When the fate of a world hangs in the balance, an unusual hero arises! The visually impressive adventure-epic The Whispered World is now available as a Special Edition for the first time. Let the Whispered World enchant you with its many animated details and fantastic characters.
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I played this game in the past, but I admit I quite like the extra knowledge from the developers. They sound quite awesome as they also mention Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and other Jim Henson movies as being a major inspiration for this game. If anything, it sounds like the team is awesome.
I found the story to this game interesting, but the ending was really quite good too, however I hate the voice actor for Sadwick. I'm of course talking about the English version, but yes it is annoying. I also love how Daedelic make 2D games again and bringing them back in the spotlight. Not to mention that they aren't half-bad either.
The creators are really awesome guys. I had the original game when I decided to buy their games after Deponia and now I got this one for free which is awesome.
I found the story to this game interesting, but the ending was really quite good too, however I hate the voice actor for Sadwick. I'm of course talking about the English version, but yes it is annoying. I also love how Daedelic make 2D games again and bringing them back in the spotlight. Not to mention that they aren't half-bad either.
The creators are really awesome guys. I had the original game when I decided to buy their games after Deponia and now I got this one for free which is awesome.
This review contains spoilers
Spoilers only discussed at the very bottom
NOTE- The Whispered World suffers from a bug wherein your left mouse button stops working at a moment’s notice. It was apparently borne out of an update error that Daedalic themselves have been unable to fully patch out (https://www.daedalicsupport.com/en/games/the-whispered-world/), leaving it up to Steam users to resolve like usual. Please follow the instructions laid out by Zinhita on this page: https://steamcommunity.com/app/268540/discussions/2/541906348043730288/
Sometimes parsing through a developer’s origins can yield hidden gems. After all, Ninja Theory gave us Heavenly Sword, Obsidian Alpha Protocol, Dontnod Remember Me, etc…etc…
And then there’s The Whispered World, which is sadly not one of those. Built by Daedelic years before their famed Deponia series, it bears all the hallmarks of their subsequent releases, yet also suffers from major deficits absent from the worst of them. And though it’s undeniably charming, I simply cannot recommend it to anyone in light of these flaws, the worst offender being the gameplay. As a PnC, Whispered World theoretically rests its laurels on a mix of inductive and deductive reasoning: you either see an obstacle that clearly requires the use of something in your inventory, or you recognize the combinability of two objects of yours in search of progressment. Regardless of which path is selected, a successful venture necessitates the backbone of rationality: i.e., the way forward must make sense to the player.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen here, and while The Whispered World never falls into Moon Logic territory, it opts for the next worst thing: universal combos. Have you guys ever seen those videos of YouTubers doing all sorts of erratic actions in the hopes of discerning some random easter egg or obscure dialogue? That same reasoning forms the backbone for universal combos wherein you’re expected to conduct absurd mixes-and-matches purely to unearth a fortuitous answer, and as you may expect, it gets frustrating very fast seeing the nonsense on display. In the very first chapter, for example, you’re tasked with collecting some tree sap with a container. I already had a box from my tent, so I figured I’d use that; except nope, it apparently wasn’t sufficient. Trying to utilize a utensil was also faulty because Sadwick didn’t want to get his pockets all sticky. Okay, all fair points…except it turns out the solution involves gathering the syrup with a f&cking bowl that is way smaller and more open than any of the above props.
A later section sees Sadwick having to grab a pair of pantaloons just out of reach, posing gamers with the following question: do you use either of the long rods in your backpack to extend out and snag it, or do you employ the help of a mouse you kidnapped from its home? If you answered the former, congrats on being sane- too bad you’re not a part of this developer’s target audience as you’re going to encounter similar situations many MANY times that require such out-of-the-box thinking (and not in a good way).
If this wasn’t vexing enough, you’ll have to contend with a couple of gameplay hassles both present and unpresent in other PnCs. The first is the classic, certain objects being imperceptible from the background (and yes this is a problem, even with the identifier function); the second is having to hold down the left mouse button to bring-up the action wheel, one of the strangest decisions I’ve ever witnessed in gaming (and one that probably contributed to the aforementioned bug).
Despite these impediments, I want to stress that nothing here is technically impossible. Sure, you might not understand the sagacity behind a causal effect or may have to do a double-take to find something you missed, but you’re never going to run into any Grim Fandango-type pitfalls during your journey. However, when a game consistently goads players into pulling up guides constantly, ask yourself if there truly is a fundamental difference between the two types.
And it’s not like the story is solid enough to overcome these flaws. See, The Whispered World takes place in a fantasy setting, yet barely fleshes it out beyond the outline of a bareboned skeleton. You’ve got a group of generic bad guys (Asgil) chasing a group of generic good guys (Chaskis) over a generic totem (Whispering stone) that can conquer society. It’s as though the writers came up with this plot playing Mad Libs with the most nondescript foundation in the history of fiction, and it genuinely shows with the lack of in-depth lore or memorability. By the end, I couldn't even recall any of the character names’ (minus your two protagonists) due to their inherent blandness.
As for Sadwick, he actually makes for a fine lead. The idea of a loser wanting to fight their destiny and actively save the world certainly stands apart from the usual reluctant hero types thrown in these dramedic games, his relationship with his shapeshifting caterpillar Spot, in particular, being especially endearing (barring certain instances+). However, it’s not enough to make the setting or overarching quest standout, and while the writers do throw in a pretty interesting plot twist at the end, it also falls flat due to some problematic themes (++).
It really is a shame about the lack of strong pillars because this is a pretty dang good-looking game, and I would’ve loved any reason to recommend it to newcomers. I’ve raved about the Daedalic art direction in prior reviews: the bold-outlined, storybook-esque modeling abutted with gorgeous panoramic backgrounds and parallax layering. It’s a style that has earned them a unique place in the gaming industry, and it holds-up incredibly well to this day. Interestingly, Whispered World goes a step further than later Daedalic releases by including beautiful 2D-animated cutscenes that not only look like something out of a Disney Renaissance movie, but that also transition fluidly to the standard in-engine renders.
Sadly, the soundscape is nowhere near as good as the visuals, starting with the voice acting. While the side NPCs are fine enough, this is one of those games I’d recommend playing in the original German language due to how horrendous Sadwick’s English VA sounds. You guys remember that annoying Adam Sandler impressionist Family Guy used in its laughing seagull cutaway (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05MYxvVKc4U)? Yeah, filter that same voice through one of those old-fashioned AI-generated synthesizers and you’ll get the awfulness that is Sadwick.
The score is pretty good. There was a great comment by Janfon1 on one of the YouTube videos describing the music as having a “subtle touch of adventure” mixed with “slice of life magic,” and I feel that’s as astute an observation as any. There are some tracks that over-rely on flat chords or repetitive melodies and consequently feel out-of-place, however, the majority standout as soothing pieces worth listening to.
SFX is pretty-limited given the PnC origins, though I was surprised to hear multiple footstep taps contingent on surface area. I do believe that PnCs remain untapped wells of sound potential, but I won’t hold this theory against The Whispered world.
Regardless, even if the sound were sufficiently robust, it wouldn’t change my ultimate opinion to not play the game. The Whispered World isn’t awful; it just isn’t good, no doubt explaining why the sequel didn’t garner much, if any, attention, from the mainstream community.
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SPOILERS
+There are at least two scenes where Spot is apparently killed (the imprisonment and the fountain fall), and Sadwick shrugs it off as no big deal.
++So it turns out this whole odyssey is a dream subconsciously concocted by the real-life Sadwick from a novel his grandfather is reading at his bedside in the hospital. It’s an interesting revelation, however you never get any indication about its possibility, making it relatively weak as far as plot twists go.
The bigger issue, though, is how it reduces the finale to a binary choice wherein Sadwick can either choose to stay in the dream world or wake-up. First off, the idea that a comatose person can just make such a decision willy-nilly is silly, but that aside, the game’s attempt to postulate a fake reality as preferable to physicality is ridiculous. We don’t get any indication that Sadwick’s true life is miserable (having a grandfather visit you in the hospital often would indicate otherwise; not to mention his fake one consists of him continually getting lambasted by 90% of the characters), so how is this even a dilemma?
It’s also a bit problematic because it gives the impression that it’s better for comatose victims to stay comatose and remain medically-bedridden than to awaken and repair their lives (or have someone help them).
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NOTE- The Whispered World suffers from a bug wherein your left mouse button stops working at a moment’s notice. It was apparently borne out of an update error that Daedalic themselves have been unable to fully patch out (https://www.daedalicsupport.com/en/games/the-whispered-world/), leaving it up to Steam users to resolve like usual. Please follow the instructions laid out by Zinhita on this page: https://steamcommunity.com/app/268540/discussions/2/541906348043730288/
Sometimes parsing through a developer’s origins can yield hidden gems. After all, Ninja Theory gave us Heavenly Sword, Obsidian Alpha Protocol, Dontnod Remember Me, etc…etc…
And then there’s The Whispered World, which is sadly not one of those. Built by Daedelic years before their famed Deponia series, it bears all the hallmarks of their subsequent releases, yet also suffers from major deficits absent from the worst of them. And though it’s undeniably charming, I simply cannot recommend it to anyone in light of these flaws, the worst offender being the gameplay. As a PnC, Whispered World theoretically rests its laurels on a mix of inductive and deductive reasoning: you either see an obstacle that clearly requires the use of something in your inventory, or you recognize the combinability of two objects of yours in search of progressment. Regardless of which path is selected, a successful venture necessitates the backbone of rationality: i.e., the way forward must make sense to the player.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen here, and while The Whispered World never falls into Moon Logic territory, it opts for the next worst thing: universal combos. Have you guys ever seen those videos of YouTubers doing all sorts of erratic actions in the hopes of discerning some random easter egg or obscure dialogue? That same reasoning forms the backbone for universal combos wherein you’re expected to conduct absurd mixes-and-matches purely to unearth a fortuitous answer, and as you may expect, it gets frustrating very fast seeing the nonsense on display. In the very first chapter, for example, you’re tasked with collecting some tree sap with a container. I already had a box from my tent, so I figured I’d use that; except nope, it apparently wasn’t sufficient. Trying to utilize a utensil was also faulty because Sadwick didn’t want to get his pockets all sticky. Okay, all fair points…except it turns out the solution involves gathering the syrup with a f&cking bowl that is way smaller and more open than any of the above props.
A later section sees Sadwick having to grab a pair of pantaloons just out of reach, posing gamers with the following question: do you use either of the long rods in your backpack to extend out and snag it, or do you employ the help of a mouse you kidnapped from its home? If you answered the former, congrats on being sane- too bad you’re not a part of this developer’s target audience as you’re going to encounter similar situations many MANY times that require such out-of-the-box thinking (and not in a good way).
If this wasn’t vexing enough, you’ll have to contend with a couple of gameplay hassles both present and unpresent in other PnCs. The first is the classic, certain objects being imperceptible from the background (and yes this is a problem, even with the identifier function); the second is having to hold down the left mouse button to bring-up the action wheel, one of the strangest decisions I’ve ever witnessed in gaming (and one that probably contributed to the aforementioned bug).
Despite these impediments, I want to stress that nothing here is technically impossible. Sure, you might not understand the sagacity behind a causal effect or may have to do a double-take to find something you missed, but you’re never going to run into any Grim Fandango-type pitfalls during your journey. However, when a game consistently goads players into pulling up guides constantly, ask yourself if there truly is a fundamental difference between the two types.
And it’s not like the story is solid enough to overcome these flaws. See, The Whispered World takes place in a fantasy setting, yet barely fleshes it out beyond the outline of a bareboned skeleton. You’ve got a group of generic bad guys (Asgil) chasing a group of generic good guys (Chaskis) over a generic totem (Whispering stone) that can conquer society. It’s as though the writers came up with this plot playing Mad Libs with the most nondescript foundation in the history of fiction, and it genuinely shows with the lack of in-depth lore or memorability. By the end, I couldn't even recall any of the character names’ (minus your two protagonists) due to their inherent blandness.
As for Sadwick, he actually makes for a fine lead. The idea of a loser wanting to fight their destiny and actively save the world certainly stands apart from the usual reluctant hero types thrown in these dramedic games, his relationship with his shapeshifting caterpillar Spot, in particular, being especially endearing (barring certain instances+). However, it’s not enough to make the setting or overarching quest standout, and while the writers do throw in a pretty interesting plot twist at the end, it also falls flat due to some problematic themes (++).
It really is a shame about the lack of strong pillars because this is a pretty dang good-looking game, and I would’ve loved any reason to recommend it to newcomers. I’ve raved about the Daedalic art direction in prior reviews: the bold-outlined, storybook-esque modeling abutted with gorgeous panoramic backgrounds and parallax layering. It’s a style that has earned them a unique place in the gaming industry, and it holds-up incredibly well to this day. Interestingly, Whispered World goes a step further than later Daedalic releases by including beautiful 2D-animated cutscenes that not only look like something out of a Disney Renaissance movie, but that also transition fluidly to the standard in-engine renders.
Sadly, the soundscape is nowhere near as good as the visuals, starting with the voice acting. While the side NPCs are fine enough, this is one of those games I’d recommend playing in the original German language due to how horrendous Sadwick’s English VA sounds. You guys remember that annoying Adam Sandler impressionist Family Guy used in its laughing seagull cutaway (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05MYxvVKc4U)? Yeah, filter that same voice through one of those old-fashioned AI-generated synthesizers and you’ll get the awfulness that is Sadwick.
The score is pretty good. There was a great comment by Janfon1 on one of the YouTube videos describing the music as having a “subtle touch of adventure” mixed with “slice of life magic,” and I feel that’s as astute an observation as any. There are some tracks that over-rely on flat chords or repetitive melodies and consequently feel out-of-place, however, the majority standout as soothing pieces worth listening to.
SFX is pretty-limited given the PnC origins, though I was surprised to hear multiple footstep taps contingent on surface area. I do believe that PnCs remain untapped wells of sound potential, but I won’t hold this theory against The Whispered world.
Regardless, even if the sound were sufficiently robust, it wouldn’t change my ultimate opinion to not play the game. The Whispered World isn’t awful; it just isn’t good, no doubt explaining why the sequel didn’t garner much, if any, attention, from the mainstream community.
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SPOILERS
+There are at least two scenes where Spot is apparently killed (the imprisonment and the fountain fall), and Sadwick shrugs it off as no big deal.
++So it turns out this whole odyssey is a dream subconsciously concocted by the real-life Sadwick from a novel his grandfather is reading at his bedside in the hospital. It’s an interesting revelation, however you never get any indication about its possibility, making it relatively weak as far as plot twists go.
The bigger issue, though, is how it reduces the finale to a binary choice wherein Sadwick can either choose to stay in the dream world or wake-up. First off, the idea that a comatose person can just make such a decision willy-nilly is silly, but that aside, the game’s attempt to postulate a fake reality as preferable to physicality is ridiculous. We don’t get any indication that Sadwick’s true life is miserable (having a grandfather visit you in the hospital often would indicate otherwise; not to mention his fake one consists of him continually getting lambasted by 90% of the characters), so how is this even a dilemma?
It’s also a bit problematic because it gives the impression that it’s better for comatose victims to stay comatose and remain medically-bedridden than to awaken and repair their lives (or have someone help them).
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92%
Once again an overall pleasant adventure with everything that Daedalic does well - good puzzles, lots of characters, beautiful albeit mostly unmemorable artwork, all sitting somewhere in fantasy land. What I do appreciate is that in contrast to its sequel Silence, this one actually resolves the underlying metaphorical connection instead of resorting to unclear 'ooooOOOooo it's your choice and it's still up to your interpretation' endings.
This game started off pretty promising until it led itself into a hole of untidy game design surrounding puzzles and the direction it was going in - Most of the progression is stapled on the combination of items and trial and error for the most of it. The voice acting in this is really annoying too - Had to use a guide to get through most of it and get the 100% completed. Thinking twice about starting Silence now - Hopefully not as bad as this.