Discover the Enigmatic World of Chants of Sennaar
Tunic without combat
It’s in the ovens of studio Toulouse that was shaped Chants of Sennaar, a game really like no other. In a sense, it is comparable to TUNIC, another indie game that caused a sensation in 2022. While the two titles are very different, they share a direction refined artistic style and, above all, a taste for enigmatic languages. But if the bulk of Tunic’s gameplay consists of killing small monsters, that of Chants of Sennaar focuses precisely on this unknown language. To move forward, there is no choice: you will have to decipher it using different puzzles and enigmas. “A puzzle game in which on don’t understand anything? But who wants to do that to themselves?” Well believe me, not only are you going to want to do this to yourself, but you’re going to love it. Succeeding in getting noticed by a good number of editorial teams, but also a few recognized journalists like Jason Schreier, in the middle of a schedule clogged by the giants Starfield and Baldur’s Gate III, is clearly not given to everyone. And yet, Songs of Sennaar did it! And on wanted to know what was son secret.
A week ago I had never heard of this game – now it’s one of my favorites of tea year. It’s called Chants of Sennaar and it’s a beautiful, haunting logic puzzle reminiscent of Obra Dinn. Took me ~10 hours to finish. It’s out today and you should play it https://t.co/kij8encKIQ
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 5, 2023
Immerse Yourself in the Enigmatic World of Chants of Sennaar
Honestly, on had already tried Chants of Sennaar during the last Paris Games Week. At the Focus stand, the title proved to be the little nugget that theon wasn’t waiting. And yet, on found in the same place A Plague Tale: Requiem, freshly released, and the awaited Dordogne. But for a few moments, Songs of Sennaar had already managed to grab us. Now that we have over an hour in the game, on is convinced of this: Songs of Sennaar is a game apart. It plunges us, without further ado, into a universe where everything is a mystery. No tutorial strictly speaking, no excessive instructions, even the music is rather discreet… Just you, your brains and the enigmatic world of Chants of Sennaar. It’s up to you to try to understand the signs or whaton tells you to decipher the language of the game, move forward and discover what the goal of your quest is.
The puzzles have a very special flavor in Chants of Sennaar. Your goal is both to unlock paths, but also to understand the inscriptions that surround you. The two are thus deeply linked. If at the beginning the puzzles will allow you to understand the language, the trend reverses as you progress. As a result, we will have to make deductions which will subsequently be confirmed or not. Very quickly, on finds himself in a frenzy of learning. We want to guess and understand everything. Above all, deciphering language is also a way to understand the history of this world. So there are lots of little things that push you to keep going and learn more. So that theon does not see time passing, despite some long aimless wanderings at the beginning. Note also that the lifespan of the title would be around ten hours. And then, the more you advance, the more complex the puzzles and inscriptions become. But thanks to the mechanics of the title (hypotheses about the symbols, rewind…), it’s never torture. Overall, it’s terribly well thought out and produced. You never feel too lost while always having questions in your head. You will have understood it, Songs of Sennaar succeeds in force of turning an incomprehensible game into an accessible and engaging quest in search of knowledge.
The Tower of Babel like you’ve never seen it
In this sense, Songs of Sennaar succeeds divinely well in his proposal to rewrite the myth of the Tower of Babel. “Kesako?” some of you may say. A quick reminder is therefore necessary. The Tower of Babel refers to a biblical episode. According to the latter, the Men of Babylon, all united around the same language, decided one day to build a tower so high that it would be capable of reaching paradise. But God did not appreciate this affront and decided to punish them by making them speak different languages. Men were thus forced to cease their work and, since then, there has been a constant hubbub in the Tower of Babel. Despite son calm, the tower of Songs of Sennaar suffers from the same problem: people don’t understand it and it’s up to you to fix it. In addition to the obvious connection to language, both stories share the idea of a tower. There is a certain verticality in Chants of Sennaar: the higher you go, the more you learn, at least at first. Because in practice, the title tower is more of a giant maze. If you are not patientget lost in the maze of stairs of Chants of Sennaar risks quickly looking like a chore. And yet each new place, each discovery constitutes a further step towards understanding… and a new insight into the fabulous world of Chants of Sennaar.
A Beautiful and Intriguing Artistic Direction
As we have said, the title of Rundisc is refined, but that does not mean that it does not have a direction interesting artistic, quite the contrary. It’s beautiful, it’s colorful, it’s neat and it fits perfectly with the idea thaton comes from such a mysterious title. You can add to this a certain number of influences noted in particular by our colleagues from: « Songs of Sennaar thus evokes Arzach (1976), Moebius’ wordless and existentialist masterpiece. The settings in which we spend so much time wandering evoke the science-psychedelic fiction by Philippe Druillet or the urban phantasmagories of François Schuiten. Perfectly digested, these influences give life to a mysterious and fascinating world. » At finalit gives a title which is as much a part of the work ofart just a game, and it’s always a pleasure to discover such proposals. And of course there’s the band-son composed by the talented Thomas Brunet, certainly discreet but captivating and particularly accurate when she wakes up and takes us with her.
A Unique and Engaging Quest for Knowledge
A direction artistic with little onions, a universe as poetic as it is intriguing, a air of Tunic in the apprehension of the world and a feeling of progression almost constant and intoxicating… This is what makes Chants of Sennaar a completely separate title. The impatient, the undisciplined students and the fans of action will have to go their way. But for the curious and players eager for original experiences, an adventure rich in learning awaits you. A perfect game for back to school, which will make you forget your bad memories in language classes, I promise. As a reminder, Songs of Sennaar has been available since September 5 on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.
