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Nothing will put me on to a game quicker than having a concept so laser-focused on the thing it’s trying to do, and, seemingly, doing it well. This is the case for The Crane Rider’s Tale, the next game from the developer of Butterfly Soup, a visual novel/adventure game hybrid that takes cues from Disco Elysium and Zero Escape where a serial killer is on the loose who has killed your friend, so you ferry around your local townsfolk around on your giant crane to figure out who did it, all wrapped up in a medieval Chinese painting and woodblock print aesthetic. It is so much, and so much my exact vibe.
In The Crane Rider’s Tale, you play a character called Mourn-No-More, a “kind but sickly man whose giant pet crane Snowfall is the fastest form of transportation around.” Following the death of his friend Peach Blossom, as part of his old timey taxi service job, he has to choose which passengers he wants to take in order to figure out who’s doing all this murdering. There are five main endings to experience, each with a “shocking twist that might alter your understanding of the mystery.”
From the creator of #ButterflySoup and #PomGetsWiFi, The Crane Rider’s Tale is a mystery game inspired by Disco Elysium, Zero Escape, and Chinese folktales.
🪽On Kickstarter now! www.kickstarter.com/projects/psy…[image or embed]
— The Crane Rider’s Tale 🪽 ON KICKSTARTER NOW! (@psychickiss.bsky.social) April 28, 2026 at 8:03 PM
The Disco Elysium influence comes in the form of dice rolling and skill checks, functioning quite similarly to the seminal RPG. Once again similarly to it, failing sometimes leads you down an interesting path too. There are other skills you can pick up too, like being able to fly further, for example. Picking up passengers prompts Disco-esque conversations, more so in layout than content, and upon delivering them to their destination you can have a wonder around point-and-click style.
Creator Brianna Lei is currently running a Kickstarter for the game, with some reflective thoughts about the setting of the game. “While The Crane Rider’s Tale is first and foremost a fun mystery adventure, it also draws from my complicated feelings toward Chinese culture,” Lei writes. “Growing up, I could rarely relate to the romance in Chinese video games and TV shows because the Chinese government prohibits explicitly gay characters from being shown in them. And my parents’ Confucian ideals of filial piety and womanhood were my prison. A daughter’s role was to be chaste, obey men, and bear children. “
Lei continues on to note the beauty she finds in Chinese culture, like the “paintings, the exquisite tragedy and poetic logic in its legends… and don’t even get me started on danmei (Chinese BL)! I want to craft a fresh, forward-thinking story dressed up like an old folktale that’s always been there. Because I wish it had been.”
If any of this is up your alley, you can back The Crane Rider’s Tale on Kickstarter now.
