SILENCE (PC)
They have had to spend more than seven years to see the continuation of the excellent graphic adventure The Whispered World, one of the main culprits of the resurgence of the genre after years of painful drought. After a complex development, Daedalic has finally released Silence with an excessively simplified and unproblematic playable proposal, a superb visual section truly majestic and an emotional story that catches but that seems very short.
During the nineties, the genre of graphic adventuresIt was one of the main strongholds of the Pc catalog at the time, an impregnable bastion that offered us many of the most memorable titles among compatible players of that time for which this genre was one of the favorite and most loved. Since Sierra gave the kickoff to the graphic adventure genre in 1984 with the first episode of his acclaimed King's Quest saga, until LucasArts put a majestic pin in 1998 to the golden age of the genre with the unrepeatable Grim Fandango , the catalog of Pc received infinity of fantastic and unforgettable graphic adventures. Precisely the aforementioned Sierra and LucasArts staged a titanic duel as has rarely been seen in the sector, engaging in a colossal battle to see which of the two offered us the best and most original graphic adventure. Struggle to which joined mythical companies such as Infogrames, Revolution, Westwood or the longed Psygnosis among many others and of which the true winners were the lucky players of the time we received a vortex of quality titles within a genre so special as is the graphic adventure.
Unfortunately, with the closing of the 90s, the popularity of graphic adventures began to decrease alarmingly. The definitive establishment of the 3D in video games, to which the graphic adventures did not quite adapt, and the rise of other genres among the general public as the first person shooters supposed the decline of the graphic adventure as a majority genre. With the entry of the new millennium, this genre began a painful desert crossing, during which it was even considered dead and buried, to the great regret of those of us who had the enormous fortune to grow with such illustrious names as Guybrush Threepwood, Larry Laffer, Roger Wilco or Bernard Bernoulli.
Luckily, the embers of the genre did not go out completely, as titles of such quality as were The Longest Journey or the Saber Syberia were responsible for it. And so we reach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, where the flame of graphic adventure began to gain renewed vigor, to the point of living an authentic second youth today. The emerging indie sector was largely to blame for the resurgence of the graphic adventures, but without a doubt the developer company of this Silence in question played a decisive role in the resurgence.
Founded in Germany in 2007, Daedalic Entertainmenthave been one of the main drivers of the genre in recent years, both developing their own graphic adventures and distributing those of third parties, including the Spanish productions Dead Synchronicity in 2015 or the recent and outstanding Candle. After a good start with two graphical adventures of remarkable invoice, in 2009 they launched the extraordinary The Whispered World, a superb fantasy story that returned the genre of graphic adventure to the production values of yesteryear, with a colossal visual section that offered 2d graphics drawn by hand very detailed. The enormous beauty of the title, along with some intricate and complex puzzles characteristic of the genre, penetrated deep among the players who longed for a title of these characteristics.
With these precedents, it is easy to understand the huge commotion formed in December 2013 when Daedalic announced Silence: The Whispered World 2 , with a shocking cinematic trailer. In the beginning the title was scheduled for 2014, but the development of the game was complicated by lengthening it much more in time, even reaching almost no signs of life for almost a year. Finally, last September, the launch of the game was announced for November of this year.
The complexity of the development of the game is evident in many aspects, and many are the things that Silence has lost along the way with respect to its initial conception. The first and most obvious is the Whispered World 2 tagline, keeping the title simply in Silence . Probably this measure comes to collation of the decision of Daedalic to launch Silence in consoles, where The Whispered World is not a title excessively known among its users to be exclusive to Pc. In order not to burden the sales of XboxOne and Playstation 4, platforms that receive Silence along with PC, Daedalic has eliminated the reference to the previous game of the title of its continuation.
Unfortunately, in its eagerness to reach as many people as possible, Silence has had to suffer more radical concessions that affect its own proposal. For this continuation, Daedalic has opted for a graphic adventure approach excessively simplified, where the gameplay is subject to the flow of the narrative. Gone are the complex and intricate puzzles of The Whispered World, where you had to rave your brains thoroughly to advance the adventure. Silence is committed to a much simpler approach, where we will overcome the challenges it proposes without excessive difficulty and without having to give them many laps. What Silence retains from its predecessor are a very high production values, especially in a superb visual section of excellent beauty, and a story that traps the player to complete it, which unfortunately will take an excessively reduced number of hours.
The Magic of Silence
The events narrated in Silence take place after what happened in The Whispered World. Despite this, it is not necessary to have played the title to understand and enjoy the Silence story fully. Of course, just start, Silence gut us the surprising and unexpected final turn that gave the script of The Whispered World, so it is not advisable to play it if we have the minimum intention to play your fully recommended predecessor if we have not done it yet.
The story of Silence begins with a couple of brothers taking refuge in a bombing bunker to which their city is subjected during a terrible war. In the middle of this bombing, both are transported to the mysterious world of Silence, a magical fantasy world halfway between life and death. We began the adventure accompanying Noah , who must find his little sister Renie lost in Silence. Throughout the game we will meet a small rebel group that seeks to recover the lost freedom of its magical world, submitted to the tyranny of the False Queen, and we will live dangerous adventures in a universe full of fantasy and fantasy.
The story of Silence traps the player from the beginning, it is very emotional and engages from start to finish. Unfortunately, this story does not last long. This is one of the main scourges of Silence, which can be completed around the 5 hours, according to our expertise as adventurers, even less. The problem of short duration is accentuated by the feeling that Silence is a world with much more to tell. When things get better, when the player is totally immersed in Silence's magical universe, the game ends abruptly, leaving us wanting more, much more. It really gives the feeling that there has been some kind of problem during the development of the game that has limited what the creators of the game have finally captured in their story. And it's a real pity, because what Silence offers on a plot level manages to completely immerse us in his magical universe of fantasy, but unfortunately the adventure lasts a sigh and leaves us with the feeling that he had a lot more to tell.
One of Silence's strengths is its protagonist trio. On the one hand we have the young Noah, a sad pessimist who nevertheless does not lack the courage necessary to launch himself in search of his sister with all his strength. The combination of his negativity with certain airs of scorn gives a special touch to his character. On the other hand we have the endearing and adorable Renie, a carefree youngster whose apparent ingenuity hides a great audacity, as we will soon discover when accompanying her in this fantasy world. Finally we have Spot, a polymorphic caterpillar that we will quickly become fond of as it surprises us with its curious abilities and its crucial participation in the future of the plot. Unfortunately, the limited cast of secondary characters is not up to the trio protagonist, since at no time delves into their motivations or personality,
Graphic adventure, yes but less
As already mentioned, the proposal of Silence has been oversimplified with respect to what we saw in its predecessor, and what offers a graphic adventure in general, both in its classic time and today. The challenge offered at no time presents too much difficulty , resulting in the advance in the adventure too simple and free of obstacles. In general, Silence follows the patterns of the genre. We must investigate by their scenarios interacting in appropriate ways with the necessary objects to overcome the obstacles to which the game confronts us. We have an interactive cursor whose shape adapts to the possible interactions of each object when we place it on it, so that by trying different possibilities we will be able to advance in the adventure.
One of the most serious concessions of Silence is the absence of inventory as we usually know it in the genre. The few objects that we collect in the adventure are stored and used automatically when interacting with the relevant objects or areas of the scenario. The number of objects to be used is very small, and usually each area of the game is limited to a couple of rooms or screens, so it is exceedingly easy to find the function of the objects that we must use to advance the adventure. Another problem of the title is that between these screens we have an annoying load times, and on several occasions we must alternate from one screen to another constantly, which cuts the pace of the adventure in excess.
Another of the pillars of a graphic adventure, the conversations between the different characters, is also seriously limited in Silence . They do not abound too much, and they are quite inconsequential. Except for special situations, the conversations are automatic and without the possibility of choosing dialogues. And in those special occasions, we will simply be left to choose between two response options, and although they give the feeling that our choice will condition the course of events, it will almost never be like this, even the exact same thing can happen regardless of which be our choice.
In general, puzzles are scarce, uninspired and lacking in challenge, although at certain points we will find some more imaginative that stands out among the others. It is worth highlighting the parts of the Spot caterpillar, whose ability to change shape will make us face a more inspired puzzle, although they abuse some trial and error. We also have puzzles in which we will have to move objects under certain conditions, and a very simple minigame to solve certain situations. In general it is very disappointing as an intellectual challenge , contrary to what is usual in the genre.
Throughout the adventure we will manage 3 characters, the brothers Noah and Renie that do not present playable differences between them, and the mentioned caterpillar Spot, whose possibilities of change of form will have an impact on the gameplay. In several situations, we can exchange character controlthat we manage to solve independent situations of the plot with each of them, alternating the control of the character at any time interacting with a curious bird present on the stage. This makes it possible to solve different parts of the adventure to our liking in the order that pleases us and if for example we get stuck with a character we can always choose the other to continue advancing with his part while we come up with the solution the other character is caught.
Silence is phenomenally adapted to be played with control command. Daedalic has done an excellent job enabling console players, or even PC players, to enjoy the adventure without the use of a control pad supposing the slightest obstacle. In case of opting for traditional mouse control, we move the characters by clicking on the areas of the scenario where we want them to go, and we will interact with the different objects and parts of the scenarios by pressing the left mouse button on them. If we choose to play with command, we handle the characters directly with the left stick, and select with the right stick those points with which we want to interact. It really is very comfortable and natural control with pad, so console users can rest easy about it.
As in The Whispered World, we have the possibility to highlight the points of the scenario with which we can interact, known as hot spots, so that the little-appreciated process of pixel hunting usually present in the genre is not a problem. By pressing the space key, the mouse wheel or R3 on the control button, the possible points on which we can interact will be highlighted on the screen. By default, it is associated with the appearance on the screen of small clues about what to do next, characteristic that we can deactivate from the corresponding options menu. As already mentioned, the difficulty of Silence is low, and the use of such aids is not recommended, especially if we take into account the limited duration, although it is always positive that it be included as an option.
Silence is available with a correct translation of its texts into Spanish , along with many other languages, so the language barrier will not be an obstacle to enjoy the title as on other occasions has happened with Daedalic games. Unfortunately, Castilian is not included among the available dubs, being limited to English, German, Polish and Chinese.
Visually, from another world
Where Silence has known how to pick up the witness of his predecessor has been in the visual section, and not only has been satisfied with that, but it has raised it to new and very high heights. The Whispered World was a superb title visually, but definitely with Silence Daedalic offers a graphic section before which the qualifiers are exhausted . The unhealthy level of detail and the excellent artistic direction that Silence shows make it a title that inevitably enters through the eyes and leaves many prints of beautiful and indelible invoice that have nothing to envy to any title seen today, At times it seems like an authentic animated film.
Silence perfectly combines two-dimensional backgrounds drawn by hand with a mime, a love and a level of detail that has seldom been seen, with characters created from three-dimensional models perfectly animated and recreated. This perfect symbiosis between 2d backgrounds and 3d characters is one of the great triumphs of Silence. Where many other titles have failed to integrate 2d elements with 3d naturally, Silence comes out victorious uniting the best of both worlds in a tremendously organic and effective way. The integration is perfect and tremendously favors the spectacular visual work of the title.
Silence falls in love with each step we take in your world with images of tremendous beauty, with bucolic landscapes recreated with good taste and a really mentioning mime, which will leave many beautiful prints in the player's memory. It is incredible that a small study such as Daedalic can offer a title with a visual level of such height, which has absolutely nothing to envy to any production of much larger companies. Especially noteworthy is the superb and tremendously accurate artistic direction, which enhances the magic of Silence's fantasy world.
The level of detail is the characters is also very high . The animations are worked and are very fluid, special mention to the self-confidence with which Renie walks through the stages. Surprise also the work on the faces and facial expressions of the characters, something that is apparent in the close-ups of the cinematic scenes where we see a tremendously credible characters and transmit a perfect high level of emotions. On a visual level, Silence is a superb title, a real gift for the eyes that immediately falls in love through the eyes. It is a pleasure to see graphic adventures again with these levels of production so high, that they have nothing to envy to products of much more majority genres.
Sound section of height
Without reaching the excellence of its visual section, in the sound level Silence offers a fantastic level . The soundtrack manages to enhance the magical atmosphere of the fantasy world of Silence in a majestic way. Each and every one of the sound pieces offered by the title manages to connect emotionally with the player instantaneously. There is variety and a waste of tremendous quality in said compositions. For the nostalgic, the main melody of The Whispered World is recovered, which makes an appearance on several occasions throughout the adventure. The music of Silence fits perfectly with what it shows on the screen and manages to impeccably enhance the emotionality of the adventure.
The work of dubbing the English is generally very successful. The voices of the protagonists manage to nuance their personalities making them more marked, and the choice of said voices home excellently with the cast of characters. The performances sound natural and do not clash at any time.
conclusion
It is inevitable to have a very bittersweet feeling after playing Silence. On the one hand it offers us one of the most watched and beautiful visual sections that have been seen in a very long time, together with a story that engages and manages to immerse the player in a beautiful fantasy world in a commendable way. Unfortunately, this story does not last much more than a very short 5 hours, and despite suggesting otherwise, replayability is very limited given the totally trivial decisions that presents us in the adventure, which leaves us with the sad feeling that I had so much more to offer. If we add that the challenge presented by the title is too light and simplified, and that the genre's own gameplay makes too many concessions in pursuit of the narrative and a somewhat more cinematic approach,
This bittersweet sensation will be much more accentuated for the most experienced players of graphic adventures, especially those who come to play The Whispered World and expect a challenge and a duration at their height. The year of development during which Silence was missing from the map caused bad omens, which unfortunately, in part, have been confirmed with the final release. In any case, Silence offers an experience that engages and is enjoyed very much, that irremediably falls in love with its sublime visual section, but that unfortunately lasts a sigh and leaves us wanting more, much more.
The best
- Superb visual section, which leaves some of the most beautiful views seen in a long time.
- History that engages, tremendously emotional and that submerges the player in a beautiful fantasy world.
- Good trio protagonist, especially Renie and Spot.
Worst
- Excessively short duration, we can finish our first game in 4-6 hours.
- A playable approach too simplified for what is usual in the genre of graphic adventure, offering a challenge that is too * * low and conditioned to the narrative, with few puzzles, little inspired and excessively simple.
- Replayable practically nil, with decision making without the least impact on the plot.
- It leaves us with the feeling that we had so much more to offer, it hastens things too much to end in a somewhat abrupt way too soon.
It is not the latest or the most original, it does not have the best execution, but it can be fun if you like the genre. Good, but improvable.
Gameplay 6
Too simplified and sometimes automated for what is usual in the genre. Very limited possibilities at the time of posing challenges, with a few simple and scarce puzzles and inconsequential conversations both for their low presence and their impact on the course of the game.
Graphics 9
Superb visual section, with a very high level of detail and a majestic artistic direction. It offers a multitude of prints of incomparable beauty, it is a real pleasure for the eyes.
Sound 8
Great soundtrack that reinforces in an excellent way the emotionality of the story and that knows how to highlight the highlights of the adventure. Good work of dubbing the English with voices that emphasize and clarify the personalities of the protagonists with much success
