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- Screenshot of The Necromancer's Tale courtesy of Psychic Software and Liesel Booker

The Necromancer’s Tale: A New RPG with an Occult Twist

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming | By Liesel Booker | Last updated Jul 17, 2025 6:35 AM ET

The Necromancer’s Tale is a story-based RPG that delves into the world of the occult. After creating your character’s backstory, you return to your hometown for your father’s funeral. Before you know it, you get swept up into a mystery involving mysterious rituals, an old war, and a cult that seeks the skills to raise the dead.

The Necromancer’s Tale has a Fully Customizable Backstory

Developed by Psychic Software and available on Steam, the game begins with a prologue where you partake in several interactive events that shape your character’s career and skills. While the backstory is interesting, it is also text-based and lengthy. Fortunately, you can skip the backstory, but if you want to understand the game’s lore and worldbuilding, it is best to play through the backstory on your first playthrough. Your career will influence how characters interact with you and the job options you have available in the main game, and skills assist you in various ways throughout the game.

Different Ways to Play

Screenshot of The Necromancer’s Tale courtesy of Psychic Software and Liesel Booker

The Necromancer’s Tale features three modes of play: Story, Balanced, and Strategy. In Story Mode, you concentrate on just the story. Battles are fought automatically and are won or lost according to your skills. Strategy focuses on turn-based, tactical battles in the vein of Shining Force or Fire Emblem. Finally, Balanced Mode, as the name implies, balances the game between storytelling and battles. I would recommend playing Balanced Mode on your first playthrough, which is what I did.

Make Sure People Trust You

Screenshot of The Necromancer’s Tale courtesy of Psychic Software and Liesel Booker

The game features a unique trust mechanic that affects how people interact with you. The dialogue choices you make affect people’s trust level, and characters belong to different groups, such as workers, outsiders, and the gentry, each of which has a larger trust level. If your trust level dips too low, certain dialogue options will be unavailable. If it dips lower still, you could be arrested or even lynched. This is a clever mechanic that really makes you think about which dialogue options to use. There might also be times where you have to risk losing a few trust points in order to complete a mission.

Rituals

As The Necromancer’s Tale progresses, your character will be driven further and further into the world of the occult, learning different rituals from an old spellbook. You have to obtain certain items for rituals and combine them. Obtaining items can mean traveling all over town sometimes, but fortunately, your map has a convenient fast travel option, even for locations you haven’t been to yet. Rituals also affect your skills, meaning that you can overwhelm yourself by performing them.

Conclusion

The Necromancer’s Tale is a gripping experience for anyone who likes a good RPG or is just interested in the occult. While the story starts off slow, it quickly becomes engaging. Maintaining the trust level encourages strategy even when talking to people, and while the tactical battles may alienate some people, they are simple and easy to understand. Moreover, people who really don’t want to bother with the battles can play Story Mode. I enjoyed The Necromancer’s Tale immensely, and I highly recommend it.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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