Children of Silentown is a fantastic, short title that plunges players into a unique world full of wondrous and horrible sights in equal measure.
Children of Silentown is a point and click adventure game from developers Elf Games and Luna2 Studio. The title is set in a fictional town with a group of strange and generally eclectic occupants. You play as Lucy, a young girl who enjoys her days playing with her group of wacky and wonderful friends. During the day that is.
When night comes, Lucy is plagued by nightmares and hears growling coming from the old forest. Her fear keeps her at bay, however, after tragedy strikes, Lucy must face her fears for the ones she loves. Ultimately, the plot behind Children of Silentown is engaging, interesting and constantly rewarding. The way the plot twists and turns consistently and keeps you on the edge of your seat is a testament to the strength of its writing.
In addition to this, the narrative is very well paced, with the story never feeling stagnant until its end. While some may see the game’s 3-5 hour length as a weakness, I see it as a strength. The game feels tight and well executed and there does not seem to be any significant ‘wasted’ moments in the title with every moment with each character feeling earned.
Moreover, games of this style are nothing without significant characters and this game has many. The group of Lucy’s friends in particular have an endearing relationship that carries throughout the experience. Though some of the dialogue can be rather cliche and cringeworthy. Lucy in particular carries some of the worst lines in the game and in some cases almost fails to show a unique personality. This can, however, be juxtaposed by moments of pure empathy. Despite the game’s occasional cringeworthy dialogue it can still manage to craft earned emotional moments.
Of course the gameplay of Children of Silentown is quite basic. It’s a point and click adventure game with some unique and quirky puzzles that occur throughout the story. Players can collect items that may be used in certain situations to either distract people, unlock areas and more.
The gameplay does not attempt to reinvent the wheel and instead sticks the common threads that hold this genre of title together. The pace of this title is slow, methodical and requires patience in addition to critical thinking. Like all point and click adventures, this game relies quite heavily on puzzles. Whether it’s a unique sowing mini-game or being able to scale a wall, everything must be done with purpose and Children of Silentown rewards you for thinking outside the box.
For some the puzzles may be overly hard particularly the ones with more unorthodox solutions. Moreover, while the lack of handholding, on one hand, is refreshing it can also lead to frustration with many moments spent wandering around aimlessly hoping to figure out what the next step in the journey is.
The most unique addition to the title is its connection to music. It’s a narrative element (Lucy sings with her Mother in the game ) which effortlessly weaves its way into gameplay and vice versa. Players can collect these songs and utilise them as distractions to solve puzzles, moreover, these songs can also affect the endings of the game with each learned song having an impact upon your conclusion of the story, so ensure that as you play you collect as many songs as possible.
The best aspect of this title is without a doubt the art. Every detail of this game is breathtaking to look at. From the sprawling backgrounds, to the tiny details in buildings and even the intense white eyes that each character bears has a distinct connection to the title’s art style that bleeds into every aspect of the title. The art style is based quite heavily on the works of Tim Burton (quite clearly) and uses that inspiration expertly.
The game manages to capture the picturesque and adorable and seamlessly combine it with the creepy and uncomfortable effortlessly and provides players with a visual experience unlike any other. The cutscenes also add an extra layer onto the game’s visual excellence with its more pencil drawn aesthetic.
Furthermore, visually the game’s UI is also stunning. Scouring through your journal as you go about your adventure is an absolute pleasure and its diegetic style keeps players immersed in this stylised world. The inventory UI is clean and useful with each object you collect neatly being placed to the left side of the screen.
The audio direction is fantastic with everything combining to create a full and entertaining experience. The music similar to the art style captures multiple emotions at once allowing players to feel joyous and happy one moment to feeling scared and almost like you’re being watched. One particular aspect of the music comes through in the moments when Lucy sings, with the wonderful vocals adding an extra punch to the excellent narrative.
At its most basic form Children of Silentown could be simplified as a game about a town surrounded by a forest full of monsters. But that would be an oversimplification. Overall, the game manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Though its slow pace requires a great deal of patience to handle and some of the dialogue can be cringe-worthy, Children of Silentown manages to be engaging from beginning to end. Its aesthetic is stunning, with each hand-drawn building, character and object melding to create a menagerie of visual splendour.
It is a brilliant combination of art, story and world to create a fantastic experience and one that point and click adventures should compare themselves to in the future. Children of Silentown is available right now on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4/5 and PC.
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