Don’t miss the first episode of American McGee’s Grimm, which is available for free at Gametap on Thursday, 31st of July.

I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. McGee’s an excellent…ehm…I wanna say interactive storyteller…but…fairytale converter, maybe? It’s too easy to say that he’s a great artist. What can I say? He manages to combine the beauty of great storytelling with the joy of wonderful gameplay mechanics in such a delightful and meaningful way.

The game will be available as episodes. This will be the firt episodic game I’ve played and I’m quite eager to see how well games work as episodes. Although, saying that, I’m still playing Play the News – which I suppose is also a form of episodic gaming.

McGee’s been very generous in sharing the art of the game on his blog – which I’ve eagerly been following. I adored Alice and I love that the first episode is about a boy on a quest to find fear! I have to admit, though – the trailer put me off. It was very…uhm…American(?)! It just all became so cheap, in my opinion. But I am not deterred – I know this will be a wonderful experience!

I’m really liking the time model as well. According to Gamasutra the episodes are “designed to occupy half an hour of gameplay when rushed or an hour and half when explored more fully”. That’s perfect for a casual player, as my self. They’ll be coming out weekly and available for free on Gametap for the first 24 hours, after that you’ll have to pay. I’m really looking forward to this.

McGee quotes Gamasutra’s description of the game – which I’ll have to share with you as well – because it’s just oh so lovely:

“In between those tellings is an unexpectedly gameplay-driven experience that is reminiscent of Katamari Damacy in its dynamic – except, instead of rolling a ball around, you are (apparently) peeing on things and filling the world with filth. In an adorable sort of way.” – Chris Remo

You can read more about it at Ars Technica and Kotaku.