A Haunting Tale

Whispering Willows is an older horror adventure game from Night Light Interactive and Akupara Games released on the Nintendo Switch on September 27th, 2018.

I've seen this game go on and off sale on the Switch for a while now and I finally decided to pick it up and give it a try, and I'm very glad that I did! This short, 2D horror adventure grabbed me from the very start with its unique visuals and atmosphere, and kept me engaged as I explored the grounds of the Willows mansion and introducing me to interesting characters and weaving a dark tale of man gone mad.

You are Elena, daughter of the current groundskeeper at the Willow estate, and descendant of a tribe of Native American shamans. Trying to figure out what happened to your father, you journey to the estate and start uncovering the morbid history of the family.

The gameplay revolves around Elena's ability to separate her spirit from her body. In her spirit state she is able to fly around, access tiny crevices to other rooms, and interact with the spirits of the deceased inhabitants of the estate. There are also objects that she can possess which will allow the player to create new paths, open doors, or retrieve items. Her spirit form is also the only way to see a few of the game's enemies. These segments usually require the player to wait for an enemy to crawl into a hole or go far enough away so that they can pass into the next area. Each enemy is a one hit kill, but the checkpoint reloads are very generous and there is no real penalty for dying.

The story is told mainly though note and journal entries found around the estate. These collectables do a good job to explain the various histories of the spirits and their motivations. As a whole this works well, but I never really found that I formed any emotional attachments to any character besides Elena. Although her purpose is straightforward, and much of her past is left to the imagination, her various interactions to objects in the world give her a loveable personality. I wasn't a big fan of the villain, which just seemed too one dimensional for me, but the game does a good job of wrapping everything up at the end.

Graphically I adore this game. Everything, even the dilapidated buildings and interiors, has a crisp hand-drawn visual and the color palate sets up a cold, desolate atmosphere which works very well. Animations are smooth, and many of the spirit's models can be downright disturbing. The only qualm I have is the visual choice of the "spider" enemies. They just seemed out of place.

The music score is haunting and well executed, but nothing stuck with me personally. The ambient sounds of the estate also helped elevate the atmosphere. Later in the game a storm passes over the estate and I really enjoyed the audio of the rain and thunder.

The only glaring issue I found with the game is how the player interacts with stairs. Not only did they feel rather clunky when trying to initiate climbing/descending, a prompt on how to use the stairs would always display. I felt this broke the immersion quite a bit and would have liked to see this removed after the first area of the game.

Whispering Willows is a gem that I am very glad I found on the Nintendo Switch. I definitely recommend this game for anyone who enjoys a good horror/adventure. (It is light on the horror though.) It won't take you long to finish, I clocked about 2 1/2 hours on my playthrough, so it is very easy to digest. All in all, this is a very enjoyable experience!