Foretales is a narrative role-playing adventure where every action, choice, item and character is represented by a card. By choosing cards you not only decide your fate but shape your story. Fight or avoid violence, kindness or play it safe, these result in both intended and unintended consequences. It stands out for its fairy tale art style and ability to create surprisingly coherent and moving narratives from your web of choices that lead in unexpected (often unheroic) directions.

A dark prophecy dooms the medieval world and anthropomorphic animals to an apocalypse that can only be stopped by you. Starting out with meagre money and food, you interact with characters and use what you have to progress and build a reputation. Depending on your choices and how you play your cards, you might end up as the hero who saves the world or go down in history as the one who hastened its demise.

It's presented as a tabletop game, with cards representing the current scene. You then play cards from your hand to combine their effects with those on the table. It sounds like a battle game, but here the cards work more like choices in a role-playing game. Some card combinations change your reputation, others initiate fights, others get you money or reputation with specific groups. Others let you use items, like keys or backpacks. Depending on what you choose to do, the story changes, and interactions change depending on your reputation. If you take on a fight you turn to cards like swords and knives to damage opponents in turn-based combat.

The result is a complex game that offers a unique way to interact with characters and the world. More than this though, it becomes an intriguing way to play a part in telling a story. You need not only tactics and strategy but also experimentation and imagination to discover the nuances of your hand. What's more, the branching storyline means no two playthroughs are the same, and playing in different ways can often lead to fun discoveries and unique encounters.