppet’s strings in unique puzzles, find your way around obstacles, and evade the relentless cut-throats that are hot on your heelsA Juggler’s Tale is a cinematic puzzle-platformer. Play as Abby, the marionette, and make your way through a medieval fairy tale world to find freedom. Use the puppet’s strings in unique puzzles, find your way around obstacles, and evade the relentless cut-throats that are hot on your heels – while the puppet master holds the strings firmly in his hands. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Come in, come in! In the mood for a story, are we?" Abby is an artiste held captive at a circus: She spends her days entertaining the audience and her nights in a cage, longing for freedom. One day, she escapes the circus and gets to explore a mystical world. Alas, freedom comes at a cost and Abby soon finds herself dragged into the dangers this world has to offer: In a war-torn, medieval fairy tale, surrounded by ravaged, starving citizens and hunted by the relentless cut-throat Tonda, Abby has to cross raging rivers, make it through bandit camps and around traps. Her adventure is always accompanied by the lyrical rhymes of puppet master Jack, who tells her story while holding the strings of his puppets firmly in his ever-helpful hands. Who can Abby trust? Can she find a way to truly break free? Despite dangling from her threads, will Abby learn that she can still influence her destiny? "Abby, Abby... Don't you see, the threads holding you up – also hold you back."… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Finger Guns
    Sep 29, 2021
    80
    A Juggler’s Tale is a short but very sweet atmospheric 3D puzzle side scroller. With a unique dynamic of controlling a marionette, puzzles become more thoughtful. The game is visually stunning and has a wonderful gaming experience. Intense at times with a wicked twist, the only downside is it’s short run time. Easily recommended to fans of Little Nightmares, or Puzzle side scrollers in general.
  2. GameSpew
    Sep 30, 2021
    80
    Although short, A Juggler’s Tale is an intelligent game well worth spending a few hours with. Its visuals are spectacular, and its haunting poetic narration – although jarring at times – provides an excellent and unexpected ending. Abby might not speak, but you’ll be rooting for her each step of the way.
  3. BaziCenter
    Oct 25, 2021
    80
    A Juggler’s Tale is short but beautiful, and despite some minor shortcomings can still entertain, even if it’s only for a brief period of time.
  4. Metro GameCentral
    Sep 30, 2021
    70
    A charming puzzle platformer which makes great use of its puppet show concept but falls short in longevity.
  5. Jeuxvideo.com
    Dec 31, 2021
    65
    Without showing any great singularity, A Juggler's Tale stands out with a beautiful atmosphere, a few nicely sketched sets and a handful of well-thought-out puzzles. But the lack of comfort felt during the crossing lacks an experience that is a bit too short and generic to really score. With better handling and some additional originalities, the game could have been a real success. Pity.
  6. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Oct 1, 2021
    60
    A Juggler’s Tale is enjoyable for what it is, but it doesn’t quite reach the particularly memorable nature of similar indie games it so obviously takes inspiration from. There’s a great introspective narrative with some brilliant themes regarding personal freedoms and cutting the strings of toxic relationships throughout, but a short runtime and occasionally obtuse puzzles and mechanics leave it feeling a bit more tangled up than it should by the end.
  7. WellPlayed
    Sep 30, 2021
    55
    A Juggler’s Tale is almost the game it thinks it is, peaking at the potential highs of a narratively-complex side-scroller with a unique twist on how you engage with the world around you. In falling short the way it does it won’t leave you entirely wanting, there is fun to be had and wonders to marvel at in its beautiful world. But a limited runtime and unrealised script make Abby’s quest for freedom a little too caught up in its own strings.

See all 9 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Zmzm
    Oct 3, 2021
    9
    One of the best platforming storyteller game

    Highly recommend Nine out of ten
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Sep 30, 2021
    7
    A juggler’s Tale
    Cute and creepy
    a jugglers tale is an hr and a half long puzzle platformer, very simple environmental puzzle platformer,    A juggler’s Tale
    Cute and creepy
    a jugglers tale is an hr and a half long puzzle platformer, very simple environmental puzzle platformer, trust me I get it, Im over puzzle platformers too, but A Juggler’s tale is extremely casual.. her eyou play as a puppet, there is a narroator narrating every move, the game is absolutely beautiful at times, but you start off by escaping the circus, youre tired of juggling and dealing with a bear every day… you flee, and the circus is on the hunt… so you have to sneak past guards, and around obstacles as much like unravel for example, you have to deal with your puppet strings not allowing you to just simple climb under stuff… puzzle wise like I said earlier its very casual, youll most just be grabbing, pulling, and throwing.. for example one puzzle section has you delivering a flame through a rain storm, one will have you trying to use a cart to sneak past guards, ,very similar to the likes of a little nightamres game.. and I really enjoyed this game.. though it does have its moments of annoyance.. the game tries its best with visual language, wraping a red string around things you can grab, but sometimes tis isn’t always the case, or the item is just so small, that oyu don’t think of grabbing it such as the moment you see on screen here.. this moment also annoyed me and broke the immersion because while trying to figure this puzzle out, as I would try to out smart and menuver the enemy, it would just snap and grab me, restarting the puzzle.. taking me out of the game and into the real world reminding me hey youre playing a video game and this isn’t how you beat this part.. and an annoying running section that youll have to try over and over until you get lucky, I really have no idea what I did different any of the times playing this one, its just one time the game let me move on, the others I got caught.. no faster route.. nothing, just got lucky being a fraction of a second faster..
    A Juggler’s Tale is creepy, not as creepy as little nightmares but theres a splash of spook here just in time for October
    I give A Juggler’s Tale
    a 7/10    … Expand

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96
#96 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2021

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