The Whispered World: Special Edition

This game doesn't rate in my top plays or my favorites, but it was good and unique. The puzzles were interesting but occasionally lacking in guidance. The art was great. The style was nice. The game was a little buggy at times. Worth playing through at least once.

I have reviewed over 50 games for adventureclassicgaming and I was privileged to review The Whispered World. I was blown by this game and it rates as one of the best that I have played. The game is the result of 5 years hard work by Marco Hullen who is the lead designer and illustrator of the game. The story line is exceptional and it tells about 2 stories running in parallel throughout the game. Only at the end do you realize what A Whispered World really is and the meaning of the game. I never saw the surprise end coming but it puts the game into context with the story which was masterfully done. The game revolves about Sadwick and his pet caterpillar Spot who can morph into several different forms, enabling Sadwick to carry out his adventure. Camped in the Autumn Forest with his brother Ben an Grandpa, they form a travelling circus show. Suffering from recurring nightmares about the world ending, Sadwick heads off into the forest with Spot to find an Oracle who can interpret his frightful dreams. The game plays as a third person point-and-click adventure game. The game is both immersive and absorbing with the cartoon styled characters complementing the plot. The voice overs are excellent, the sound effects are excellent and the ambient music played throughout the game complements the theme of the game. Navigation through the game is innovative as is the pouch used for holding the inventory items. Although logic driven, the puzzles encountered throughout the game need some imagination with some thought outside the box needed. In all, this is a must play game from Daedalic. A game where a fairy story parallels with a real life situation with a multiple ending, depending on which path you choose. You will not be disappointed with this game.

I was drawn to this game by its visual style. Unfortunately I fell into a classic style-over-substance trap. I played the game slowly over the course of *two years* before I finally finished it, mostly out of hard-headed determination. Ultimately, it took so long not because it was difficult (I could always use a walkthrough) but because it irritated me so much that most days I couldn't even consider playing it. So what's bad about it? Well, the number one problem is the puzzles. To say that they're suffused with Moon Logic would be an understatement. A good adventure game peppers the environment with subtle hints about puzzle solutions, so you never feel like you were handed the solution and you still feel clever for figuring it out. A bad adventure game gives you puzzles that only make sense in retrospect after trying everything until something works. A terrible adventure game has puzzles that don't even make sense in retrospect. Whispered World is a terrible adventure game (like the puzzle where you have to get something that has fallen and you can't reach it, but none of your long, stick-like objects will reach it, but the solution is to use something that is neither long nor stretchy because it can...stretch?). In the end, the solution is to pick up everything, try every object with everything, try combining every object, and just persist until something works. Not rewarding at all. Speaking of not even making sense in retrospect, even the story is weak. It seems interesting going in but by the time you reach the ending the whole thing falls apart. The twist at the end is lazy and comes completely out of left field. Add to that utterly annoying voice acting (sorry, the whiny main character is NOT funny, and that sssssssstupid Asgil that hisses made me want to mute the game), and you're left with some pretty images that otherwise make you want to punch your computer. Avoid.

I really loved this game, but I have to take off a star for the ending which actually made me angry. This game is truly beautiful and I didn't find any of the puzzles particularly illogical (by adventure game standards) as some others have. I thought the dialogue was delightful, I found myself trying out all the options (look, taste etc.) on every interactive item just to see what Sadwick had to say about them. I thought the characters were wonderfully endearing (especially Spot!) and I certainly won't forget this game any time soon.

This game has great characters, art, music and voice acting. This whimsical world is captivating and wondrous. This adventure game suffers from a few cliches in the gameplay though. Pick up anything you see, if you can find it. Some objects are small and require pixelhunting. The background and the intractable objects blend together easily. Some things you cant see until you hover over them. Other things look uninteractable. Some puzzles can only be solved by trial and error and the "rub everything against everything"-tactic. There are some logical and mechanical puzzles thrown in there which I found entertaining. The story, characters and voice acting is great. Though the ending seemed to come from left field, but I see what they were going for. The art is like a painting. A very washed out brown looking painting, but a painting nonetheless. I would have liked to have seen more color.