Whispering Willows has at last landed itself on Steam, after making its debut on Ouya in late May. It touts itself as a ‘horror/adventure puzzle game’, which sees protagonist Elena Elkhorn enter the grounds of a decrepit mansion in hope of finding her missing father. To help her in this task, Elena has in her possession a strange amulet given to her by her father that contains the ability to ‘astral project’ (i.e. become a spirit). She must use this ability to speak to the deceased residents of the mansion in a bid to discover its mysteries, and find and save her father.
In terms of gameplay, this translates into exploring the ins and outs of the mansion, finding items and solving light puzzles. In this respect, Whispering Willows adheres to rudimentary principles of puzzle adventure games – generally there will be a place that you need to go to, or an area that you have no access to, which can be unlocked by finding keys and items. Items may be used to resolve a problem, such as finding a bucket to access a well; but also as a direct method of accessing inaccessible areas, such as a knife for cutting away vines. Where the game differs, however, is in its presentation. Essentially, Whispering Willows is one big 2D level with multiple areas containing the occasional locked door, passage or area, all of which you are able to return to throughout the game. Backtracking is a significant part of the level design, and ultimately accessing the majority of the locked areas is required in order to progress in the story.
Elena’s ability to ‘astral project’ is of use in the majority of puzzles throughout the game. What this involves is Elena releasing her spirit to go and float about on its own. In doing this you will be able to access areas that Elena’s physical form cannot – holes in walls and ceilings can be entered in the spirit form, usually revealing a switch or item that can be used to progress. Elena’s spirit form can also possess certain objects, again giving you the means to solve a particular problem, for example, possessing a piece of furniture, making it topple into a hole, thus giving yourself a platform to walk over. And lastly, there is the ability to talk to other spirits (which will become apparent when your amulet glows). Spirits, in some cases, work simply as a hint system, but generally they act as an obstacle or an objective giver in themselves – you need to find a particular item for them so they will help you out, or give/reveal something to you.
Not all the puzzles are item based, however. There are the occasional logic puzzles such as a maze, or presenting an object/set of objects in a particular way – one in particular sees you putting wine bottles in a specific order to unveil a secret passage. The puzzles and item searching are reasonably enjoyable – exploring the creepy, ramshackle buildings is atmospheric and curious – but none of it is particularly challenging. Additionally, you can ‘inspect’ (I use that word loosely) items and objects, which gives you a remark from Elena – it’s a little shallow, but it’s inclusion at least gives the environments some interactivity beyond those specifically relevant to a puzzle.
As far as the difficulty is concerned, its simplicity is a problem. Usually I wouldn’t mind a puzzle adventure game holding your hand a bit; I love the narrative and setting of many puzzle adventure games, but despise their ruthless difficulty and warped logic (“oh of course, you kick the cow which then poos itself, landing the pat on a pitchfork, which then knocks over a bucket revealing a small key…silly me, how could I not have known?”). But, in order to make an ‘accessible’ puzzle adventure game interesting, you need to have variation; and that is something that Whispering Willows does not have enough of.
Variation of gameplay doesn’t extend much further than the examples I have given above. The maze puzzle, for example, was genuinely interesting – it was a pitch dark background, with the only mode of seeing being via the luminous glow emitted from your spirit form – but this literally happens once in the entire game. I sat there at the beginning of the game, enthused by this ‘astral project’ mechanic, thinking “I can’t wait to see all of the creative ways I will get to use this”, but they never happened. The odd puzzle later in the game shows the initial hallmarks of a creative head scratcher, but they don’t evolve beyond that, and they are far too easy (three of the puzzles I recall actually having the answers on full display next to it).
There is some recompense in the item puzzles, in as much as they get you going back and forth throughout the areas, making sure to search all the rooms, and offering a really satisfying sense of progression; but you are too often spoon fed the solutions – everything considered important is conspicuous and the game has no qualms with virtually spelling everything out for you. Additionally, the backtracking verges on tedium due to the slow walking pace of your character. This may seem like a petty criticism, but there are the odd conveniences left out of the game that would have made the experience more intuitive – a map for instance; it isn’t exactly a convoluted game, but there is enough ground to cover in backtracking for a map to be necessary.
However, the majority of this criticism comes from a sense of disappointment rather than genuinely bad game design, and I assure you that I did enjoy the game. None of the puzzles were exactly bad, and I feel it makes up for what it lacks in gameplay variety with its narrative and aesthetic. It is an intriguing game; one made up of a fantastic art style and a mysterious back story. Wandering around the dingy, uninhabited corridors and grounds was captivating in a creepy, morbid kind of way. The spirit’s accounts, as well as notes that you find littered around the mansion, provide insight into the mansion and its resident’s macabre history. The soundtrack, while again lacking variety, at least manages to accentuate the chilling atmosphere.
From a horror perspective, the game is clearly more about that chilling atmosphere than a jump scare inducing fright fest. There are enemies, so to speak, that very occasionally turn up (when they do, this is the only instance where the game allows you to run), and they can be fairly intimidating when they do. Most are just insect-like things that you need to avoid by timing their movements, whereas other instances presented dark, looming figures with glowing red eyes. These encounters are few and far between, but they are quality when they do occur.
The game’s positive elements shine through, but I can’t help feeling annoyed at the poor attempts to diversify the content; made even more frustrating when the game ends at only 3 hours, with virtually no reason to replay it. It isn’t an expensive game, but just a couple of hours more content could have nullified my previous point about variety. Even if you do find yourself enamoured with the aesthetic and gripped by the narrative, the lack of variety and short length are still contentious issues. As it stands for me, Whispering Willows is a briefly enjoyable affair, but it whiffs of untapped potential.
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