September Assassination #4

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Children of Silentown is one of those mid-games that you just wish were a bit better - there's not much wrong with it, but for the most part it's really unremarkable.

I mean, the artstyle is probably it's best element, very reminiscent of Broken Age, but with slightly worse animations. It's still consistent and enjoayble all throughout the game's runtime, which feels great. I also imagine it costed 100x less to illustrate and animate than Broken Age, so one must wonder what Tim Schaefer and the gang were doing with their Kickstarter, but I digress. The music is unobtrusive and not bad, but also unremarkable. Sound effects for the most part work well, but you really wish dialogue was voice acted -- I think it would help to elevate this game from mid to solid.

Speaking of dialogue, it's mostly good - I never got tired of reading what they had to say, and the jokes / humor / tone landed pretty well. The problem is that this dialogue does not connect with an overarching satisfying plot. From a pacing perspective, the game spends a lot of time with setup and not enough with delivery. It hints and teases at a lot of psychological horror possibilities, but lands with nothing. The beginning of the game drags and the end rushes. It's just a weird pacing.

Besides the pacing, the game flounders a bit on the gameplay. It's more of a classic point-and-click rather than a modern one. You'll need to pixel hunt quite often, combine items in unexpected (and dare I say, unfair) ways, and backtrack to non-obvious places to figure out the non-obvious solution the devs intended. Having just played some Wadjet Eye Games, it's kind of jarring to come back to this classic P&C issues that drag the game even further into mediocre territory. Had it highlighted interactables, for instance, would already make it way, way less frustrating and probably dismiss the need for a guide. The singing mechanic reminded me a lot of Acquaria and it's fine, nothing too bad. The puzzles that accompany it take some trial-and-error (particularly the rotating tiles one), but they are still mostly enjoyable and I feel could have been used more often.

Overall, a decent artstyle and good world-buildign that is marred by antiquated P&C gameplay, poor pacing and little story development. I still recommend it, but don't expect a remarkable experience after all