Note: I would like to thank Wikipedia for its "Educational entertainment" article, which I have partially cited in the lede of this article. I would also like to thank Ultimate Games S.A. for the review key to this title.

Gaming doesn't always have to be pure entertainment. Sometimes, games are used as a medium to educate and instruct while also being entertaining. Tales of Mathasia is a short but sweet "edutainment" game with this concept in mind.

A bit of background first. Edutainment, or educational entertainment, is a term that dates back to 1933. It covers all sorts of entertainment with the explicit goal of being instructive or otherwise educational as well as being enjoyable in its own right. Some examples of non-video game versions of this type of game include flash cards, counting games, and memory matching. Edutainment attempts to take reading, mathematics, and other sciences and make their learning process fun. Tales of Mathasia is a title that takes this idea and runs with it to teach various basic math skills.

The story of Tales of Mathasia is as follows. Long ago, there was a legendary group known as the Mathematicians. They set the land into harmony with the powers of math. In the present day, a sorcerer named Sparrow has corrupted the land due to their inability to understand their ways. You, alongside some of your friends, must undo the damage Sparrow has inflicted by using the very math skills Sparrow holds in such contempt to undo the Corruption that Sparrow has sown across the land.

In simple terms, the plot is essentially an excuse to go through a series of numbered levels. Each level has some sort of basic math puzzle that gets more complex until all puzzles of the same type are completed. The puzzles include counting, adding, and subtraction. By solving these puzzles, you can clear the levels and take back the land from Sparrow's corrupting influence.

The core gameplay loop involves levels where you have to select the correct numbers from a list of options to match the right math problems. Do this enough times right, and you clear the level. Make too many mistakes, and you have to do the level again. The math involved is very simple, around the third-grade level for the most part.

Graphically, this title uses a bright, colorful cartoon style. The game uses a visual novel-like format where anthropomorphic animal people converse with you in between levels, while the levels themselves have a casual fantasy appearance. This style is clearly designed to appeal to young children and fans of light fantasy.

The sounds and music are lighthearted. Nothing about them is overly memorable, but it helps set the easy, casual tone of the gameplay. There is also some voice acting from the various characters. Most of the animal people have childlike tones, but the real standout is Sparrow, who has a hilariously adorable French accent.

This title was designed to be playable with a keyboard and mouse. There is no controller support, but I was able to confirm it can be played on the Steam Deck with the analog sticks serving for the mouse control. This is a very simple game with very few controls and it is quite intuitive to learn.

Stability is excellent. This game natively runs on Microsoft Windows. It will run on Linux out of the box via Steam Proton. It is not rated for the Steam Deck, but I got it running with no additional configuration.

Morally, there's almost nothing to complain about. There is no violence, harsh language, or sexual content.

There is mention of magic, and Sparrow is called a sorcerer, but the magic is utterly generic and mostly serves as a background excuse for the gameplay. Morally, you are removing foul corruption from the land on behalf of its residents by doing math problems.

Overall, this is a rather short but sweet game. Technically, it's pretty sound and morally rather stainless. Tales of Mathasia sadly is not a very long or replayable game, but it is rather fun while it lasts and is recommended for anyone of any age.