Tally Ho

Tally Ho was recommended for me to play in a poll on Games that Need More Reviews.

This is a big Choicescript game with 600,000 words total. In it, you play a butler in the Wodehouse style.

Your client is a spendthrift who needs to impress a wealthy aunt in order to pay off a debt. Hijinks ensue.

I'm not too big of a fan of actual Wodehouse novels, but this game managed to be outrageously funny in several ways. There are many paths to success, including theft, romance, intrigue, intellectual endeavors, and secret clubs.

The characters are refreshing as well. They are all deeply flawed but also have, generally, good hearts. You generally have many goals at once that completely contradict each other.

I appreciate that the author in fact wrote much of the game intending you to frequently fail checks. It's supposed to be fun and rewarding whether you do 'good' or 'bad'.

This is the first ChoiceScript game I have purchased, so parts of this review may be obvious to seasoned Choice of Games players.

You start out being a servant for your employer Rory Wintermint. You will then experience a series of eventful days where you will have to choose who to help (sometimes yourself), how to help and sometimes you also get to decide which direction the story will take.

Since this game is a comedy, of course, there are lots of misunderstandings and embarrassing situations. The writing is excellent and funny though it is never hilarious, but humor is of course very subjective.

The game is quite long and it feels as if most of your choices matter. It doesn't seem like it is possible to lose, which would have been annoying, forcing the player to restart and replay the same parts over and over. Instead, it seems as if there are many different paths through mostly the same series of events, so apparently you cannot lose but you can have quite different experiences each playthrough and reach different endings and unlock 79 possible achievements. I only had one playthrough, which took several hours and I got only 10 achievements corresponding to 120 points, so I doubt you can get all in one playthrough. So the achievement system provides som motivation to play again to get them all.

The game has a stats system, and for a while, it was fun to see how my choices affected those stats. But in the long run, I didn't pay much attention to them, though it might be necessary if you want to unlock all achievements.

I haven't tried to play again, but I enjoyed my first playthrough a lot, so if you like a choice-based comedy, this game is highly recommended.

I've played Tally Ho! several times and each time is a Wodehousian delight. Go forth, serve tea, and be merry!