I already know I’m going to love this one, especially since the trailer and screenshots suggest already that Lei’s writing is just as grounded and funny here as it was in Butterfly Soup. It also sounds like The Crane Rider’s Tale will have a strong reaction to player choices, as there are apparently five possible major endings, not including early Game Overs. We’ve got a while to wait for this one though. It’s just now finishing a round of fundraising on Kickstarter (it’s already exceeded its $80,000 goal) that’s intended to fully fund the rest of the game, which is currently in alpha. Lei anticipates a late 2028 release on PC, with a potential push into early 2029 if needed. That’s okay, I can be patient for my Butterfly Soup/Pentiment/Disco Elysium Chinese folktale romance game.