Part four of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is primarily the ongoing saga of the Game of Unsquashed Bugs; but the story, at least, continues apace. Ivo, aboard Mary, the flying ship, pulls into the Red Pirate’s floating island in search of her companions Nate and Critter. That dynamic duo is on trial for  transgressions that occurred in the previous chapter.

Rest assured, Ivo frees them (reluctantly, in Nate’s case) and the three team up to seek out the three items they need to bring the Arch Mage Alistair back from “froghood.” For a good chunk of this installment you can switch among all three heroes — Ivo, Nate and Critter.

Wilbur is off in the dark woods somewhere looking for a magical book and doesn’t put in an actual appearance this time around. There is one new location, the lost and buried city of Lorem Ipsum, which consists primarily of an Egyptian pyramid. For fans of TBoUT1 there is the return of one minor character from that initial outing that may amuse.

Also, while they fly around between Ivo’s home of Elfburrow, the pirate isle and the desert, Ivo and Nate find the time to get in a little premarital bickering, mostly over the issue of Ivo’s impending motherhood. As usual, there’s a major cliffhanger at the end of the installment that I, of course, won’t disclose here.

The story, in short, still remains engaging and entertaining, and the locations are fun and often striking to behold. The puzzles are the expected grab bag of mostly easy inventory management and dialogue treeing with an occasional clever wrinkle tossed in. Late in the day however, you will stumble across one genuine logic puzzle — an old chestnut that’s well-presented.

But I’m afraid this experiment with releasing what is looking more and more like an alpha version of the game to paying customers is looking dicier by the minute. I spent about half my playing time battling a couple of major bugs. Actually, “bug” doesn’t do justice to the disaster that is the scene in the pyramid. I spent hours helplessly watching all three characters wander spasmodically all over the screen, through stone walls and sometimes through thin air.

I finally wrestled the game settings into allowing me to progress, but it was really touch-and-go there for quite awhile. This only raises the question: how on earth are they going to get this game finalized by next month? It will be interesting to see just when the “completed” game is ready. Also, will we “early accessers” get a beta version of Part 5 sometime next month (January), or will we have to wait until all glitches are finally ironed out and the entire game is made available? At present, I’m not sure. Personally, I would just as soon wait until the game is finished. I’ve had a bellyful of “early access.”

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 – Trailer Chapter 4