Horror Tales The Wine:

This is the first horror game I played ….also warning  ⚠️ this game may be triggering to a lot of people because this game is very grounded in reality and focuses on a plague that wiped out a city….u have been warned….so if u want to leave u can, trust me id understand because this game can be triggering….but if u want to stay then awesome…..anyways here are the trailers…

Before we get into the plot I’d like to give u guys some facts and info about this game, so the reason this game even came into existence is that the producer and his wife were at home in quarantine during COVID-19, and they both got drunk off of wine…..and his wife jokingly said hey would it be funny if the wine was the cure to covid-19? And somehow that gave the guy the idea to make this game…..I mean good job for creativity that’s for sure…..also this game was made by one person alone so that is really impressive…..especially with the way this game looks and feels…….that really intrigues me…..

Now keep in mind folks this game is made by 1 singular person, so stop complaining….honestly this game has such a gorgeous scenery, great graphics, and great sound design….this game matches ho there with a lot of Triple-A horror games….so give this game a chance, give the guy some leeway.

Yes you heard that right this game is made by a solo developer whose name is Carlos Coronado….u should check him out he’s made some other previous indie games before this game….

Horror Tales The Wine btw is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and lastly Steam….go check out this game for yourselves

Now let’s get a rating out of the way, overall I did enjoy this game although it has multiple issues which I’ll get into at the bottom in my negative and positives…

But what I’ll mention here in the none spoilery section is that the games enemy mechanics are gonna be the determination for y’all if this game is good or not….also some of the mechanics are not good at all….

So, I’ll give this game a solid 7.5/10, warning ⚠️ spoilers ahead y’all been warned.

The plot of this game is, that the main character u play wakes up in a fictional city in the Mediterranean…the reason ur there is because this Pandemic has broken loose called the devil’s fever….and the characters wife and daughter have gotten sick from the fever…..so he’s here because he’s been hearing that I’m the capital of this city they made a specific wine…this is what the town looks like.

 That can cure the devil’s fever…..oh BTW it becomes abundantly clear that it was a bad idea to come here… the first few minutes on the island u find out ur not alone….there’s a guy who’s wearing a big black hat, wearing a black trench coat, wearing a mask that’s in the shape of a human face as In the details on the mask have a nose, lips, eyes…..yikes, he also wearing boots, black shirt….has a necklace around his neck of like shark teeth oh and he’s caring a shotgun….yeah this characters name isn’t important right now…what is important Is that ur not alone…there’s this loony guy on this island ready to shoot anyone who comes to the island….

So throughout the game u will be exploring the city and solving puzzles….heavy emphasis on the puzzles…this game is a puzzle game… there are 2 different types of puzzles…one of them is trying to figure out how to get on top of something to continue….the second puzzle is in specific areas there are papers located around that have design patterns on them u will need to find those papers and remember or take a picture of each of them because sooner after u located those specific papers there be a metal door that only opens by solving picture puzzles where u have to line the pictures up correctly as u see on each paper…

Yeah that’s all the puzzles in this game….kinda gets repetitive but here’s the thing I ain’t complaining because it ain’t all too hard and I can’t handle hard puzzles…but also the puzzles do get slightly harder later on….so it’s  Is compensating for lack of different types of puzzles….so throughout this game u will be picking up papers that tell what happened…and to summarize up what happened how do I say this…its grim…whomever wants to turn away now can leave….so the first f**ked up paper we read is there’s a bounty being given to anyone on the island if they hunt down and kill anyone related to the guy who runs the wine cellar….and a double the price for killing his children….Jesus lord, that’s grim…..now I won’t go through all the notes but just the ones that stuck out….there 3 others that are from the government…first 1 says to the person who running the winery….

We are away of this disease going around called the devils fever and irs infecting ur coworkers….we urge you to stop making wine, shut down, and stay inside ur home with ur family….the second message says due to the devils fever getting worse and spreading around the city….where putting a ban for people to not be allowed to leave their houses….u and ur family will have 4 guards protecting ur house and if u need any food or supplies from them they will get it for u. ..oh and as for the whereabouts of your daughter….we hear she’s been missing from school for a while…we hope she’s doing ok…..the third note says…and confirms what happened to the daughter… we’re sorry for the lose of your daughter we send our condolences…

However, u kept from us that ur kid was infected with the devil’s fever for a while, therefore infecting your house. ..why did u do that? This hurts us deeply…..for the sake of your daughter’s loss, we will allow u and ur wife and son to stock up on as many supplies as u need….ask the guards outside for the last supplies because after that they will no longer be helping u……and before u say how worse can this get this story get…I didn’t get to the truly messed up stuff… that’s just the devastating part…..later on, we read another some other papers that basically describe how everyone was affected…..the coworkers at the winery got infected and died… their bodies still there because they couldn’t get enough caskets to bury them…..and as for the infected people in there house oh boy….so the government put this role out anyone caught being outside even outside and or coughing will get shot to death…..

Jesus thats extreme…oh and anyone who attempts to escape by using the bridge…will be shot to death…are u starting to see the grim reality here folks? Also the other papers tell of well there’s one where we get a last note relating to the winery creator dude…he said some men broke in and killed My wife, the house is a mess and my son is now hiding…I’m about to go cuddle him…I pray this ends soon…. that’s just devastating….also hers is the truly messed up paper….one paper tells of how this Pandemic is going on too long we don’t know how long it is going on we’re running out of food…so we have demoted ourselves to cannibalism……wait what? I know what is ur saying cannibalism? U kidding right? Nah I wish I was…the town folks lost their sanity and became hungry and started going around doing cannibalism….I kinda feel like if we all were still in lockdown 2 years later from covid-19 and we had barely any food and we weren’t allowed to go outside under any circumstances we probably consider cannibalism which is the harsh yet true fact of life…..

Consider us lucky….anyways enough that..back to the papers… another paper tells of a mother and her 2 kids…she says there are people out there eating each other and now banging on our doors trying to get inside, I don’t know how much longer our doors will hold up….I told my kids to jump out the window into the waterfall…they did… I didn’t have the courage to so I stayed behind…I’m pathetic, but hey if I’m gonna die I’m gonna die listening to my favorite music….this is just downright depressing btw if u couldn’t tell already the horror in this game doesn’t come from any supernatural elements or demons or ghosts or haunted houses or psychos….

No, the horror comes from how horrifying the Pandemic is and how horrifying the outcome would have been if a real strict lockdown had and still has happened…..which I like because it makes the game feel unique and more grounded in reality……yeah there are no supernatural elements in this game…..now saying that though you do get chased around by a headless man every now and then…..but Jarrod I thought u said there’s no supernatural elements…..yes, I did…..now how do I describe this without giving away the twist that’s at the end…yet….

Hm just need to know the headless man isn’t supernatural….. That all u need to know, he ain’t supernatural he ain’t a supernatural being……anyways now time to get to the end of the game…..so near the end of the grim game u get shot by the gun-wielding manic and then knocked out….u then wake up on a bed in a room, u see a note on the wall that is from the gun dude…and it says, listens I was sent here at first to save people like u but then I ended up enjoying hunting down and killing people……I considered killing u but my better judgment decided not to….ur welcome by the way for healing u up……I hear ur looking for the wine bottle.

I have the very last wine bottle still intact….if u want it u can have it, it’s in the winery…I’ll be waiting there with it and awaiting u to come there……ok firstly that’s uh definitely messed up, I enjoy killing people like u……and he was sent by the government btw to save people……so this guy has a messed up mind…BTW we kinds get a name for him…on the note it says from A. R………

I’ll reveal his name later…….also secondly yeah how do I say this I wouldn’t trust a word that this guy says when he says I’ll give u the wine bottle…think of it this guy has been hunting u down all game with a gun and u now suppose to believe he will keep to his word….uh huh sure….so, of course, of course, the main character believes him and gets out of the room by unlocking it with a key that A. R left for him…..and he finds himself right there at the wine cellar, turns out the room he was in is located underneath the winery….

Ahh, clever…..so before we enter the winery we see the skeletal corpses of the victims who died….all lined up on the floor….. that’s sad and grim….so then ur main character enters and as soon as see the dude. ..a cage comes up over him…ah ha so he sent gonna keep to his word then u have to start running around in rooms that end up being a circle…..I’m saying u end up running in a circle….and u have to pull down levers…all while gun maniac dude is shooting at u…once again why would any of y’all believe him…oh then after u pull the levers u jump into a hole and u find urself encountering the headless man for 1 last time and oh boy this segment was so tedious and hard…

But I’ll save that and save the telling u how hard his segments are during my listing negatives of this game….anyways after u go through this segment, u find ur way back up to the cellar….u find the wine bottle unguarded and all a sudden A. R comes out of nowhere shoots the bottle then u…u fall onto the ground then he walks over whistling….then shoots u in the head……

Uhhhhhh…..yeah ur main character dies…….but it’s not over yet because we then get an epilog where u I think play as his daughter and you visit this grave sight located on a mountain that’s across the town….and the main character’s grave is there to…BTW here we find out some things…..on a newspaper article it says the devil’s fever started going away….humanity can now rebuild itself…specifically in that town because everyone died there……oh that’s good to know at least…oh then on one of the Graves u see the guy’s hat laying on the grave…no he isn’t dead…turns out he left his hat there as respect to the people who died….well ain’t that special? Also, we find out where the virus came from…..so someone left a note on a grave saying enough is enough….

We villainized the family who created the winery long enough….it wasn’t their fault, the disease came from the wine….it was an accidental mistake….stop blaming them….what happened was a grim unfortunate situation….but we need to acknowledge what really happened and stop blaming someone else for it……ok so turns out the wine is what caused the disease……I bet ur wondering why was ur main character even here then…..ah, I can answer that because then u go to ur main character’s grave and there’s a note from your daughter it reads its been 5 years since u died……

I wish u were here…..we ended up meeting this guy named Albert Roy (A. R)…. he is a nice guy….he ended up telling us how to get better…turns out all we had to do was wear a mask, I wonder if we knew that before  ..u still be here dad……also I think u would like Albert…he’s very friendly, there’s just something weird about him he constantly whistles a lot…..ah well thought I’d make this note for u and tell u how things been going…..ok ok time to dissect this note for a small bit….firstly if ur still confused let me put this to yall bluntly, the wine was never a cure…it was what caused the devils fever…..

Then if ur wondering why the main character even goes to the town? Well, it’s because turns out he was infected way before he entered the island…..we find out a little later on the many symptoms this fever gives u…..if u get the devi’s fever u will start feeling sick, u will obsess over the wine and want more of that wine…then uh death….u die…. that’s the symptoms…..flu symptoms, obsession, then eventually death……so yeah our main character was infected and it starting to make sense why he’s here then…he’s obsessed with the wine because he’s sick……

Ah yep starting to make sense….that’s an interesting twist……oh and I wonder how good and kind his daughter would think Albert Joy is if she found out he killed ur father oh and killed people for the fun of it….what a messed up hero….oh and that’s right everyone warships this guy and considers him a hero…..for keeping the devil’s fever under control….which basically involved shooting innocent people and kids but hey….whatever……so yeah and that’s the end of this story…..time to list positives and negatives

Positives: so my positives are well I really find this game to be unique for this type of genre…..I also really do love the atmosphere and location the game is set in…….also I find the villain to be intimidating……furthermore, I also like the world building u experience by reading the notes……now time for the negatives

Negatives: oh lord where do I begin all I know is this is gonna be a rant……the moments where u encounter the headless man or as I like to call him the headless dickman……are horrid…..they ain’t great, in fact there frustrating……remember how I said the puzzles get harder in this game?

Well the way the game makes them harder later is by get this u encountering the headless dickman….while having to run around past walls to find images to punch them in correctly in the door to open It up…yeah try doing that while a headless man is slow fast walking behind u and can kill u within 3 hits….BTW here’s what else makes this impossible….ur main characters stamina sucks a$$, it’s horrible….if u run for not to long u start panting and walk slowly…yeah that ain’t helpful in the moments ur being chased…..better yet if ur running and hit edge of a wall ur character will run out of stamina and walk slow and pant heavily..seriously this guy has the stamina of an obese man…..

Oh and if u think can the puzzles get worse … oh yes!!…. there are 2 or 3 parts that add that specific part again but this time u have to go pick up a lever and replace it with the wall to open the door….except the issue is when u pick up the lever u walk very slowly and can’t run…..huh?….levers aren’t heavy…..so why is it u can’t run?…. I’m starting to think the main character is just completely out of shape…….so yeah those segments were the worst….except the major worse level comes at the end…..

His last segment is frustrating…..it tosses everything onto u….u gotta find a key to unlock the basement while being chased, then go into the basement grab a flashlight…..then locate 1 symbol out of 4 and punch in the image…go upstairs….run into a dark room go upstairs locate next design punch in next picture puzzle…go back down to the other side grab lever take it to a door that needs it while being chased….then go find another design then punch it in…then find last image punch it in the last picture puzzle then open the main door then continue being chased through small corridors…..about 2 more times …1 more of which requires more puzzles then that’s the end of the segment……seriously this segment frustrated me….I got angry……

One positive I can and will give The Headless Dickman jump-scare scenes is that he’s not placed forcefully into the map, he spawns in at random times even in areas u would never expect….some times he will spawn in an area that u won’t encounter him on first play through/speed run…but if u so happens to double back in those locations he will spawn in front of u giving u a scare….trust me I got startled quit a bit by him…

The reason those scenes startled me is because on my first play through those 2 or 3 segments that he will sometimes spawn in but not always spawn in, I didn’t encounter him in those parts…but on my second play through I encountered him spawning in front of me in those 2 to 3 locations that he didn’t appear in before, which left me screaming like ahhhhhhhh! Because I wasn’t expecting it…

Good job Carlos Coronado u did pretty good on the horror aspect that’s how u scare ur audience.

To bad what comes after him spawning in just becomes a nuisance because as stated u have to solve door puzzles and push down a slow ass lever all while avoiding him attacking u…btw he’s fast so that doesn’t help….he just runs at u…

Here’s images of Albert Roig and the Headless Dickman.

Overall I do like this game I recommend it …it’s on Playstation, Xbox One, series X/S, Playstation, and Steam…..as stated at the top I’ll give this game a solid 7.5/10

This game might not be for everyone as I stated, it’s like fine wine. Sometimes the wine is tolerable but not the best, or Sometimes it’s the best. This game is the type of wine 🍷 that might not be perfect or anything like that, but it’s still worth taking that one sip (in this case it’s worth checking out even once).

Update, I recommend checking this video out that got posted recently this year In 2023, this guy played through the entire game the video is 2 and a half hours long jeepers but still enjoy