Monstrous beauty
It is safe to say that this is one of the most beautiful strategy games ever made. The style of Songs of Silence is reminiscent of the bright, sunny style of Alfons Maria Mucha, a Czech artist and one of the most famous representatives of Art Nouveau (here are some examples of his work), and to the work of Hieronymus Bosch, thanks to whom people in the Middle Ages learned what hell looked like.
The game looks gorgeous both on the global map and in battles, and you can admire the local art, which shows all kinds of monsters on the loading screens and beyond, endlessly, forgetting that the loading should actually be faster. Yes, the optimisation here is not perfect, but compared to some other games, it’s nothing critical.
Such visual brightness is largely explained by the unusual setting. Songs of Silence takes place in a world of Light and Darkness, as well as in locations where there is neither — they are covered by Silence, a local curse that destroys everything and turns it into Void. It sounds like a student fanfic, and there are traces of graphomania, but the world here is interesting and well-developed.
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The main characters are three factions of people who don’t really look like people. There are blind firstborns who live in the world of Darkness and worship the Hymn (a metaphysical divine melody that gave birth to the world).
There are starborns, whom the gods gave sight — they inhabit the world of Light. And there are cultists, schismatics who worship Silence and Emptiness. Some of them actively use huge constructs, others rely on distorted monsters, and Silence itself gives birth to ugly creatures — that’s why there are so many Bosch-like monsters here.
The story campaign tells how the star-born Queen Erenhard tried to save her people and find a new home for them after Silence engulfed her country. She sought help from other states, travelled through lands engulfed by the Void, fought the Firstborn, and then formed an alliance with one of their leaders, who was saving his people from the schismatics.
There are many events and locations. We visit the world of Light and Darkness and can play as heroes from different factions. But in any case, we are always in tension — constantly running away from someone or defending ourselves from enemies attacking from all sides (often this must be done in a limited number of moves).
‘Heroes’ with an auto-battler
On the global map, the strategy, with some reservations, is similar to ‘Civilisation’ and, in general, to classic 4X strategies — on your turn, you move heroes with their armies, capture new cities, settlements and mines, and recruit troops. But here there are fewer points of interest and all those stashes of resources, gold, and experience.
Plus, there are elements of Total War — the fog of war, different types of terrain, and the ability to hide in the woods to avoid being ambushed or to ambush others yourself. Large enemy cities must be besieged for several turns, depending on your arsenal of siege weapons. After capture, riots begin and the settlement can be ruined and burned. However, you will then have to rebuild it yourself in order to start making a profit. Therefore, it may be easier to wait until the unrest subsides on its own.
Nevertheless, overall, this is a simple strategy game that lacks the depth of the classics — settlements can only use a couple of upgrades that work universally and according to the same pattern: they improve the garrison, unlock new types of troops for hire, and increase the flow of gold or a couple of other resources. There is no diplomacy, espionage, religion, or branching technology tree, and you don’t have to worry about the needs of the population (at most, you need to suppress or settle riots after capturing cities).