The Bard's Tale is an action-adventure videogame developed by InXile Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. It was released for the PlayStation 2 gaming console and for the Xbox in October 2004. Later, a PC version was developed and, in July 2005, it reached gamers worldwide. It was conceived and marketed as being the successor of the defining role-playing game A Bard's Tale, which was released in the '80s.

The game is very tongue-in-cheek in its approach to the RPG genre. The main character is an unnamed bard who does what he does not for glory, nobility or to make the world a better place, but rather because of the promise of cleavage and money. The entire story of the Bard is recounted by an unseen narrator who is clearly biased against him.

The plot is standard for the role-playing genre, with a bizarre cult promising reward to the Bard in exchange for him freeing a princess. Another cult is against such an idea and attacks the Bard because of it. So, battle and adventure ensue in the game. It's all weirder than the player might expect, with such encounters as loot dropping wolves, trainable fighting dogs, singing tribes of goblins and corpses that like music.

Even if the game is a parody at its core, it has similar mechanics to other role-playing games, with skills and spells that improve as the character gains experience and levels.

GAMEPLAY HINTS

Willy Wonka reference

The "Bad Luck" songs greatly resemble the Oompa Loompa's songs from the original Willy Wonka movie.

The Wizard Of Oz reference

When killing a scarecrow, it will drop a diploma, making a reference to The Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz getting a diploma from the wizard.

You Got Served references

The Knight summon occasionally says "Thou hast been served."

In the basement of the Scotsman's castle, a group of zombies will have a breakdance contest with a group of skeletons. When the skeletons win, the headless one says "You got served," to which the Bard responds "What the hell?!"

Here's the famous Beer Song from the PS2 version of the game: