A Short Tale

Miniature Puzzle Adventure

Ratings

Age

4+

Adventure

Languages

English

Latest Version 1.1.9

Wed Aug 19 2026

Small fixes and improvements.

It’s been years since I lost Ben, so long it seems like it was just yesterday. I never thought I’d come back here, to where it all started. To his room. In A Short Tale, you play as Alex as he returns to his brother's bedroom to find closure. However, things take a strange turn as he shrinks down to the size of a toy. Now, you must explore a world of giant toys and household objects, solving puzzles and taking photos of clues to uncover the mystery of Ben's disappearance. It's a classic first-person adventure filled with character and heart.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

88/100

A Short Tale is a charming and surprisingly emotional point-and-click adventure. You play as Alex, who has shrunk down to the size of a toy in his brother's bedroom to find him. This perspective shift turns an ordinary room into a massive, wondrous world where a bookshelf is a mountain and a toy box is a labyrinth.

The puzzles are clever and well-integrated into the environment. Glitch Games has a knack for making challenging puzzles that don't feel unfair. The game strikes a perfect balance between nostalgia and mystery, with a melancholy undertone that makes the story feel much more significant than your average mobile puzzle game. It’s a short experience, as the name suggests, but every minute is memorable.

Dinsun reviewed on: Wed Sep 04 2024

Features

Beautifully rendered first-person environment

The trademark Glitch Camera for tracking clues

Heartfelt and mysterious narrative

Challenging but logical puzzles

Atmospheric soundtrack and sound design

Tips & Walkthrough

Using the Glitch Camera

A key mechanic is the in-game camera. Whenever you see a strange pattern or a set of numbers on a wall, take a photo! You can then pull up the photo at any time to help you solve puzzles in different parts of the room without having to backtrack.

Gameplays

Exploration and Inventory

Navigate the room from a first-person perspective by tapping on areas of interest. Collect items like keys, toy parts, and tools to use on other objects. The gameplay is non-linear, allowing you to tackle different puzzles in the order you find them.

Screenshot

Q&A

While it's a standalone story, it shares the same gameplay mechanics and quality found in other Glitch Games adventures.

Ratings & Reviews

Delightful

Sun Apr 24 2022 Lilfishy5689

This game was so much fun. I’ve never played a game in this genre before where the entire setting is available to you right away (minus some small areas you need to gain access to). In the beginning it’s a challenge, but by the end I knew where everything was like the back of my hand. There are some really out of the box challenges and puzzles here - ones that really make you think, which is no surprise from Glitch. There were a few places I got stuck and had to look up a walkthrough, but each time it was because I had overlooked a clue which isn’t surprising in this non-linear, single-room setting. I kept photos of everything I hadn’t solved yet, so when I got stumped I could swipe through instead of having to check the entire room out again. Overall this is a fabulous little game - I would absolutely love to do another one like this!

Great but Glitchy

Sun Nov 14 2021 Kolisar

This is a fantastic game. I have played all of them at the time of this review (this was the last one I played) and I am greatly enjoying it (not finished yet). I like that many of the puzzles were multi-faceted. A lot of this type of game is basically fine one thing and then use it. Glitch games have a great knack of making you chain clues together to work out a solution. My only “complaint” is that the game, quite often, would lock up. The navigation button(s) would not display and nothing reacted to tapping. This may be due to the fact that I tend to click quickly when I know where I am trying to go. This is why I am reviewing before completing the game. But, despite the annoyance of having to exit force the game to quit and restarting it still is a great game, and the camera feature is invaluable and much better than what other games do by automatically filling in a notebook. I prefer to figure out what is important rather than being told, or even worse not having a way to record the important bits. In many other games I am forced take pictures of the screen (iPad) with my phone.

Clever

Thu Oct 17 2019 gam3r4dayz

All Glitch games are exceptional and I hope there’s a lot more to come! I found this game to be wildly addicting and clever but also a bit frustrating. This is the third one I’ve done without using hints and it was definitely challenging. I loved being able to mix up a solution, and the graphics of that transition were really cool and realistic. The creativity and cleverness are so delightful, thanks again Glitch guys! I also enjoy the creepy themes of all the games, but this one I can play with my kids so that’s pretty fun. My 2 year old is a big fan of the surprise spider :) I felt a bit frustrated with this one since there was more delayed gratification, especially toward the end. Going through a long convoluted puzzle thinking your gonna get a reward at the end and then... nothing...AAaahhh! It started to get me down after a while. I almost gave up at the end bc of another review saying the game was glitching at the end when really they didn’t finish the last puzzle. I restarted the game, played it all over again and realized... Ahaha! So don’t be a dummy like me and listen to that guy, lol.

Could be better

Sat Sep 29 2018 silvarwyrm

Most of the puzzles were quite decent, the camera feature is helpful (as in Forever Lost, a better title), and I wanted to like this one a bit better than I ended up doing.... but the super laggy navigation and laggy/clunky interactions are off-putting. This lagginess makes it harder to solve puzzles (eg if I navigated out of the conversation too early with the vacuum, it wouldn’t move like it was supposed to, which was annoying to figure out). It makes talking with the toys frustrating because I would click to go to the next bit of dialogue (I read very fast) and then it would accidentally skip stuff, or it would just plain take too long and make the interaction confusing (eg 8 ball). The laggy movement made me double or triple tap sometimes and it would jump me to an unexpected part of the room. For the price, the game length (short as advertised) plus laggy game play are unacceptable. (I’m running iPhone 6s+ and iOS 12.) Some of the puzzles were a bit fussy as well, although not quite so badly it was a deal breaker, but I wouldn’t have been as quick to consult a walkthrough if the navigation / interactions were smoother.

Devious, Delightful, and worth the patience needed!

Thu Nov 17 2016 AyleaP

I love Glitch Games, having played all the Forever Lost series. If you liked those, you'll love this one. It's a room escape game, but oh so devilishly devious and clever, with lots of puzzles, and lots of things to do and find. But it's also fun to spend so much time in such a bright, colorful room, with lovely relaxing music. You must have patience, and you must THINK in order to solve this game! These are the kind of puzzles where you just can't figure something out, then the lightbulb goes on, and you slap your forehead, wondering how you could have missed such a simple solution! What a rush, when you finally figure something out. I must say that this game is in my list of Top 5 adventure/escape games. And at such a reasonable price. Thank you, Glitch Games! More, please!!

SUPER FUN!!!

Thu Oct 03 2019 Lou in Louisville

One word to describe this game - outstanding. This is my first Glitch game and if they are all this well made, I am excited to play all the rest! The graphics are great, gameplay is smooth, puzzles are very challenging, yet fun, and the game is just a super fun game. I’ve been playing for 3 hours straight and I’m not even close to being finished. If you are looking for a fun and challenging point and click, escape type game with good puzzles, give this game a try. You will totally LOVE it. Edit: I just played A Short Tale AGAIN and it was just as fun as the first time I played it. I absolutely love this cute game! Edit 2: I just finished ALL the Glitch Games and they were ALL great. Especially Veritas. Thanks!

Probably best to binge-play

Tue Apr 12 2016 FrinkLemur

My app-playing time usually comes in small patches - 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, maybe a half hour before bed. This is not the game for that sort of game play- if it's been a couple of days, you forget subtle hints and cues that might guide you. In addition, these are some really sadistic puzzles. It's not "the poster says 'wear a hat to get the answer' so you have to find a hat and put it on"... It's more like "after solving two puzzles, you find a scrap of paper that says 'opin the door'. It's not a typo. You have to find a key for the cover over a sign pinned to the wall. Once you open the cover, the sign says "Jason is great". Remove the pin under the letter "O", and stick it in the door... To get a piece of another puzzle" If chasing down that sort of maddening detail is your cuppa, then you'll love this game. It was a bit tedious for me.

Another triumph for Glitch Games

Tue Apr 30 2019 GD_Mac

A Short Tale is the 6th Glitch Game that I have played, and it is one of their best. The puzzles were a nice balance between clever and fiendish, with a few being maybe a little too close to fiendish. (I am looking at you Magic 8 Ball!) I liked the change in tone from the darker elements of Forever Lost, as this game is one that I would let my younger kids try out. I also thought the smaller environment within one room was a nice change of pace as it meant that you did not have to travel far to investigate a new clue or to search for the next clue. Looking forward to more offerings from Glitch.