Review: A Tiny Sticker Tale Feels Like a Colorforms Adventure

It is always reassuring when we see Kickstarter success stories. Ogre Pixel’s started off with a pretty strong track record, with A Tiny Sticker Tale being its second project to be fully funded and actually release. It’s a short puzzle game that’s quite pleasant. Granted, it’s also succinct and rather simple. However, I think that’s part of its charm.

The story of A Tiny Sticker Tale is one of those situations where less is more. You’ve headed to an island with a special sticker book at the behest of your father. Your goal is to help people out there, earning medallions for essentially virtuous acts. However, there’s also a raccoon with a similar sort of sticker book that is using it in a mischievous manner to complicate life for the denizens of the island. There are wordless flashbacks for segments between the donkey avatar and the father, but the rest of the affair is “do good” and “explore the island.” If you’re looking for a complex plot though, you aren’t going to find vast depths here.

Both tasks are accomplished by entering sticker mode, peeling people and items like Colorforms from the backdrop, placing them on the sheet in your sticker book, and then placing again where they are needed. See a large switch in the world? Grab one of the statues you’ve come across on top of it to trigger it. Need a bridge? Bring a tree to the carpenter after you get the axe back, and then you get a bridge sticker you can use at different locations. Someone wants to go somewhere? Take then, then use the sticker that spawns from fulfilling that request with another person sticker at a different spot to complete another task. A lot of these things are common sense puzzles or ones that, with context, become clear. I didn’t really encounter any major challenges, though one or two of the later puzzles did take me a second.

The only real issues can be tied to constraints that come from the nature of the game. For example, one in-game challenge involves getting an arrow to bring to the archery field. When you do, you can then take part in a timed minigame that involves placing the arrow on a crossbow at the right moment to hit a moving target. The thing is, I was playing A Tiny Sticker Tale on the Switch. The arrow is small and fiddling, and because of the movement needed to grab it, place it, pick it up, and place it again, my all-time best score is a whopping three. It’s frustrating, to be sure. 

I also do wish the actual sticker sheet players are given to use in-game was a bit bigger. You only get so much space, and stickers are essentially true-to life when peeled and applied to the page. Granted, I did hang on to some items I probably could have left behind, but a little more would have been appreciated. To the game’s credit though, at least when you do place items, it is typically very clear where. There will either be a dotted outline in some circumstances, say for a person, or when you’re about to drop it you’ll see a green glitter below it to know, “Hey! Yeah! Here!”

To be honest, I also hope Ogre Pixel keeps up this sort of artistic direction with its games. A Tiny Sticker Tale’s atmosphere and design greatly resembles its sibling, Lonesome Village. It’d be great to know every few years, there’ll be a charming, brief adventure game with some relaxing puzzles and fun artistic direction I can unwind with in my spare time. 

A Tiny Sticker Tale is a short and sweet game. It will never get too challenging, aside from a situation where timing and a small object might be involved. The concept is fun enough, and the character direction is adorable. It also never wears out its welcome, providing the perfect amount of time to enjoy its adventure. As long as you don’t go in expecting complexity from its puzzles or story, I think you’ll have a good time.

A Tiny Sticker Tale is available for the Nintendo Switch and PC.