Whispering Willows (2014)

(In 2014 I briefly wrote for RETRO Magazine at www.readRETRO.com. This is one of my few game reviews.)

Nobody sets out to make a boring game. Nobody sat around a table with a team of talented people and said “Team, our game is going to be the next big boring game.” Whispering Willows puts you in control of Elena, a teenage girl with a magic amulet, who is trying to find her father in a haunted abandoned mansion. Along the way you'll interact with the ghosts of those that never properly moved on and be occasionally terrorized by the manifestations of evil left by the mansion's mad, dead owner. Developer Night Light Interactive has titled this a “horror-puzzle” game despite the fact that it contains neither in any meaningful quantity.

Mechanically, Whispering Willows centers around the ability to shift into a spiritual form and roam around that way a la Prey. In this form you can “possess” objects (really, just move them a little), flip levers, and speak with ghosts. The ghosts have either absolutely nothing interesting to say or they give you clues to solve the next puzzle. I use the term puzzle lightly, here, as they contain such head-scratchers as “flip this lever” and “get a thing from this room and use it in that room.” Ghosts will send you on fetch quests that you, for no reason other than that this is a game, will complete. There's no inventory management or using items, either. When you interact with something you either have the tools necessary or don't. The bulk of the challenge in Whispering Willows comes from getting lost, missing a lever somewhere, grinding your teeth over how slow the heroine walks, and dealing with the game's small list of enemy encounters.

Enemies generally show up as special encounters. For example, your first will be after taking a certain item from a room. A terrifying shadow will appear and chase you down a hallway and then make a maneuver using your spirit self. There aren't just enemies roaming around until the end and, even then, it's three patrolling monsters that you have to avoid.

Whispering Willows isn't a horror game. It's about as scary as an episode of Are you Afraid of the Dark? or a Goosebumps book. Sure there's ghosts with gruesome faces but you won't ever get a jump scare (something for which I am actually thankful) or a particularly creepy feeling. The game is more of a mystery as you try to find out what happened to your dad and learn about the mansion's inhabitants. Unfortunately, there isn't much characters building. The opening cutscene doesn't reveal much and, frankly, the world isn't interesting enough to really want to know more. A girl is going to find her father in the mansion and is confronted by a Native American shaman spirit who awakens latent powers in her. This all happens quickly with little explanation or development. After getting your powers you'll meet more characters that go through simple arcs ranging from “I did a bad thing and I feel bad about it,” to “I'm a ghost and if you find the MacGuffin I'll feel better.” Needless to say, I was on the edge of my seat.

The story is told through short bits of dialog and notes found scattered along the mansion and its grounds. These notes are often serviceable but contain some real groaners as they sometimes try to sound a little too old-timey. I was mildly interested with the plot about halfway through the game and sort of wanted to know more. However, if the power went out and I lose my save game I would have just shrugged it off and done something else. Think of it like a competent made-for-TV movie. There's nothing else on, it's not offensive, it's decently well made and the remote is all they way over there so I guess I'm watching this. It's not painful, and I should only take you about three hours to complete.

The game isn't bad looking, but it's not winning any beauty contests. There's a cartoonish quality to the characters that some people might like (personally, I wasn't thrilled), the animation is functional, and the backgrounds and objects are fine. The quality takes a fiery, oxygen-mask-dropping nosedive during cutscenes. It turns from competent and unremarkable to an art school freshman's homework. Audio is about the same in that it serves its purpose. The music is alright, and there's some ambiance but in a post The Swapper world it's hard to notice any truly thick atmosphere. Like the rest of the package, it remains unremarkable.

Chinese food is pretty good. Great, in fact, if you can find the right place. There's a lot of mediocre Chinese food out there. It's rare that any of them are outright bad but everyone knows that the Tai-Feng Kitchen isn't really that good. If nothing else is open and it's all you can take then it's an option. It's not offensive. The orange chicken is a little too sweet and they're stingy with the wontons. And their lunch special ends a half hour before everyone else's. And they only have grape soda and root beer for some incomprehensible reason. Whispering Willows is a lukewarm I-know-this-has-been-sitting-here-all-day Chow Mein begrudgingly ordered as a full plate because you were six minutes late for the lunch special and you thought it came with soup but it didn't. You'll eat it. You'll be full. You'll shrug it off. You'll forget it.

One of my favorite things about video games is the way that different genres can meld to create fantastic new experiences for gamers. Kickstarter-funded game Whispering Willows is a great example of what can be achieved when you mix a 2D puzzler with ghostly horror and a splash of gorgeous art direction.

You play as Elena, a young girl with the gift of being able to switch between the spirit and mortal realms, as she goes on a search for her missing father. In order to find clues to her father's whereabouts, she must help other denizens of the mortal world find the peace and answers they seek.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing Whispering Willows and found it to be an incredibly easy 100% completion for those who are looking to pad their stats a little. The puzzles provide just enough challenge to keep seasoned players entertained. And while there is no combat in the game, you do have enemies that you have to strategize to get around. You can "die", but the game will only reset as far back as your last checkpoint which is the last door your entered through as there is no traditional save system.

As for shortcomings, my main quibble with the game has to do with how shallow the story is. Perhaps it is because the game only clocks in at 2-4 hours depending on how long it takes you to work out the puzzles, but the story is incredibly flimsy. Even with handfuls of scattered notes and journal entries, the narrative felt sparse.

My only other critique of note has to do with the few cut scenes of the game. While the rest of Whispering Willows has this beautifully detailed, lovingly polished art style, the cut scenes are much more cartoon-ish in comparison much like Flash games of old. Would have loved to have seen the cut scenes have as much polish and detail as the game itself to keep me fully immersed.

Overall, I recommend Whispering Willows to casual gamers, fans of puzzle games, and those looking to pad their completion stats. It is a great way to spend an evening leisurely enjoying a spooky game from a game developer to watch.