The pages are waiting. What will you fill them with? Wholesome narrative puzzle game A Storied Life: Tabitha is available now on PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch™ at a suggested retail price of $14.99/£12.99/$14.99, with a 10% launch discount on Steam.
Watch the trailer here
A Storied Life: Tabitha began as an idea from writer Cherish Goldstraw, who brought it to studio director Terry Goodwin and began developing it with a team within Lab42 Games. The team brought the game to publisher Secret Mode, who has worked with the studio on ports for games like A Little to the Left and Wobbledogs, and immediately fell in love with the watercolor aesthetics and unique narrative design.
A Storied Life: Tabitha takes you to Lavender Laithe, the former home of Tabitha, a recently-deceased loved one. Upon arriving, you discover that Tabitha has an agreement with a publisher to print her memoirs… which have just been damaged due to an unfortunate mishap. It’s up to you to go through the house and piece together Tabitha’s life, filling in the gaps left in her memoir pages using the items you find along the way.
Explore the house room by room and decide what you’ll keep, what should be sold, and what can be recycled. Move furniture and search through cupboards and drawers to find tucked-away items which may hold more intriguing memories. You only have one cardboard box for keepsakes per room, so prepare for difficult decisions as you choose which elements of Tabitha’s life you want to remember.
Fit all you can into your box, rotating and aligning items and reinforcing the box with tape when things get too heavy. Fold flexible objects like letters and stuff them into envelopes to save space. Fragile items can smash if not properly cushioned, so place them carefully among soft objects, or wrap them in bubble wrap to keep them secure. On the other hand, broken items aren’t the end of the world and may reveal new secrets…
Fill the gaps in Tabitha’s memoirs using the items you’ve chosen to save and uncover the many sides of this fascinating person. How she’s remembered is up to you – was she a caring mother? A budding botanist? A dabbler in the arcane arts? Write a coherent narrative to please the publisher or use a jumble of mismatched words to write something a little more avant-garde. Tabitha’s life is now your story to tell.
Return to Tabitha’s home multiple times to rewrite her story and find new facets to her life. Search every nook and cranny for hidden items and intriguing easter eggs. Or recycle everything and take nothing of Tabitha’s life with you. There are many choices to be made, and no right or wrong answers – only the memories you choose to keep.
“This has been one of the most fulfilling projects we’ve ever worked on, and we’re so excited to finally get the full game into player’s hands,” said Lab42 Games’ Terry Goodwin and Cherish Goldstraw. “We’ve been bowled over by the positive reception so far, and it’s been a pleasure watching people resonate with our little game. We hope they enjoy the full experience just as much.”
About A Storied Life: Tabitha
A Storied Life: Tabitha is a cozy narrative game about memory, legacy, discovery, and joy.
An elderly loved one has died, leaving you their estate and a letter encouraging you to sell any valuables. But when a mishap spoils their soon-to-be-published memoirs, you set out to repair the damage, piecing together their hidden past using the items you inherit.
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About Secret Mode
Secret Mode is an independent publisher and the winner of the MCV/Develop Indie Publisher of the Year 2025 award, Ukie Best UK Publisher 2024 award, and the Debug Indie Game Best Influencer Marketing 2025 award. In March 2025 Emona Capital LLP, a financial investor with deep expertise in the gaming industry, partnered with CEO Ed Blincoe and CPO James Schall in the successful buyout of Secret Mode. Published titles include triple-BAFTA-winner Still Wakes the Deep, A Little to the Left, Wobbledogs, Loddlenaut, and Escape the Backrooms.
For more information visit: wearesecretmode.com
About Lab42 Games
Founded in 2015, Lab42 became a Sumo Digital studio in 2020. The studio has worked on a range of projects for console, PC, VR and mobile for clients including Sega, Activision, Microsoft, Klei Entertainment, Aspyr, Ripstone, Dovetail Games, and Payload Studios. Recent projects from Lab42 includes porting services for Sonic Mania, Forza Motorsport, A Little to the Left and Metal: Hellsinger VR.
For more information visit: lab42.game
