Developer: Chimera Entertainment
Publisher: Chimera Entertainment, H2 Interactive
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Songs of Silence (Revisited) – Preview
Last year, we already did a short article about Songs of Silence, which we saw at Gamescom 2023. The game already showed a lot of promise, and even though it was mostly a short hands-on experience, we were already intrigued by the core concept. Now, the game has been released in Early Access, and we were able to play through a few of the missions that are already on offer. We were treated to a fantasy-like tactical auto-battler with quite a few RPG elements, albeit at a very high price of entry.
In our initial preview, we remarked that the game is quite accessible, and we still feel like that is the case. For most aspects, things are easy to get the hang of, and that is also perhaps one of the biggest strengths of the game. The battles are quick, you have limited positioning options, and you can use cards to cast spells or use abilities. This part of the game is very straightforward, and you’ll quickly notice that at times you can almost lean back and see the chaos unfold. When it comes to actions on the overworld, and in particular the towns, things are not always as clear as they could be. You’ll notice that the garrison size of a small town is the same as a massive city, and there’s no real explanation of how everything works here. You’ll get a small pop-up with information here and there and sometimes the game will force you to take certain actions. Even so, we feel like there could be a bit more framework around the cities, the loot wagons, certain skills and abilities, and so on.
The overall atmosphere of the game is amazing, however. You’ll experience the start of a seemingly interesting story, the artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and the sound design is also quite good. Songs of Silence has many voiced dialogues and an epic soundtrack backing up the beautiful vistas and the great unit designs. There currently isn’t that much present in terms of story, but the introduction was quite good. The story fleshes out a bit of what we stated in our initial preview last year.
As a whole, the level progression curve is quite pleasant. You’ll level up your characters (and troops) and you’ll gain new cards to use on the battlefield, but also in towns. The mechanics are complex enough to keep genre veterans entertained for a while, while also being accessible enough for newcomers. It’s a fun grind the more you play, but we would have preferred it to have a few more commanders on the battlefield. As it stands now, it was a lot of going back and forth because the enemy commanders would constantly take over small settlements. We felt as if we didn’t get enough field coverage, and due to this, the first mission alone was already quite hard. Some balancing should be done here to make the introduction a bit more pleasant.
At the time of writing this preview, we do feel like a lot of work still has to be done. For example, the Early Access build only offers a few missions in the campaign, while already being offered at a fairly premium price. We feel the game should have been significantly cheaper to draw in a bigger crowd, and simply because you’ll have finished triple-A alternatives that come at a lower price. The controls are also a bit clunky, and we feel that the battles sometimes play out too randomly. At times, we would obliterate our opponent and at other times we would get demolished in the exact same battle. You can load a save file before a battle and often see that battle play out completely differently.
Conclusion
Songs of Silence already has a very solid foundation and many interesting elements for strategy and auto-battler enthusiasts. Sadly, the current asking price is a bit too high for the content on offer, but the content itself is enjoyable and shows a lot of promise for future things. We quite enjoyed our time with Songs of Silence so far, especially thanks to the interesting art style, the story that slowly started to unfold, and the original concept, and we are looking forward to seeing how this title will evolve over the coming months.
No Comments