A few days ago, I stepped into Silence for the first time. Having missed out on playing the much-loved adventure game ‘The Whispered World’, I was unsure what to expect from its sequel. However, my worries quickly dissolved as I slipped into the idyllic and surprisingly dark world, later resurfacing in an emotional and inquisitive state.

Silence (The Whispered World II) explores a topic that many forms of entertainment tend to shy away from: the notions of life, death (and in-between) and children. However, it does so in such an abstract way that it retains the delicacy required for an otherwise uncomfortable topic. The game begins with sixteen-year-old Noah and his younger sister, Renie, racing towards a bunker during an air raid. To comfort Renie, Noah tells her a story about a peculiar world known as Silence. Events unfold and before long, Renie wanders off into the strange world, leaving Noah with the responsibility of finding her.

Although I met a number of characters in Silence, Noah was most certainly my favourite one. His love for his sister, confusion as he ventures deeper into Silence and struggle with darker thoughts make him a fascinating character to watch. Silence is a strange world hovering between life and death and players are reminded of this throughout the game. The game’s atmosphere will abruptly swing from serene fantasy as you explore a new location, to harsh depression when a character suddenly utters a really dark phrase, providing players with a rollercoaster of emotions. Renie is certainly the more positive child of the two, and her matter of fact acceptance of everything that she comes into contact with very much encapsulates the innocence of a real child.

In addition, there are a number of other characters that join Noah and Renie on their travels through Silence, although I felt far less connected to them. As I haven’t yet played ‘The Whispered World’, I’m unsure whether these characters have been included as a subtle nod to the first game (in which case, fans will greatly appreciate the reference). Nonetheless, the only other character that seemed to have more of a purpose was Spot, a small yet versatile caterpillar that proves to be particularly useful for solving puzzles.

Speaking of puzzles, Daedalic Entertainment have ensured that Silence is filled with them. Utilising Noah, Renie and Spot, players will be required to solve puzzles as they move closer to the looming menace that now rules over Silence. The difficulty of these puzzles can be adjusted by turning off the ‘snoopkey’ in the game’s settings, removing all clues and enabling players to explore without any hints. Players are encouraged to comb each location and this is rewarded through the game’s achievements (of which, there are many). Overall, the puzzles felt integral to the story, rather than being shoehorned in for the sake of killing some time. It was also fun to use Spot as he can assume various forms that are fundamental for solving some of the more complex puzzles. In addition, there are a few mini games that add even more variety to the puzzles. These are a nice touch but can also be skipped if players are eager to crack on with the story.

One minor issue that I did have with the puzzles was that they often require you to keep walking between two or more areas, wandering back and forth until you find the thing that you’re looking for. After a while, this felt quite repetitive and could become frustrating if a player isn’t sure what they are supposed to be doing. However, this structure is probably the most straightforward way to create more intricate puzzles without making it too confusing for the player.

Another issue that was highlighted after the release of ‘The Whispered World’ was the voice acting. As discussed in our interview with Ralf Kessler and Ulrich Wanitschke, this is something that Daedalic wanted to get right in Silence and for the most part, they have succeeded. At points, the characters’ conversations were delivered slightly awkwardly. This is simply due to the pauses between characters’ replies being just a tiny bit too short, making the conversation feel somewhat rushed. Nevertheless, this does not happen often enough for it to greatly impact the game in a negative way.

Moreover, another change that has been executed particularly well is Daedelic’s decision to switch from 2D hand-drawn art to 3D. The art in this game is absolutely stunning and every scene beautifully combines the detailed 2D background with the 3D characters. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the characters blended into their surroundings and love the game’s overall appearance. Furthermore, much like other cinematic successes, Silence has a fantastic soundtrack that seamlessly carries the player from relaxed exploration to tense encounters.

Performance & Graphics

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MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

OS: Win 7

Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core CPU

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 / ATI Radeon HD 5800 / Intel HD 5000

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Storage: 20 GB available space

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

OS: Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10

Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core CPU

Memory: 6 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 / ATI Radeon HD 9700

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Storage: 20 GB available space

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

The game ran well on my PC (GTX 1080; 16GB RAM; i7 6700K) on the maximum setting with no frame rate drops experienced or any other issues.