Instead of "what the hell am I supposed to do" it's "what the hell am I supposed to say".
Chants of Sennaar is a short yet satisfying point and click puzzle game. The main gimmick - deciphering other languages. You climb the tower, meet a bunch of different tribes/ethnicities, decipher their languages and use said languages to go further. The experience is smooth and never gets tedious.
The meat of the game is its language system. Each language has its own logic and features resembling each tribe. And every piece, every stroke has its place - everything is governed by rules of its language. You can definitely see the complexity of each language when the Top Rated Steam Guide is dedicated to breaking down the rules of each language.
Deciphering of the languages is simple in its core: you observe, you listen, you make associations. The game provides you with different situations to observe. And the analysis of the aforementioned rules of the language can help you find similarities between words and make an educated guess. Also not to get overwhelmed and confused, there is a "checkpoint system" which allows you to properly guess the meaning of words and lock the correct ones. Kinda reminds me of a journal from "Return of the Obra Dinn".
Another small part of playing with languages is the ability to speak/write in said languages yourself. There are a few puzzles where you need to act as a translator between tribes. What's great about it is that you can go and see the result of your mediation - you leave a mark and the world develops. This works great as an additional proof of successfully deciphering the languages, the level progress being the main one.
Of course there is also the point and click part of the game. Here it reminds more of the classic point and click games where you need to search rooms for different clues or mechanisms. There are typical puzzles like "find this and use it on that" and the stealth part can feel a bit redundant, but the main part relies on understanding information provided in the new language. Using the acquired knowledge of the language you need to do specific acts to proceed further. And before that you need to find enough information to decipher the language. All while admiring the environment of each tribe. Speaking of which…
The presentation of tribes is another great part of the game. The player meets each tribe one by one. The tribes themselves are very distinct: from their appearance and surroundings to the language itself. It really shows their personalities and values, you can just feel that they are supposed to be this way and not any other. And don't forget about bits of narrative and lore: each tribe has its story you can see through different murals, documents and performances. Although the last tribe felt a bit weak, the feeling of learning different cultures of different tribes is outstanding.
The graphics are on the more simple side, but it doesn't get in the way of art design to present the aforementioned tribes and their surroundings. Maybe it even helped to distinguish the designs of tribes more clearly.
The music and sounds also played their part in the tribes’ presentation.
Overall this is a great game. The puzzle-solving is smooth and satisfying. The complex and well thought out tribes and languages really play well to the feel of discovery of different cultures. Also bringing tribes closer to each other after breaking their language barrier feels poetic. I wish there were DLC for this game and more games like this in general.
Chants of Sennaar is a short yet satisfying point and click puzzle game. The main gimmick - deciphering other languages. You climb the tower, meet a bunch of different tribes/ethnicities, decipher their languages and use said languages to go further. The experience is smooth and never gets tedious.
The meat of the game is its language system. Each language has its own logic and features resembling each tribe. And every piece, every stroke has its place - everything is governed by rules of its language. You can definitely see the complexity of each language when the Top Rated Steam Guide is dedicated to breaking down the rules of each language.
Deciphering of the languages is simple in its core: you observe, you listen, you make associations. The game provides you with different situations to observe. And the analysis of the aforementioned rules of the language can help you find similarities between words and make an educated guess. Also not to get overwhelmed and confused, there is a "checkpoint system" which allows you to properly guess the meaning of words and lock the correct ones. Kinda reminds me of a journal from "Return of the Obra Dinn".
Another small part of playing with languages is the ability to speak/write in said languages yourself. There are a few puzzles where you need to act as a translator between tribes. What's great about it is that you can go and see the result of your mediation - you leave a mark and the world develops. This works great as an additional proof of successfully deciphering the languages, the level progress being the main one.
Of course there is also the point and click part of the game. Here it reminds more of the classic point and click games where you need to search rooms for different clues or mechanisms. There are typical puzzles like "find this and use it on that" and the stealth part can feel a bit redundant, but the main part relies on understanding information provided in the new language. Using the acquired knowledge of the language you need to do specific acts to proceed further. And before that you need to find enough information to decipher the language. All while admiring the environment of each tribe. Speaking of which…
The presentation of tribes is another great part of the game. The player meets each tribe one by one. The tribes themselves are very distinct: from their appearance and surroundings to the language itself. It really shows their personalities and values, you can just feel that they are supposed to be this way and not any other. And don't forget about bits of narrative and lore: each tribe has its story you can see through different murals, documents and performances. Although the last tribe felt a bit weak, the feeling of learning different cultures of different tribes is outstanding.
The graphics are on the more simple side, but it doesn't get in the way of art design to present the aforementioned tribes and their surroundings. Maybe it even helped to distinguish the designs of tribes more clearly.
The music and sounds also played their part in the tribes’ presentation.
Overall this is a great game. The puzzle-solving is smooth and satisfying. The complex and well thought out tribes and languages really play well to the feel of discovery of different cultures. Also bringing tribes closer to each other after breaking their language barrier feels poetic. I wish there were DLC for this game and more games like this in general.