Who doesn’t love roleplaying as the leader of a nation or faction? Building your civilisation up from a single settlement, making complex decisions that will decide the future of your followers, and using superior tactics to strike down your adversaries on the field of battle. There’s a lot to find appealing about games that let us play out these fantasies, and the Songs of Silence offers a fantastic, albeit simpler, version of this experience.
Developed and published by Chimera Entertainment, a German Indie developer that has been releasing titles since 2006, Songs of Silence is a modern take on the RTS genre. Mixing in elements from auto-battlers, turn-based games, and a card system, it feels like a breath of fresh air that most will find enjoyable. Songs of Silence offers a wealth of content spread across a 15+ hour single player campaign and a skirmish mode that can be enjoyed both solo and multiplayer, co-op or free-for-all.
Setting
Set in a new fantasy world that is under siege by a malevolent force known as the Silence, you must use your best judgement to restore the land to its former glory and defeat rival kingdoms to ensure the prosperity of your own.
Songs of Silence’s campaign is split into two parts, each following the story of two different nations over five chapters. The world is a rich tapestry of kingdoms and factions all vying for control and struggling against the unstoppable spread of the Silence. The campaign also does a great job of introducing all gameplay elements to players at a steady pace. New players can get used to playing an RTS game with ease, and veterans can acclimate to the game’s more unique elements. I won’t give anything away, but I found the stories that unfolded during both campaigns entertaining and beautifully told.
The worldbuilding of the game is excellent, with impressive writing that works as a strong backbone to each campaign. Important figures in the story are voice acted, and to great effect! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to characters verbally spar or discuss tactics, never losing track of events or relationships. Song of Silence has the poetic gravitas that exemplifies epic high fantasy.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Songs of Silence has three focuses and playstyles: uncovering and traversing the world map, managing your armies and settlements, and facing down enemy forces in battle. All of this is done during your turn, and once you have finished (or run out of things to do) you end your turn. Other factions then have their turn, bringing it back round to you in a turn-based system that is fast and fluid.
All actions (except movement) are done using three types of cards. Strategy Cards let you strengthen your kingdom by constructing special buildings, bolster your defences, and increase resource incomes among others. Recruitment Cards let you recruit new units to defend your settlements or join your armies, and Strategy Cards influence the tide of battle with buffs, magical attacks, and reinforcements.
Starting with the widest viewpoint, you can survey the land and plan your next move from the world map. Here you can check on your settlements, move your armies, and explore the world. A fog of war will impede your vision where you do not have a presence, so it is imperative that you disperse it to uncover what it hides. You can also inspect the armies and settlements of other neutral or aggressive forces, but only if you can see them.
Your armies, which are each led by a Hero unit, have a set amount of movement each turn. Moving up to half their movement allows an army to remain undetected, and even hide from enemies in forests at the end of the turn. This offers some fun strategic play while on the world map, either giving you the option to sneak past your opponent’s forces, or catch them in an ambush when they stumbled across you.
Settlement and army management is the second form of gaemplay. With a more detailed, zoomed in view, here is where you choose what buildings to construct, units to recruit, as well as organise your forces.
Your heroes have cards they can use for magical abilities that are used for various actions. Some are used on the world map or management screens, like building a special structure at a settlement that produces a unique unit you can then recruit, or a spell that let’s your army see hidden enemies for several turns. Others can be used in battle, buffing your units or damaging your enemy’s troops. Battle Cards recharge as the battle plays out, while Recruitment and Strategy Cards can be used once per turn.
Only one Hero unit can lead each army, but you can transfer units between armies by moving them to meet each other, much the same way you manage your units while stationed in a settlement.
The final element of Songs of Silence’s gameplay is all about warfare! Attacking an opposing army or settlement will result in combat or a siege respectively, and the same can happen to you. Like other auto-battlers, you do not have control of your units as the battle unfolds; instead you can use your hero’s Battle Cards to help your forces or hinder your opponent’s. You have the option to speed up the battle as well as pause at anytime, while selecting Battle Cards will slow it down so they can be used with precision.
Anyone who is familiar with RTS games will understand the basic strategies to maximise your chances of winning. Position ranged and weaker units to the rear of the army, with stronger and faster units to the front. You can check individual unit stats for their strengths and use that information to together a suitable force to achieve victory. Your forces have a rear guard that is not part of the main army, used for holding reinforcements and caravans filled with your spoils of war.
The Art of War
While Songs of Silence is polished from start to finish, and not one facet of its design is flawed or unrealised, I worry that the gameplay maybe be too passive. I felt this about halfway through the campaign, when I began playing battles at top speed in order to get through them, occasionally pausing to use a Battle Card. It wasn’t because my victory was assured, but because there really wasn’t much else to do. This wouldn’t be a problem, and is to be expected from an auto-battler system, but I was now aware that this was the case throughout Songs of Silence’s gameplay.
There just isn’t enough depth to what you can do in the game. Only your heroes and settlements level up, upgrading or learning new abilities, and making more units available for recruitment and structures to be built, respectively. There is no diplomacy or trading, and resources are used to purchase units or buildings for a one time fee, so no tangible resource management. For some these changes will be welcome, but for others, especially fans of classic RTS games that enjoy the minutiae of managing everything, I think they will have an enjoyable but brief time with the game.
Some of this is no doubt remedied in the Skirmish mode, which let’s up to 6 players or AIs duke it out on the world stage. With various options to choose from, as well as over 100 maps, players will likely find more replayability here than in the campaign.
Sound and Visuals
I’ve already mentioned how good the voice acting is in Song’s of Silence, but the soundtrack, scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto (composer for Final Fantasy Tactics and Valkyria Chronicles), is impeccable. Soft woodwinds flutter playfully as you manage your kingdom and scan the map, with blaring trumpets signalling combat and thundering drums accompanying the battle. The music swells and diminishes according to the action on screen, a perfect accompaniment that enhances this fantastical world.
In my opinion, I have saved the best part of Songs of Silence to last; it’s art direction. Beautifully detailed, boldly coloured Art Nouveau style illustrations and accents set this game apart from all its RTS peers. Every story beat, character interaction or conflict in the campaign was another opportunity to admire their stunning artwork. I can’t think of a better art style to capture the mystical and epic nature of Songs of Silence’s world; it really is a perfect visual language for the game.
Conclusion
I had a fantastic time playing through the campaign of Song’s of Silence, and though it may not be one I will stick with, I can see why other gamers would. Its pared down management and combat systems make the game more approachable with a brisk pace, but veteran fans of the genre may find the lack of depth and control off-putting. A visually sumptuous blend of real-time strategy and auto battler, Songs of Silence is an excellent twist on the classic RTS formula.
Songs of Silence was reviewed on PC (Steam), and a review code was provided by the development team.
Songs of Silence is available on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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