Gaming: Solve a murder mystery by flying people around on your giant crane in the Disco Elysium and Chinese folktale inspired The Crane Rider's Tale (2026)

Gaming: Solve a murder mystery by flying people around on your giant crane in the Disco Elysium and Chinese folktale inspired The Crane Rider's Tale (2026)

Nothing will put me on to a game quicker than having a concept so laser-focused on the thing it's trying to do, and, seemingly, doing it well. This is the case for The Crane Rider's Tale, the next game from the developer of Butterfly Soup, a visual novel/adventure game hybrid that takes cues from Disco Elysium and Zero Escape where a serial killer is on the loose who has killed your friend, so you ferry around your local townsfolk around on your giant crane to figure out who did it, all wrapped up in a medieval Chinese painting and woodblock print aesthetic. It is so much, and so much my exact vibe. In The Crane Rider's Tale, you play a character called Mourn-No-More, a "kind but sickly man whose giant pet crane Snowfall is the fastest form of transportation around." Following the death of his friend Peach Blossom, as part of his old timey taxi service job, he has to choose which passengers he wants to take in order to figure out who's doing all this murdering. There are five main endings to experience, each with a "shocking twist that might alter your understanding of the mystery." From the creator of #ButterflySoup and #PomGetsWiFi, The Crane Rider's Tale is a mystery game inspired by Disco Elysium, Zero Escape, and Chinese folktales. 🪽On Kickstarter now! www.kickstarter.com/projects/psy...[image or embed] The Disco Elysium influence comes in the form of dice rolling and skill checks, functioning quite similarly to the seminal RPG. Once again similarly to it, failing sometimes leads you down an interesting path too. There are other skills you can pick up too, like being able to fly further, for example. Picking up passengers prompts Disco-esque conversations, more so in layout than content, and upon delivering them to their destination you can have a wonder around point-and-click style. Creator Brianna Lei is currently running a Kickstarter for the game, with some reflective thoughts about the setting of the game. "While The Crane Rider's Tale is first and f

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun