Tally Ho Deno

Explosions and dragons are not required in order to make a good video game, but they certainly help. However, those only work if there’s a visual component to go along with the story, which is something text-based games lack. In such cases, the whole burden rests on the quality of the writing itself, because you can still keep gamers immersed for hours if the action is compelling and the characters are memorable.

Tally Ho is a text-based role-playing game that allows you to make all the choices and drive the story in whatever direction you wish, thanks to its 600,000-word count. If you are familiar with Choose Your Own Adventure games, this one doesn’t bring anything new to the table, so you won’t be taken aback by the gameplay style. Even so, the story is pretty long and enjoyable, not to mention malleable.

The main character can be either a woman or a man, depending on what you choose at the beginning. In fact, many other things can be customized about your alter ego, including a few personality traits and the like. Your job is to serve as a valet/maid, but things get a bit more complicated later on, including crime sprees and motorcycle races. In short, there’s plenty of variety to keep you engaged.

As mentioned before, the story as a whole does not have a single route or one true ending, so it’s pretty much up to what you choose to do along the way. In case you fancy one of the other characters, it’s entirely possible to have a romantic relationship with them, especially since you are not constrained by gender or sexual orientation. There are also various mysteries to tackle, as well as key moments in the story that decide how your alter ego is perceived by others.

Speaking of which, you can take a look at the stats panel and see a few things about your character, including various talents and your reputation. These stats can decide whether certain events are available to your or not, since it’s impossible to win someone over after messing with them for too long. Granted, all this comes in text-form, so your imagination has to do the heavy lifting.

Tally Ho may prove to be a bit too mundane if you are looking for constant violence and explosions, but it certainly features a lot of entertaining mysteries. Thus, adventure fans should find what they are looking for, but newcomers can give it a try as well.