Songs of SIlence Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Stunning. Few other words immediately describe Songs of Silence. Chimera Entertainment have, before anything else, fashioned a piece of gaming art that looks utterly incredible. This 4X strategic auto-battler does plenty of things differently from its genre peers, but its art nouveau-inspired visuals zing from the screen with the clarity of a fresh lemon. To say it’s refreshing would be an understatement.

Songs of Silence initially offers a series of Campaign missions that explore the conflict between Primordials and Celestials, with humanity caught between the two. These two forces pulled the world apart, leaving one of light and one of darkness, and while this initially led to a period of peace and enlightenment, it soon dissolved into bitter war. Humanity thought itself blessed by the Celestials, but now, under the incoming pestilence of Silence, the remaining humans struggle to survive.

You take on the role of Lorelai, the newly crowned queen of Ehrengard. Her kingdom has already fallen to Silence, and she traipses across the land with her remaining subjects in search of a new home. It’s not easily won though, and instead all she finds is more conflict and in-fighting between the nobles of the neighbouring kingdoms, before she then suffers a bitter betrayal.

It sets the scene for an intriguing fantasy tale, and one that doesn’t simply go for a gung-ho, binary vision of good and evil. It instead gives you a measured, often brutal depiction of war, and those who are worst affected by it. It’s then dressed up with excellent voice work and some of the most impressive character art you’ve ever seen in gaming, making it a genuine pleasure to take in.

Things start out in familiar fashion for the turn-based 4X genre. You move across the over-world map with a limited movement range, and you can enter into combat with any enemies within that. Once combat begins though, you soon discover that Songs of Silence is doing things differently. Battles are fundamentally skirmishes,