Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked, DLC case completed. Unheard puts a distinctive spin on the detective genre, tasking the player to solve a series of crimes with the use almost solely of sound. The game is played from an overhead perspective, with 'sound sources' (the voices of the characters in each environment) marked and you can move between rooms to listen to the events within each, with voices dynamically increasing/decreasing in volume and moving in 3D space as you move around them - it's an impressive effect. Taking a cue from immersive theatre, each scenario has events constantly taking place simultaneously, in different locations, and of course that means that not everything can be experienced in a single run. Fortunately, the flow of time can be manipulated at will, with fast-forward, rewind and skip controls to aid in the detective work as you gradually piece together events - first by identifying the names of each individual, then by answering up to three questions that define the crime that you're tasked to solve.

Perhaps worth noting is that the voice-acting quality is a bit of a mixed bag, likely at least in part of being a dub from native Chinese. The game is arguably a bit on the easy side and - at least until the final case or two - the way that your solution can be 'marked' at will makes it very susceptible to brute-forcing - but this didn't particularly detract from an engrossing overall experience; with only five cases, it's over all too quickly!

Reviewed on May 21, 2023


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