Silence: The Whispered World 2

Though most of what I saw during the demo took place in the bunker, Wolter cautioned that this is the game’s only real-world location. As Noah completes his retelling of Sadwick’s story, a bomb lands outside, throwing the bunker into darkness. When Noah wakes up his sister is gone, her voice calling to him from far away. He picks through the rubble to find her and gradually emerges in a new place, a world littered with items he remembers from his first adventure in Silence years ago. From here on, the game takes place in Silence as Noah and Renie try to reunite and get back home.

Noah and Renie are both playable characters in this game—or, maybe it’s more appropriate to say Sadwick and Renie, because as Noah travels deeper into Silence he will become more like Sadwick in behavior and appearance. Though I didn’t see Renie as a playable character during my demo, I was told to expect some scenes where the game dictates which protagonist you play as and others where you can switch freely between them.

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In addition, Sadwick’s sidekick Spot will reappear once you solve a series of puzzles that involve hatching him from an egg. Spot will again be able to shape-shift to help with puzzle solutions, but these shape-shifting puzzles will also be streamlined compared to The Whispered World, with only three shapes for Spot to assume. Still, Wolter said, each shape will have multiple uses—for example, a flat Spot could be used as a cover, as a sail, or slipped under a heavy item to slide it around. Like with the simpler inventory, the goal is to free players to use Spot creatively without getting stymied by a complex series of steps.

In his search for Renie, Noah will learn that Silence’s current situation parallels that of his own war-torn world. He’ll encounter and eventually join up with a group of rebels fighting the “false queen of the Whispered World,” and he’ll need to hide from creatures named seekers, who are roaming the forest looking for blood. “If you die you’re taken back to the situation where you made the wrong decision; you won’t really lose anything,” Wolter says. “It’s not supposed to be a punishment for the player… it’s more to create a feeling that things aren’t all right in the Whispered World at the moment.”

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The tone set by the high-octane opening is certainly more grim and serious than in the previous game, and Wolter says this tone will be present throughout: “There will be a certain humor around the cuteness of Renie and Spot, beauty and fascination with the Whispered World, but Silence is also supposed to deal with more mature views. On the other hand, it’s not supposed to totally go away from everything that people loved in the first game.”

Even in this early version, Silence definitely looks promising, with graphical innovations and new approaches to puzzle design beyond any of Daedalic’s games so far. At least, that’s my impression as someone who didn’t play the original and am not protective of it. For die-hard fans of The Whispered World and Daedalic’s other traditional adventures, the changes could be perceived as cause for concern. Should we consider this a new direction for the company?

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“We don’t want to get away from traditional adventures—we are working on adventures with classic puzzle design as well—but in addition, we want to create something in between traditional adventure gaming and an interactive movie,” Wolter said. “Definitely with Telltale’s games and all the new buzz around Double Fine, adventure is a popular topic again for the mass gaming media; it’s made people realize that story-driven games can be great fun. And progress and technology—visually stunning games like The Last of Us, and so many console games that attract many more players [than traditional adventures]—have also brought more attention to enjoying a story while playing [a game]. I think the possible market, the technology, the genre has grown to a level where you can finally get out of there.”

“If you really want to take a look from the business point of view, in the past the most business [came from] the very hardcore adventure game-playing scene who wanted to have very traditional puzzles,” he added. “Now, finally, there’s a broader market that allows us to play around with gameplay, without leaving behind the guys who still want that traditional gameplay.”

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Silence: The Whispered World 2 is planned for an early 2015 release, on PC and Mac.