95%PC

This was a beautiful game that also teaches you about death in a very accessible and informative way. Made me feel much more prepared when actually interacting with the bureal and deathcare processes in the real world.

70%PC

Light game, not much to it but it's interesting to learn more about the death industry.

-3 for the minesweeper achievement. it has nothing to do with nothing.

65%PC

6.5/10

100%PC

Beautiful game.

90%PC

This game really, makes you think about how death really is, how it is from the peoples perspective. It was sad at times, and funny at times. The dialogue was insanely good, realistic and shows the mourning of families. I would give A Mortician's Tale a very high 9/10.

80%PC

super sweet story, genuinely had me tearing up at the end

70%PC

I review games with all games starting at 5/10 (Average) and then deduct/add for negatives and positives:

Overall Thoughts:

A Mortician's Tale is a small and delicate game. Graphically the game is cohesive and the music is soft and atmospheric. The story is a slice of life for a mortician as she deals with her daily job, corporate take-overs and grieving families it's 45 minutes long and respectively digests the topic, while being informative.

Recommend:

Yes, it's a short and interesting game

Positives:

+Pleasant presentation with art, writing and music
+Realistic/Authentic portrayal of corporate and morgues

+2

Negatives:

There is nothing to complain about

7/10

80%PC

This is precisely what I want from a small game; to be told a compelling story, or given a unique experience that wouldn't suit a larger scope. Thankfully this game delivers on both fronts, and by the time I was done playing I found myself feeling quite relaxed and serene for a while.

https://abbysblog.net/blog/a-morticians-tale

40%PC

The game was quite boring, repetitive and slow. The job of a Mortician is very intriguing to me and even though the game shows the occupation quite good, they made it very repetitive and it lacked that something. The funerals were very simple, quick and not all that well made.

Something that they did well was definitely the minesweeper (though the symbols were confusing) and the emails/story within the emails.

30%PC

The game is technically point-and-click where you are told everything that you need to do. The focus of the game is basically the story, which to be honest is pretty bad and boils down to a very superficial "capitalism is bad" criticism where the villain feels very flat as a character.

Even if the game was free I would have a hard time recommending it as you can definitely spend an hour with better things to do. At a Steam price of $10, I definitely cannot recommend it.

40%PC

A Mortician's Tale is a very short game about a mortician. I found the art style to be very cool in this game, but for some reason the anti-aliasing in this game looks very bad on some of the 2D objects. I also felt like the 3D models are out of place, something about the faces.
I like the music of this game, I thought it fit perfectly with the theme.
I think the silent protagonist was the wrong way to go about this game. Sure your character progresses and acts through life, however this is all done off screen, so we only get to see the aftermath of her thinking or actions through email. To me it feels like a wasted opportunity to really flesh out our protagonist and the people around her.
The controls were ok for the most part. The gameplay is very straight forward, and you are guided all the way to the end. At times it seemed like the game was going to open up your options on funerals, but then it doesn’t.

All in all, it seems to be a very good demo or prototype of what could be a more fleshed out experience in the future.

P.S: If true, I think this game did a very good job in demonstrating acceptance of death and the best ways to behave/conduct funerals and also in showing the different alternatives that are available to bury/cremate loved ones.

80%PC

In term of gameplay there isn't much, but the story and the way it's told is very interesting particularly for a job most of us don't know much about.

60%PC

A nice short narrative. Sort of meditative, and gets you to think about death and end-of-life options, plus a bit of your basic "corporations are the worst" moral.

60%PC

Interesting insight into the funeral industry as well as different grieving traditions. Can't say I enjoyed the anti-corporate angle though, just felt a little forced.

70%PC

It was a very educational game on morticians and what happens for your process of after dying. I learned a lot about the death industry! Unfortunately, it was rather short and it was more educational than gameplay, which is fine, but I would have preferred to know that going in. That's not to say there weren't narratives outside of the education, and the dialogue and emails were written in natural ways that made the characters come to life.

70%Mac

I would describe this game, above all else, as educational. It taught me a LOT about the funeral home industry and the options for what to do with loved ones after death. The game also isn't afraid to shy away from heavier topics and issues with the industry. The narrative was satisfying and there were a few really poignant moments.
Players are not given any choices within the game, and there is no skill required. Education and narrative take the forefront. Everything you are meant to do is heavily telegraphed, usually with text explicitly telling you what the next step is. This, in some ways, is good, because it maintains the game's educational and respectful tone. Obviously, a game teaching you about how to respectfully care for the dead doesn't want you to accidentally do something wrong with one of the bodies. However, this also means that the game requires no skill or agency. This is a neutral fact, but one that potential players should know going in.
ALSO: As stated before, this game deals with death and all the heavy topics surrounding it. Only play it if you are in a good headspace and are ready to confront such topics.

70%PC

A game full of promises... that doesn't fulfill them all.
Our character interacts with the outside world via email. And the messaging system works very well; we can easily notice the evolution of the relationships that our character develops. The newsletter that gives us lots of technical information about funerals, funeral customs, things to say etc. is well written.
For the rest, the acts of preparation of the body and cremation are clearly overscripted and we are always waiting to go beyond the "tuto" phase. I would have loved to see other types of burials in more depth, more interaction with the objects and people around us, to feel like I could use the knowledge I've gained throughout the game. But several moments moved me, questioned me or made me reflect.
Kind of bittersweet in the end.

90%PC

In this game, you follow a mortician as she gets started in a new job, and learn about death and the death industry through new lens, this felt more like an experience than a game (a tale, indeed!), which doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. The graphics and art are pretty and the mechanics are simple. The actual content wasn’t as new to me as it’s sure to be for other people, since I’ve read Doughty’s books (and she was involved in the making of this game). Still, it was a great game that teaches you a lot.

60%PC

I think the game was enjoyable but needs to be expanded upon. It had a lot of potential that it didn't tap into.

70%PC

I really appreciated all the notes and emails about death or funerary practices; they were really informative and taught me something about cultural traditions. The game itself is short and pretty straightforward--I wish there was a little more, but it also is very clear that it's a short game about these practices, so it is what it says it is!

30%PC

Interesting idea for a game but unfortunately never really makes use of it's potential. The story is told through various E-mails and while it seems like the game is slowly teaching you about it's rules, it never really becomes anything more than a game of Simon Says in the end. It would have been cool to eventually apply what you have learned without the game constantly telling you what to do. It goes through all these lengths to "say this, do that" but you never actually get the chance to use these tips.

I guess in the end it's more of an educational game with some light story, but even the story part was really basic. "Big corporations bad, yadda yadda"

Nice effort, but didn't do much for me. But at least I learned some things about burials, I guess.

60%PC

Not the funnest game, a bit short and fails to live up to expectations. It feels like 20% of the game it should have been, but it has educational value.

40%PC

It's well made enough, however seems better fit as a mobile game. I got this game as part of Humble Bundle, and I do believe some will like it, it just isn't my type of game.

90%PC

It feels a bit odd to give this a 90%, but I thought it was just great for what it was. A death positive game that aims to educate people about the death industry, burial practices (especially eco-friendly types), cultural differences in death and grief, and so on. If you're interested in this stuff, go read Caitlin Doughty's books and check out her YouTube channel too. Definitely making my students play this in Death, Grief, & Dying.

70%PC

- this game was really short and quaint. i liked the e-mails, as it gave consistent storytelling, helping the story progress naturally. i barely know anything about Charlie, but i really know how she was fed up by her job being limited by the greedy upper class, so her having her own business was a nice touch. i wish we got to actually go out drinking with Matthew, or have those Skype dates with our bestie, but the e-mails provided enough context regardless. playing a death positive game honestly feels a little odd to me, but it is lowkey comforting.

50%PC

A Mortician's Tale. Exactly as the title suggests, and should be treated as such - a small look into the life of a mortician, providing a surprisingly educational portrayal of the profession.
Don't expect a big Gamey Game, it's basically a visual novel with a Trauma Center-esque minigame for the embalming and cremating segments. Repetitive, simple, you could sleepwalk your way through it, but it's unique to me to play a game so laser-focused on funerals. Some moments hit me like a sledgehammer.

60%PC

I'm recommending this game because of the sheer absence of games delving into this topic.
This game has very good ideas behind it, but playing it revealed quite a few bad implementations.
It's so sad that the characterization turned into a distance from the main character instead of being immersive.
All game felt very hand-holding, and especially in the writing. I tried my best to see the picture objectively, but the writer turned corporation director into a villain, you cannot use tools out of order, as if they are not tools but rather dialog options in a dialog that pretends that you can say things out of order.
Hope the team will do something more wholesome next time. This time it's very interesting to listen about development and not interesting to play the game itself.