They always say children should be seen and not heard. Well, what if that old adage actually applied to an entire city and also included rules about not going out after dark and never wondering why? Meet the Sons of Silenttown: Emphasis on Silence. Poor Lucy is just a 12-year-old girl who wants to play hide and seek and other silly games with her friends, but the rules of Silentown are strict and mysterious. Don’t yell, don’t go out at night, and don’t ask adults for the truth.
What you do know is that the forest around Silentown moans and moans at night with the sound of monsters ready to drag you into the trees, never to be seen again. Silentown’s billboards are covered with the faces of those who have been lost, seemingly led into the woods by these moaning monsters. It’s been going on for decades and it gives the whole town a spooky feel, even during the day.
(Image credit: Daedalic Entertainment)
The art style of the children of Silentown really brings out that feeling of foreboding. It paints a nice color palette that hides its darker narrative tones well, but all of the characters are portrayed as skinny little things with oversized heads and huge pupilless eyes. They’re straight out of a Tim Burton movie, and the narrative beats are very Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride-esque. In fact, the game started out as an animated short, and you can see that in the way the game is laid out and the story unfolds.
sing the fear
(Image credit: Daedalic Entertainment)
This is partly due to the fact that Lucy’s special ability is singing. Taught first by his mother and then by the sounds of the world around him, you collect notes to unlock various songs that allow him to better interact with the people and environment around him. Initially, it’s about unlocking better dialogue with people by immersing yourself in their emotions, which involves solving push-button puzzles. But later, when events force you to enter the forest you fear so much, you can actively change the world around you with the right song. It involves more mini-games, some more frustrating than others, but the use of song is an interesting spin on what is otherwise a fairly standard point-and-click adventure.
As Lucy spends her days through the game’s five chapters, she’ll get involved in a variety of childish games, but she’ll also start trying to dig deeper into the mystery surrounding the various disappearances. You’ll acquire various items, some of which will need to be combined in a true point-and-click style, to be useful. It’s not the most obtuse point-and-click puzzle solving (which is an absolute win for me), so most of the solutions make sense if you have the right gear. There are a few cheeky twists that may catch you off guard, but there’s still a dash of common sense and logic here.
(Image credit: Daedalic Entertainment)
Even if I got frustrated or stuck on a mini-game or puzzle here and there, I found myself constantly pushing forward to figure out what answers lay in the central mystery. Children of Silentown is a fantasy story at heart, taking a detour to play hide-and-seek or finding out what’s bothering an old man only adds to the fun. It walks the line between cute and creepy, with even the smallest moments overshadowed by the looming threat of the woods.
I admit the ending was a bit unsatisfying, ending rather abruptly after things in reality it got interesting, and I think maybe that’s a negative symptom of its origins as a short. Yet even now, days later, I still think of that strange, wide-eyed girl and her antics in the woods. All those faces, those moans, those questions. It’s not a long game, it takes around 7-8 hours, so if you’re looking for a point-and-click game with darker tones, Children of Silentown is worth it.
Children of Silenttown is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Keep track of the most exciting releases on the horizon with our roundup of next indie games.