Somewhere along the way I lost track of Silence: The Whispered World 2, probably because its makers somehow decided that simply Silence [official site] would be a better name. Nnnope, that’s a name which sounds like a Slender Man fangame so it’ll barely register as I keep scrolling down my inbox. But! Silence is indeed the sequel to the adventure game our John once called “Daedalic’s best game to date”, and now it has a release date. November 15th is the big day, Daedalic announced over the weekend. Until then, cor check out the lovely painterly art style in this trailer:
Remember when we told you about The Whispered World 2, and you were all like, “Yeah, it was quite good, but Sadwick was so bloody annoying.” And we were like, “No, but look! This seems to be about a brother and sister who aren’t Sadwick.” And you were like, “Well, okay, we’ll see, but that seems good news.” Well, we’ve seen. For reasons we cannot fathom, Daedalic seem to think it’s a good idea to send out press releases boasting that Sadwick will be playable in the new game.
That wasn’t a demand for quiet. It’s the somewhat confusingly back-to-front title for the news that Daedalic’s best game to date is getting a sequel. And with it, quite the shift in art style.
I’ve been looking forward to The Whispered World since PC Gamer’s Graham Smith returned from Cologne last year to tell me how lovely it looked. A point and click adventure into which a huge amount of love was being poured. It’s been out in Germany for a long while, but has now been released in English. My review of the game is now up on Eurogamer, and it begins like this:
“There’s a sensation familiar to anyone who knows adventure gaming well. It’s that moment when you’ve cracked a puzzle, and the game opens up. Suddenly there are two or three new locations to explore, new objects to find, and new puzzles to solve. Those mysterious inventory items make more sense in this new context, and previous unsolved puzzles receive that vital clue. They’re fantastic moments, stepping out of dark rooms into bright light. It’s probably the very hardest thing to get right in an adventure game. The Whispered World demonstrates one of the more frustrating ways to get it wrong.”
Below is the launch trailer, plus some other thoughts that – for reasons explained – couldn’t go into the review.
You may remember in September last year, when – among the other splendid happenings, such as the first communications with the people of the Martian canals and the discovery that ancient Egyptians were the inventors of the popular dance “the locomotion” – there was The Whispered World demo… in German. And now – in the month when lasers appeared mysteriously from the nostrils of all Welshmen of greater than four years – there’s The Whispered World demo… in languages other than German. As in, English. You can also buy it from GamersGate here, for Earth money. Not filthy Martian coin. Oh – trailer follows. Read the rest of this entry »
The Whispered World, a promising German adventure game, has now been given a release date for the Europe and the US. 23 April on Steam, and available on the same day at retail in both locations. The game has been released in Germany, with a demo, and shows off some really lovely 2D artwork. There’s now an English language trailer, which you can see below.
Talking of demos I can’t understand, the gorgeous point and click adventure The Whispered World has a demo out. In German. Which I don’t speak a word of. Which makes me sad, because it looks fantastic. However, I’m aware that people reading this site can speak German! Especially the ones in Germany. So it’s good news for you. And for the rest of us, it’s a chance to remember that The Whispered World is coming, and will be translated.
Germany really seems to be standing up for the point and click adventure. With varying results. At the shinier end is Deck13’s Ankh, but more often by the time they’re in our English-speaking hands the humour is completely lost by poor translations and localisation. Nevermind the crappy puzzle design that’s currently endemic throughout the genre.
So, is there hope on the horizon from German developers Daedalic Entertainment? They’ve got not seventy, not minus six hundred, but three new point-n-clickers due over the next couple of years. Here thems are:
