Whispers of a Machine - new adventure game from Kathy Rain and The Samaritan Paradox devs

[Infinitron]

https://af.gog.com/game/whispers_of_a_machine?as=1649904300

 

[V_K]

Finished it, took me around 5 hours according to Steam. But given the amount of variation in the dialogs and puzzle solutions, and the quality of the art, it seems like a reasonable size for the game.
Overall, the whole game leaves the same impression as the opening chapter - it strikes this balance of being generally on the easy side but not insultingly so. The roleplaying and investigation elements were used a bit more sparingly than I would have wished (the biggest disappointment was that 1 of the 3 unlockable augmentations does not depend on your choices), but overall I think it does a better job of incorporating them than Unavowed or Mage's Initiation.
What I'm wondering is whether it's possible to keep Vera's personality in the "true neutral" zone and what kind of augments would that unlock. Or at least whether it's possible to change the path during the second day, so that the second unlock would come from a different path. I guess a couple of replays are in order.
Oh, and I absolutely loved the setting. Would love to watch a TV show based on it.

 

[Boleskine]

https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/37574

Whispers of a Machine review

The Good:

• Nanotech augmentations add fun and creative twists to the investigative gameplay
• Engrossing murder mystery in a compelling future world
• Top-notch blending of pixel animation and painted environments
• Music nicely supports the setting and plot in an understated way

The Bad:

• Character subplots fall a little flat
• Story jumps the gun to rush to a conclusion

Very good


Our Verdict:
Clifftop Games and Faravid Interactive show no sign of a sophomore slump with Whispers of a Machine. This futuristic murder mystery with some innovative gameplay, flexible puzzles, and built-in replayability should be enough to pique any adventure gamer’s interest.

Spoiler

What would happen if Ridley Scott’s cyber cop Rick Deckard found himself supplanted from his dystopian Los Angeles to a rural outpost in the middle of nowhere? Or if the Coen brothers’ Marge Gunderson was transported into a tech-noir future to investigate a string of murders? The answer to both is Whispers of a Machine, a collaborative effort from a pair of indie developers with proven pedigree on their own, Clifftop Games (Kathy Rain) and Faravid Interactive (The Samaritan Paradox). Although the narrative of this murder mystery may be a bit too brief to land all of the emotional punches it attempts to throw, it still successfully explores engaging themes like religion, morality, and technological apartheid in a world struggling to return from the brink of apocalypse, and along the way brings an intriguing freshness to the tried-and-true point-and-click formula that’s well worth experiencing.

The game sees players take on the role of federal homicide detective Vera Englund, who’s been sent to the remote outpost of Nordsund after a brutal murder has stumped the local constabulary. Arriving just in time to examine a second, more recent murder, Vera realizes that she may have been set on the trail of a budding serial killer. Her investigation into the two deaths ultimately sees her caught amidst opposing factions in a war of ideologies, testing her professional intuition as well as pitting her against her own personal demons.

Whispers is a third-person point-and-click adventure as traditional as they come in most respects, but it also introduces elements of choice and several unique mechanics that aid in the analysis of crime scenes and interrogation of suspects. While a contextual cursor lets you examine, read, pick up, and interact with objects in the environment (with the aid of an optional hotspot indicator when necessary), it’s the protagonist’s special augmentations that inject a great deal of variety into the case.

In this futuristic world, a specially developed nanofluid substance dubbed “Blue” – highly illegal to anyone not enjoying special governmental status but accessible to Vera as a federal agent – infuses living tissue with tech-assisted abilities. This enables Vera to scan her environment for clues like fingerprints and DNA signatures, read biometric inconsistencies in subjects she’s questioning, and even offers her muscles a temporary extra boost of strength. The addition of these elements really drives home the feeling that you’re not just clicking on objects but truly investigating. The simple act of locating a victim’s locker in the game’s first scene, for example, requires scanning his body to log his biometrics, then tuning your scanner to pick up his fingerprints specifically, and once the correct locker is located via the prints, ripping it open with a boost of strength.

While the initial loadout of three augments are available to Vera at the game’s outset, over the course of the story new powers continue to manifest within her, reacting specifically to your choices when interacting with others, essentially opening up different augments depending on which path Vera is traveling down. Treat others with empathy, for instance, and Vera will receive the ability to give machines and people around her a brief spark of energy; behave in a more analytical or assertive manner instead and different enhancements become available.




Not only does this allow gamers with differing play styles to solve problems in unique ways, but sometimes in-game puzzles themselves lead to tendency shifts depending on how they were overcome, such as passing a fingerprint scan: it’s entirely possible to create a rubber mold of a finger to fool the scanner, or simply amputate the digit itself to gain access, each solution pulling the behavior index in one direction or another. Players dedicated to role-playing Vera another way will get some further replayability from this system, as different augments force unique puzzle solutions.

As the game unfolds, there are a good variety of puzzles to contend with, all naturally woven into the mystery. Inventory-based roadblocks are of course present to challenge your ability to think outside the box, but it’s – again – the puzzles that play on Vera’s nanofluid augments or your own ability to deduce answers from clues discovered that stand out. In order to access a computer terminal early on, it is necessary to not only be thorough in your search for clues, but also to carefully pore over the available data to decipher the hints contained within. Whispers does a great job of staying challenging without becoming frustrating.

Progressing through the narrative will send players down several side tracks running simultaneously with the murder investigation. As Vera uncovers motives and learns more about the suspects and victims involved, so too does she become entwined within a more human drama of clashing belief systems, of human evolution versus software upgrades, of organic versus artificial, and the question of which Big Brother is the lesser of two evils: man or machine?

Likewise, backstory about the world itself – the events in the past that have led to society’s departure from advanced A.I. development – is revealed little by little, as is Vera’s personal background and the private struggles she’s gone through in her past. Arriving in Nordsund with a single memento of home – a photograph of a significant other and the emotional baggage that goes with it – Vera eventually proves the susceptibility of the human condition that makes true impartiality an impossible notion.

While these facets help flesh out the world, the game’s 4-6 hour play time has some difficulty giving all of them the attention they deserve while still keeping a spotlight on the investigation at hand. In fact, after some excellent early pacing focused on revealing the murder plot, the game shows its hand surprisingly suddenly, almost rushing to a conclusion a bit prematurely. As a result, certain emotional aspects of the story don’t hit home as hard as they were likely intended to, and the ending, while cleanly putting the case to rest, didn’t leave me particularly satisfied. Like the artificial consciousness the story revolves so much around, there’s something almost mechanical about Vera that kept me from truly connecting with her or her plight.




The game’s visual presentation is very well-executed, somewhat unusually blending more painterly backdrops with pixel art characters and foreground elements. While I was initially a little on the fence about the smooth backgrounds, the end product does mesh together nicely. From a design standpoint, locations that showcase the low-tech future setting are particularly noteworthy: the game’s opening reveals Nordsund as an elevated settlement, suspended on a giant disc high above ground, while within town the police chief’s office features a private built-in greenhouse and the local museum is full of “antiquated” displays like hovercraft and laser-gun-wielding law enforcement robots. The majority of locales feature simpler decor, however, without much indication of the game’s futuristic setting.

Character models benefit from detailed dialog portraits that appear during conversation to show much greater expressiveness. Animation is fluid as well, with enjoyable flourishes paying off Vera’s augments, like a metallic latch flying through the air after brute forcing a storage locker open, or a visible spark of energy traveling up an IV tube in order to revive an unconscious patient.

The sound design is equally enjoyable, stopping just short of outstanding. Quality voice work, for the most part, boasts a leading role performed by Ivy Dupler, surrounded by other strong characterizations in the supporting cast. The instrumental music features both melodic and dissonant tracks, the latter evoking the same odd anachronistic feeling as the setting. Generally, though, the score is willing to remain in the background and not get in the way of the voice acting, instead simply providing a suitable backdrop for any extended investigative sections.

After the successful first outings from both developers individually, there was every reason to anticipate good things from a game that saw them join forces. And indeed, even with the greater expectations that came with it, Whispers of a Machine does not disappoint. It’s perhaps a bit too short to do its ambitions full justice, but with strong presentation values, a largely compelling mystery to solve, and praiseworthy spins on traditional point-and-click gameplay, it’s a highly enjoyable experience with a level of replayability and an interesting world that I hope will be further explored in future projects.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Game is alright. I'm on Day 3 currently and it's decently enjoyable so far. Biggest issues I have is that the aug abilities feel underutilized in puzzles, probably because there are 3 different paths where you use your new aug a couple of times only, and that the VA for the main character is not that great. I mean none of the VA are particularly good, but you hear her voice the most so the lacklustre delivery begins to grate on my nerves.

 

[MRY]

It's doing quite well. Already has more reviews than Mage's Initiation, and it's 96% positive. Broke 100 simultaneous players. One more review and it gets a Metacritic rating, which is likely to be in the mid-to-high 80s. In every respect it's significantly outperforming Kathy Rain, which was itself a legitimate hit.

 

[StaticSpine]

Bought this. Not sure I'll have time to play soon. Want to support the devs at the start tho

 

[HoboForEternity]

played it till the end of day 2 this weekend. it is pretty damn good. i really love the nordic motifs used in a sci-fi game. good character, the story is hooking so far, gave me a more grunge technobabylon vibe and some good puzzles. between the recent releases like unavowed, lamplight city and whisper, this might be my favorite. i love unavowed but it is barely an adventure game. lamplight city is still good too, but i think this is better so far.

 

[fantadomat]

It's doing quite well. Already has more reviews than Mage's Initiation, and it's 96% positive. Broke 100 simultaneous players. One more review and it gets a Metacritic rating, which is likely to be in the mid-to-high 80s. In every respect it's significantly outperforming Kathy Rain, which was itself a legitimate hit.

Have you played the game,what do you think of it?


EDIT:Also is the game a modern political garbage or an ok adventure game without much of political shit shoved in?

 

[V_K]

Unless you consider the protag's edgy haircut a political statement, it's pretty safe.

 

[V_K]

Actually, no, I take it back. The protag's a woman (gasp!) and she has the option to act assertively (double-gasp!). Run, run for your lives!

 

[MRY]

It's doing quite well. Already has more reviews than Mage's Initiation, and it's 96% positive. Broke 100 simultaneous players. One more review and it gets a Metacritic rating, which is likely to be in the mid-to-high 80s. In every respect it's significantly outperforming Kathy Rain, which was itself a legitimate hit.

Have you played the game,what do you think of it?


EDIT:Also is the game a modern political garbage or an ok adventure game without much of political shit shoved in?

I just played a few moments, not enough to form an opinion of it.

 

[evdk]

Actually, no, I take it back. The protag's a woman (gasp!) and she has the option to act assertively (double-gasp!). Run, run for your lives!

I mean, there isn't even a kitchen. Feminazi simulator 2019.

OTOH you can claim you wanted children. The white race is saved.

 

[fantadomat]

Actually, no, I take it back. The protag's a woman (gasp!) and she has the option to act assertively (double-gasp!). Run, run for your lives!

Come on mate,can't fault me for being on the guard,seeing how the protag looks like an edgy dike. You talk as if leftist political garbage is not something to be wary of in modern games.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/whispers-of-a-machine-review/

WHISPERS OF A MACHINE REVIEW
A fun adventure game that doesn't nail its big ideas.

Whispers of a Machine chases big ideas, one of which is teased in an early-game conversation between a teacher and her young students. Artificial intelligence is strictly forbidden, she warns, and the police will come for anyone who tries to make something that can think for itself. But what about my parents, one quick-thinking student asks. They made me, and I can think for myself. Are they going to jail?

It doesn't quite arrive at the philosophical weight it aspires to. Whispers of a Machine is a good adventure game, clever at times, but the heavy concepts it flirts with at the outset quickly give way to a conventional murder mystery in an unconventional setting: A vaguely post-apocalyptic world scarred by the long-ago, for-reasons-unknown collapse of the AI-driven computers and machines that humanity had grown to rely on.

As a result of that breakdown, the world is kind of shitty, although not necessarily any shittier than it's going to be in 20 years anyway. Work is communal, living quarters are cramped and spartan, and there's an air of oppression that hangs over everything. If nothing else, it's believable.

Vera Englund is one of this world’s most elite operatives, a special agent of the Central Bureau who's been sent to the remote town of Nordsund to investigate a grisly murder. But when she arrives, she discovers that one murder has become two, and then three—the situation is obviously more complicated than she expected.

Fortunately for all involved (except the bad guy), Englund comes equipped with a number of special abilities as a result of "taking the Blue," a slang term for being injected with a nebulous nanofluid that confers abilities like enhanced strength and a "forensic scanner" that can detect and analyze clues.

Later in the game she’ll also develop personalized abilities, which is where things start to get interesting. In the game's fiction, the Blue adapts to suit each user's needs. In practical terms, the choices you make in action and conversation will pull Vera's personality in one of three directions—empathetic, analytical, or assertive—which will in turn determine which enhancements she ends up with. You might be able to take on the appearance of someone else, or vanish from sight entirely; some agents can inflict short-term amnesia on NPCs, while others can bend them to their will with the mind-control whammy.

Building character
The RPG-esque character development is the most interesting thing about Whispers of a Machine, and the irony is that unless you're really paying attention you're quite likely to miss it. There's no indication that you developed this ability instead of that one—the abilities simply unlock, and you get on with your day. It’s a stealthy system that belies the game’s complexity, but I like it because it confers a more distinct sense that Vera is you: Instead of metagaming or mix-maxing or savescumming or whatever it is you do to reach an optimal outcome (and yes, I do it too), you get what you get. You are who you are.

Upping the stakes even further, Whispers of a Machine does not allow manual saves, so unless you want to horse around with manually copying and overwriting your save files, you own every decision you make, good or bad. Do you regret being a jerk to the weird robotics guy? Wish you hadn't chopped that dude’s finger off? (Yup, that's on the menu.) Feel like you should've been a little more forceful with the local constabulary? Too bad—if you want to do it differently, replay the game.

The flipside of that coin is that while Whispers of a Machine is short enough that a replay isn't a great chore, there's really not enough to it to justify a full second run-through. The central story is interesting but the game world is small and feels empty—there are virtually no characters in the game except those you need to interact with, who only appear when you need to interact with them—and there are no side quests or collectibles or optional extras.

What you’re left with is different ways of solving the same, relatively few problems: Depending on your augmentations, you might camouflage yourself as an NPC to get past a guard, or engage an invisibility cloak instead. And hey, maybe that's exactly what you're looking for in multiple runthroughs—you do you! For me, though, it's a little too thin for a do-over.

One thing I really appreciated about Whispers of a Machine is its snappy pacing. It unfolds over four days, each a segment of the mystery that ends with a recap of the day's events. Those end-of-day reports to my superior gave me a real sense of progress because they broke the game down into discrete chunks: I did this and this, and tomorrow I need to do that and that.

An automatic notebook made tracking the course of the investigation reasonably simple, and when you enter a location with puzzles that need to be solved, you’re not able to leave until they’re done. My initial reaction to that was irritation (I'm stuck! Let me out!) but I quickly grew to like it. As someone who’s spent a lot of hours in other adventures running back and forth across 27 different rooms trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do next, I have no doubt that being kept in place to solve a specific problem saved me a lot of frustration.

Small ideas

Which isn't to say that there are no instances of Adventure Game Bullshit—there are, and they're fortunately rare but still frustrating. (No spoilers, but you definitely want to pay attention to the Codex.) There's also one way over-the-top moment of deus ex machina nonsense courtesy of Vera's nigh-magical nanofluid: She suffers an injury that by all rights should leave her dead three times over, but instead she walks away with a bit of expositional hand-waving about the Blue working overtime to keep her alive. Yeah, but you're not even limping, Vera.

The incident is ridiculous enough that it really stands out in a story that's otherwise nicely focused and engaging.

My biggest complaint overall is that I wanted more coherency from Whispers of a Machine. The world, littered with robotic detritus and reliant on alternative energy sources, promises an unusual and interesting take on a civilization that didn't end so much as grind itself into a hole that humanity may still be digging. But it's all sizzle and no steak. Sometimes that can work—the outstanding Primordia leaps to mind as an example of a setting built entirely on questions that still manages to feel complete—but when major elements stand out as seriously odd, I feel like there should be at least some token nod toward justifying them.

Why, for instance, is Nordsund built atop a massive pedestal that elevates the whole damn town hundreds of feet into the air? The surface of the Earth beneath it is perfectly nice, the atmosphere is safe, there are no Morlocks running around; it just is, and that's not really satisfying.

Neither is the multipart ending. It's fun to be able to determine your own end-game fate, but the binary choice that wraps up Whispers of a Machine falls flat because you either do the obvious thing that you've been working toward throughout the game (and, presumably, your entire career as an Agent), or the completely out-of-character, out-of-nowhere opposite, with only the most threadbare rationalization for doing so. It feels forced and out of place—an RPG-style ending tacked on to a game that's not an RPG, for no clear reason.

Most of my complaints arise from what I see as unfulfilled potential. A little more depth and detail would go a long way toward making the world feel not just believable but real and lived-in. But taken for what it is—a brief, entertaining point-and-click investigative adventure—I liked Whispers of a Machine quite a lot. Even though it stumbles as a 'big idea' game, it comes off well as a self-contained detective story with a sci-fi twist.

Whispers of a Machine is a bit like a good Law & Order two-parter from season four: not too long (five or six hours) and not too deep, but comfortable, fun, and easy to digest. Keep your expectations squarely in the middle and you'll have a good time.

THE VERDICT
70

WHISPERS OF A MACHINE
Whispers of a Machine is like a good episode of your favorite police procedural: familiar and fun, no more and no less.

 

[MRY]

you definitely want to pay attention to the Codex.

Terrible advice.

 

[evdk]

you definitely want to pay attention to the Codex.

Terrible advice.

Not really. I'd like to know where several members were at all times just to be sure it was far away from me (and any weapons).

 

[fantadomat]

I just finished the game and it pretty good,it is shame that is that short tho. It took me around 3-4 hours doing most likely everything. Throughout the game it show that it was meant to be a bigger thing but we got what we got. The augments were pretty interesting,but sadly underused,the story was ok and the characters were likeable or tolerable depending on your personality. Liked that you had a dialogue option even if the three "paths" were a mess. There wasn't much of modern sjw shit,i would even go and say that it showed their views as the bad guys in a way. The whole game is about naturalism against transcendence trough technology. Anyway,it is a good evening game that you could finish in a siting.

 

[evdk]

I just finished the game and it pretty good,it is shame that is that short tho. It took me around 3-4 hours doing most likely everything. Throughout the game it show that it was meant to be a bigger thing but we got what we got. The augments were pretty interesting,but sadly underused,the story was ok and the characters were likeable or tolerable depending on your personality. Liked that you had a dialogue option even if the three "paths" were a mess.

The dialog options change what augment upgrades you get every day. The game probably was not meant to be much bigger, the various hot spots around town you can't really interact with are there for the different augs you do not have.

 

[V_K]

I just finished the game and it pretty good,it is shame that is that short tho. It took me around 3-4 hours doing most likely everything. Throughout the game it show that it was meant to be a bigger thing but we got what we got. The augments were pretty interesting,but sadly underused,the story was ok and the characters were likeable or tolerable depending on your personality. Liked that you had a dialogue option even if the three "paths" were a mess.

The dialog options change what augment upgrades you get every day. The game probably was not meant to be much bigger, the various hot spots around town you can't really interact with are there for the different augs you do not have.

Yep, and also your build changes the way you go around achieving your goals quite significantly, even though the augs themselves may be used sparingly. It's much more complex than "use aug A on spot X or aug B on spot Y", sometimes you bypass whole locations.

 

[Alpan]

This is an okay game, but strangely bland, like the creative impulse to bring it to fruition didn't actually exist -- it feels like someone checked off "futuristic dystopia murder mystery" off a list of adventure games to make.

 

[Boleskine]

 

[Dualnames]

I have actually played and bought the game day one, and here are my thoughts. Spoiler free.

I feel compelled to say that this is one of the most interesting premises both in rich gameplay as well as story that I've played. The amount of detail in the game is amazing, the quality of artwork, soundscapes, voice acting is pretty stellar. I would personally like a bit more variety in voices, but that's a nitpick. The game in general, completely blew my mind regarding the depth and process of how my choices affect the game, the main protagonist and my world around me. This has to be the most I've been impressed by a game that has this sort of mechanic, it doesn't flush it over your face, instead it makes you snicker and smile as you understand and feel/see the consequences. I paced myself through the game, there was no puzzle that I found annoying or silly or illogical. The more time I spent trying to figure out a puzzle, the more I encountered more 'clues' on how, basically self-introducing a difficulty barrier within the way the game is set up. If that makes sense ^The interface while initially seemingly overwhelming is complex to accomodate all your 'investigative' actions, something I find rarely seen in such a simple way, but without sacrificing depth. It's been a long time since that part of an adventure game hasn't felt rushed and minigamish, and instead here it's seamlessly integrated, it feels.

I have to say, I was hyped to hear this coming out, and it has truly taken my expectations and kept them higher than I would think. This is how cop/investigative games should be done, and what best genre than an adventure game for that?! It also offers replayability given the choices one can take, so I'm willing to go over that in the next few days exploring more branches of the game!

TL:DR Overall experience, story, graphics, gameplay, I'd give this a solid 9/10 Vera recommended!

 

[Erebus]

Just finished the game for the first time (path of Frigg). I'll certainly replay it at least once, just to see how the puzzles change when you're on different path.

It's the first adventure game I've played in a long while. It was enjoyable enough. Definitely a bit short (but it has replayability, something that's uncommon in adventure games).

The difficulty is definitely much lower than in the adventure games of the 90s, but not as ridiculously low as it seems to be in certain recent adventure games (I've read the LP of Unavowed and... wow). Some puzzles are very easy, but others require actual thinking and a few gave me genuine trouble.

Spoiler

It took me forever to realize that I needed to use my enhanced eyesight to read the piece of paper the boy was holding. And in the church, I got caught several times before I finally realized I needed to use the intermittent background noise as cover.

All in all, the game is still fairly easy.

The augmentations are a cool idea, though they're not quite as often useful as you might expect (which can be slightly frustrating sometimes).

The setting is nice and the themes (mainly artificial intelligence and transhumanism) are well used.

 

[Ringhausen]

In this game you carry around a photo of a woman that's covered in blood, but you can not clean it. You can show it to pretty much every character and they all reply that they can't quite tell who it is, due to the blood that's spattered on it. But you can't wash it away. Why? You just can't.

If I ever met the dev on the street I would sucker punch him in the gut as hard as I can. This is not okay.

Neofeud > this garbage.

 

[MRY]

"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand photo? No, this my hand photo will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red."