Whispering Willows

Developer: Night Light Interactive | Publisher: Night Light Interactive | Release Date: 2014 | Genre: Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

After the mysterious disappearance of her father, Elena Elkhorn has a nightmare about him. In her dream, she sees her father trapped in the Willows Mansion, where he worked as the groundskeeper, so upon waking, she immediately sets out to find him. Arriving at her destination, she encounters a ghostly apparition that causes her to stumble and fall into the catacombs beneath the mansion, where her adventure begins.

As Elena, you must explore the Willows Mansion and surrounding area for clues about her father’s whereabouts. Her quest is made more interesting thanks to an amulet that she received from her father, which alerts her to the presence of ghosts and allows her to communicate with these lost souls through astral projection. In her ghostly form, Elena can also possess objects such as switches or furniture to solve puzzles or turn into an orb and float through gaps too small for her physical body. We were expecting a few more puzzles based on the astral projection concept, but the ones in the game are relatively straightforward. Talking to the dead is a blast, though, thanks to the excellent character designs, and each one of the spirits has its own reasons for haunting the mansion. The phantoms you encounter mostly provide clues about what to do next, but you will also discover notes that flesh out the history of the mansion and the tragedies of the restless souls that inhabit it.

Thanks to the hand-drawn visuals, the game looks great, and the character designs are excellent. The backgrounds are static but packed with details, which makes exploring the game world really engrossing. There are very few enemies and no combat, so the bulk of the game is centered on exploring your surroundings and finding the necessary items to proceed. A fair bit of backtracking is involved, but overall, the game is quite linear, and we never had any doubts about where to go next. Elena has a diary you can consult to learn more about what is happening, and all the notes you collect can be viewed at any time. There is no map, but we never felt like we really needed one, and the different areas are distinct enough that it wasn’t a problem remembering where to use the objects we acquired. The developers even hid a few logos and items in the game that can be uncovered if you are extra thorough while exploring.

The pace of the game is relatively slow, which might frustrate some players who expect this to be an action-oriented title. Elena can run if the circumstances require it, but this happens very infrequently. Certain enemies can also kill her, but these sequences are only a tiny part of the overall game. The game has a very creepy atmosphere, but there is minimal outright horror, and we can’t say we encountered genuine scares while playing. As the puzzles are so straightforward, it is very easy to rush through the game, which is not recommended as it is pretty short.

Thanks to the haunting music and excellent sound effects, we frequently stopped to admire the environment and soak in the atmosphere. The game sounds great with a decent set of headphones, and while there is no speech, Elena reacts to certain situations with gasps, sighs, or laughter. The game automatically saves in certain spots and is split into four different chapters, so we advise players to take their time and thoroughly explore their surroundings, as it is easy to miss some notes or miss out on the hidden stuff. At the time of writing this review, the game didn’t feature controller support, but the developers added it with a later patch. You only use one button to activate your astral powers and another to interact with objects, so playing with a keyboard is perfectly serviceable.

We expected Whispering Willows to be a platform or point-and-click adventure title, so discovering that it is entirely different was a pleasant surprise. It shares some elements with both genres, but the slower pace and lack of serious puzzles make for a different experience. One of our favorite games from the NES era was The Addams Family game, which required players to explore a mansion and gather items to unlock new rooms. Whispering Willows offered a similarly engaging experience, albeit at a much slower pace and without any platforming skills required.

While it is clear that a small Indie team made the game with a limited budget, it is also apparent that there was a lot of heart involved, and for a debut outing, it is quite an impressive effort. It’s not flawless and probably won’t appeal to action fans, but the great art direction, outstanding audio, and engaging story make it stand out from the crowd. It is also heartening to see the developers actively responding to feedback and addressing issues brought to their attention. We enjoyed the game enough to complete it in one sitting, and based on what the developers achieved for their first title, we can’t wait to see what they will deliver next.

*Review originally published July 2014 based on version 1.14 of the game.