After spending the weekend watching classic Pixar films and reminiscing over my slowly fading youth, as well as going to see the brilliant 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic It, a cute, cartoony fairy tale story combined with creepy overtones is exactly what I need right now. Thankfully, All Blue Studio’s upcoming interactive fairy tale game The Thief of Wishes manages to scratch this extremely specific itch, with protagonist Catharine travelling between reality and a nefarious nightmare realm to save her town. The sneak glimpse of the artwork that the developer has provided in the game’s launch trailer conveys the duality at the heart of The Thief of Wishes excellently, and hopefully the story can stand up to this strong aesthetic design shine the title releases later in Autumn.

The key feature of The Thief of Wishes is undoubtedly its capacity for multiple endings – not all of which may be the ‘happily ever after’ cliche that one might expect from the presentation of the game. For once, I actually long for the positive conclusion, as the image of Catharine looking petrified at some malevolent grasping hands in the trailer’s thumbnail is too cute to ignore. While the developers do cite ’40 beautiful pages’, the primary concern of The Thief of Wishes’ longevity will likely be determined by how the game’s multiple endings actually play out. With the game seemingly catering for a varied age range in its audience, I’m not expecting a complex epic from The Thief of Wishes, but I really hope All Blue Studio do its premise justice in the finished product. For more information on the game in the lead up to its Autumn 2017 release date, check out our The Thief of Wishes forum thread.