The storyteller’s art involves more than simply repeating tall tales of old, or reciting scripts that have been committed to memory. A true spinner of yarns is a conduit that filters a story through his own experience, drawing you in not just through the epic he relates, but also through the embellishments he gilds it with. He knows how to tell a legendary fable as if it’s the first time you’ve heard it.

Lost Constellation’s great accomplishment is that it captures the improvisatory spirit of the bard and the jester. Characters in games don’t often speak like people actually speak–they speak like writers write. In this ephemeral 2D adventure, the characters aren’t people; they are cats and mice, snowmen and alligators. Yet they speak as if they are individuals unto themselves, rather than exposition machines. What they say might baffle you: “I’m not following this line of logic,” exclaims the game’s heroine to a mouse that serves as the gatekeeper of a mysterious totem. Later…