We love a bit of culture here at MHG, so with this week’s indie round up, we’ve got something with a French sounding name and a game all about fine art! So if you would all kindly take your seats, the show will begin!
Chronique des Silencieux
DEVELOPER: Pierre Feuille Studio
PUBLISHER: Pierre Feuille Studio
Format: Steam
Price: £20.99
Steam Deck: Unknown (Needed to set custom controls)
I am a sucker for a good detective game and I’ll come straight out with the hard facts. Chronique des Silencieux is a bloody good detective game!
Taking on the role of a rookie Private Eye, you are given the task of delving into the secrets of Victor Dousvalon, but events happen and intrigue is the order of the day. In what is a riveting story that grips from the moment it gets going. There are plenty of twists that keep your brain ticking!
What I really liked about Chronique des Silencieux is that the detective work feels as free as I’ve experienced in a game. There aren’t lots of things sign posted and the game actively encourages you to use your own powers of deduction.
There is a wonderful mix of piecing together hard evidence and connecting the various threads with testimony, which is all great. But where I think this really stands out, is you are free to decide where and when you have had enough of any particular person, as long as you are content with what you have.
Everyone has their own distinct personalities, which means the way you approach characters really does feel unique to each one. Which means that you have to really work out the best approach to get the information you need.
Whilst Chronique des Silencieux isn’t an overly long game, it has some great pacing and some fantastic characters that make it a joy to be part of for the time you spend with it. The only real issue is that despite working on Steam Deck, the UI and the controls are not built with it in mind, so you are better off on a desktop. Which is a shame because it is a game I would rather play curled up on the sofa.
Overall though, a fantastic surprise that came a little out of nowhere.
Please, Touch The Artwork 2
DEVELOPER: Thomas Waterzooi
PUBLISHER: Thomas Waterzooi
Format: Steam
Price: Free
Steam Deck: Unknown (Works straight out of the box)
What a fantastic game this is. A sequel to the outstanding 2020 release of the same name. Somehow a free title that has no F2P crap baked in and is just a wonderful experience. Despite the first game costing a little over £7.
I feel bad for this being a free game, because quality wise it is better than many paid for AAA releases. Why? Well because it knows what it is and doesn’t deviate from that, just celebrating its own existence.
Essentially Please, Touch The Artwork 2 is a hidden-object game and the second one we’ve covered this year (Hidden Through Time 2). You guide a skeleton artist through a series of artworks finding the hidden objects needed to complete requests given by subjects of each painting. It is at its core as simple as that.
Yet it adds some nice little extras, such as puzzles to complete, such as playing a piano version of Simon Says, but also having to fix damaged artworks in a ‘make the shape without lifting the pen’ type thing. Nothing overly taxing and more of a nice way to give your eyes a break from looking for hidden objects.
What I love though, is that whilst the object can be difficult to find due to them blending seamlessly into the art (which is really lovely to look at by the way), there is a hint system that can be used that never punishes you. Simply press the lightbulb icon and the game will highlight where one of the hidden objects is on the canvas, This can be used as little or as often as you like!
Accessibility for the win! Because I was enamoured by the journey I was one, but due to my vision issues, I struggled a lot with many of the objects hidden in the paintings, just because the blend in so well. But having an option to essentially skip the ones that frustrate so wonderfully inclusive and should be encouraged.
As I said above, Please, Touch The Artwork 2 is free, but it is easily worthy a few quid. So I suggest you don’t even think about playing, just get it and touch all the arts!
