The Game Census
The Book of Unwritten Tales cover art

The Book of Unwritten Tales

KING Art · THQ Nordic · 2012-07-31

SteamGOG

Adventure

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Side view

Releases: Oct 28, 2011 (Mac), Oct 28, 2011 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

In a world torn by war, the aged gremlin archaeologist Mortimer MacGuffin harbors the dark secret of a powerful artifact.

The Book of Unwritten Tales is an Adventure game released in 2012, priced at $19.99, with an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 owners and Very Positive reviews (91% of 2,163 reviews).

2
playing now
91%
positive of 2.2k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
50/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
81/100
IGDB user rating (49 ratings)
3
Nexus mods (78 downloads)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$19.99
steam price (US)

2 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 13:00 UTC (census sample)

The Book of Unwritten Tales is a point-and-click adventure video game created by German developer King Art Games. A prequel called The Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles was released in 2012. A sequel, The Book of Unwritten Tales 2, was released on February 20, 2015.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 2 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 32 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~4/week).
  • · Review velocity down 6% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 9% of 28,796 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-30

Estimated sales: 87k–173k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,163 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Gamesplanet$4.17-79%
GOG$4.99-75%
Steam$4.99-75%
GOG$19.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.99 at Humble Store (2015-05-10)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 86 of 139 observed days · $3.18 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
151520182026Week of 2018-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 5 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

1702026-09-15 14:00 — 0 players2026-09-16 22:00 — 2 players2026-09-18 06:00 — 0 players2026-09-19 13:00 — 8 players2026-09-20 21:00 — 8 players2026-09-22 05:00 — 3 players2026-09-23 12:00 — 7 players2026-09-24 20:00 — 9 players2026-09-26 03:00 — 7 players2026-09-27 11:00 — 5 players2026-09-28 18:00 — 9 players2026-09-30 02:00 — 3 players2026-10-01 09:00 — 8 players2026-10-02 17:00 — 10 players2026-10-04 01:00 — 2 players2026-10-05 08:00 — 5 players2026-10-06 16:00 — 7 players2026-10-07 23:00 — 1 players2026-10-09 07:00 — 3 players2026-10-10 14:00 — 6 players2026-10-11 22:00 — 4 players2026-10-13 06:00 — 4 players2026-10-14 13:00 — 2 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
744Aug 2012Aug 2026Aug 2012 — avg 55 · peak 158Jan 2013 — avg 23 · peak 75Jun 2013 — avg 18 · peak 61Nov 2013 — avg 8 · peak 23Apr 2014 — avg 27 · peak 102Sep 2014 — avg 74 · peak 332Feb 2015 — avg 54 · peak 332Jul 2015 — avg 18 · peak 53Dec 2015 — avg 36 · peak 119May 2016 — avg 22 · peak 105Oct 2016 — avg 20 · peak 79Mar 2017 — avg 16 · peak 81Aug 2017 — avg 10 · peak 30Jan 2018 — avg 14 · peak 57Jun 2018 — avg 13 · peak 53Nov 2018 — avg 7 · peak 34Apr 2019 — avg 9 · peak 37Sep 2019 — avg 8 · peak 36Feb 2020 — avg 9 · peak 37Jul 2020 — avg 9 · peak 34Dec 2020 — avg 10 · peak 39May 2021 — avg 10 · peak 31Oct 2021 — avg 6 · peak 23Mar 2022 — avg 5 · peak 19Aug 2022 — avg 7 · peak 29Jan 2023 — avg 8 · peak 24Jun 2023 — avg 5 · peak 17Nov 2023 — avg 5 · peak 17Apr 2024 — avg 6 · peak 22Sep 2024 — avg 4 · peak 16Feb 2025 — avg 5 · peak 18Jul 2025 — avg 5 · peak 14Dec 2025 — avg 6 · peak 22May 2026 — avg 4 · peak 14Aug 2026 — avg 4 · peak 15
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$24.44$1.602015-01-012026-10-142015-01-01 — best price $7.992015-05-08 — best price $4.992015-07-21 — best price $3.992016-01-04 — best price $19.992016-06-17 — best price $22.492016-11-18 — best price $4.992017-07-22 — best price $19.992018-03-12 — best price $19.992018-08-30 — best price $5.002019-01-04 — best price $19.992019-07-10 — best price $19.992019-11-23 — best price $4.992020-02-14 — best price $21.662020-06-08 — best price $19.992020-12-16 — best price $4.992021-05-21 — best price $5.002021-10-29 — best price $4.992022-02-21 — best price $19.992022-06-26 — best price $19.992022-10-27 — best price $4.992023-01-20 — best price $4.022023-05-21 — best price $4.022023-09-01 — best price $4.992023-12-20 — best price $4.992024-04-22 — best price $4.992024-08-10 — best price $19.992024-12-18 — best price $5.002025-04-18 — best price $2.492025-09-01 — best price $5.002025-12-11 — best price $4.992026-04-07 — best price $19.992026-08-01 — best price $4.982026-09-11 — best price $19.992026-10-11 — best price $4.172026-10-14 — best price $19.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

3462026-06-01 — 13 pageviews2026-06-05 — 21 pageviews2026-06-09 — 12 pageviews2026-06-13 — 27 pageviews2026-06-17 — 16 pageviews2026-06-21 — 17 pageviews2026-06-25 — 17 pageviews2026-06-29 — 17 pageviews2026-07-03 — 18 pageviews2026-07-07 — 23 pageviews2026-07-11 — 17 pageviews2026-07-15 — 22 pageviews2026-07-19 — 31 pageviews2026-07-23 — 12 pageviews2026-07-27 — 15 pageviews2026-07-31 — 13 pageviews2026-08-04 — 15 pageviews2026-08-08 — 19 pageviews2026-08-12 — 22 pageviews2026-08-16 — 22 pageviews2026-08-20 — 25 pageviews2026-08-24 — 17 pageviews2026-08-28 — 19 pageviews2026-09-01 — 19 pageviews2026-09-05 — 22 pageviews2026-09-09 — 28 pageviews2026-09-13 — 6 pageviews2026-09-17 — 21 pageviews2026-09-21 — 12 pageviews2026-09-25 — 14 pageviews2026-09-29 — 13 pageviews2026-10-03 — 21 pageviews2026-10-07 — 20 pageviews2026-10-10 — 29 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerRemote Play on TabletFamily Sharing1 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2012-07-31 (Steam store data)

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

FunnyIndieRetro1990'sComedyPuzzleClassicFantasyAdventureStory Rich

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Aarklash: LegacyGone HomeElswordMiddle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™The Book of Unwritten Tales 2Borderlands 3Thimbleweed Park™Pikuniku

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗