Unheard

released on Mar 29, 2019

Unheard is a narrative-centric detective game. Put on your headphones and step back into the past. Use the voices you hear to return to crime scenes, tracking down each individual involved and solving the cases! The game puts players in the role of a time-traveling detective who is only able to use one sense, sound. Also, the game’s story is a non-linear experience. Players must build their own timelines from the clues in conversations they overhear.


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They really found a genuinely new idea for a game, although it shares similarities to the even more interesting "The Invisible Hours". You basically play as the fly on the wall, listening in to simultaneously happening conversations, trying to figure out what happened, who did what, etc.
The cases are rather interesting, but there's only five of them (plus a free DLC with one large case and a little addendum for said case). It's a rather short experience, but I had a lot of fun with it.
The voice acting can be hit or miss, with some hilariiously bad lines mixed with some which are fine.
The biggest negative for me was that the game didn't really find a good way to prevent brute forcing the solutions. "Return of the Obra Dinn" had a brilliant solution to that problem, but it would not really be applicable to this game. Still, the way the game is right now, it can lead to you trying out a little bit too much, spoiling your own fun of discovery.

A solid game overall, though.

DEVOURED this. I was a little leery going in, as Unheard looked like a Jumpscares Horror Game (and the game certainly leans into this implication to keep you on edge). In fact, it is a mini-mysteries game with zero jumpscares and a really neat investigation mechanic. Similar to Telling Lies, but the conversation matching worked much better. (And you can skip through the audio, no less.) Each case involves a complicated series of intersecting gambits, with you having to follow handoffs, shuffles, and true identities. I could have done without the "evil psych ward" stuff, and the plots weren't exactly deep, but the basic gameplay was so fun that I wish the game were longer.

Apparently the devs aren't planning to release the other two DLCs in English, as they are too based in Chinese culture to be localized like the base game is. Which is a shame, really--I would happily play it translated but unlocalized.

Great concept, I haven't played tons of the game yet but it seems to execute well. The voice acting is pretty good and the stories are relatively interesting so overall just a well done experience with a very unique concept which makes for a good game.

Including Lethal Script -
Incredible game. Uniquely interesting concept involving using audio to deduce clues and information from the environment. The base game is fairly tame with the concept with decent challenges near the end. Lethal Script is not only a great case to solve, the performances are incredible from all actors involved to make a complex idea work so well.

I went into this game completely blind because I picked it up on sale randomly. I didn't have any expectations, and I was blown away by the auditory mystery. It is a very short game, which is sad, but I had a great experience. Was just the kind of thing I was looking for in a mystery game. (Not terribly difficult, but fun regardless.)