InXile reveals The Mage's Tale release date with a new trailer

InXile Entertainment's VR dungeon crawler The Mage's Tale, a sort of bridging adventure between the events of The Bard's Tale 3: Thief of Fate and the upcoming Bard's Tale 4, will be released for the Oculus Rift on June 20. The studio said the game will offer roughly ten hours of first-person dungeoneering action featuring spellcrafting, puzzle-solving, and combat. 

The Mage's Tale begins with the kidnapping of your master, Alguin, by the corrupt wizard Gaufroi, and for some reason it falls to you to save him. To do so, you'll need to traverse ten "deadly dungeons" including the sewers of Skara Brae, protected only by the elemental powers you wield with your bare hands. "As you delve deeper into the depths, you will discover and master forgotten secrets, ancient lore, and powerful spell reagents with which you can craft increasingly exotic spells to defeat even greater foes," inXile said. "You may be an apprentice now, but to save your master, this must become your Mage’s Tale." 

“Our goal was to use the old school tried and true methods of game design and integrate that with everything that Virtual Reality offers," inXile CEO Brian Fargo added. "We wanted to get away from the VR 'experience' and create the kind of meaty and full-scale game that gamers appreciate." 

The Mage's Tale is available for preorder now at the Oculus Store for ten percent off the regular $40 price. Find out more about the game at inxile-entertainment.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.