The so-called walking simulators have always had alternate fortunes and are actually transposed by the public as games with strong gameplay limitations. It is true of an incontrovertible fact, but it must be considered part of a basic concept aimed at focusing on the strength of a solid and effective story, drying the bone (almost always) the distinctive elements of interaction that have allowed ‘evolution of the medium.
Empathy: The Path of Whispers is not mystery to inspire the first such projects, with an approach to storytelling and an atmosphere building not too far away from titles such as Dear Easter and Gone Home , while still anchored to a too old game concept , who suffers from immobility.
The whisper path
Like many other games of the genre, Empathy: Path of Whispers begins vaguely, giving little clues to what is happening. The purpose is clearly to find out as history unfolds in front of your eyes, but the rhythms with which this is happening are plain, unsuitable for a firm involvement, and unite – at times – with a very unusual writing and little flashing, ultimately creating a sort of detachment between the player and the collective tale of which Empathyyou dare. There are no reasons for interest, and there are indeed good ideas, but the plot of the game just floats between the fascinating and the boring throughout the arc of the adventure, which does not exceed four hours (unless that you do not stay locked up: in that case the game could last much more). The reason is mainly related to the choice to delegate the story to the words of the spirits of the inhabitants of a fallen city, decadent and suspended in a sort of limbo, as well as the objects that belonged to them.
The Empathy plot : Path of Whispersit runs through the choral story of the evanescent memories, from which emerges a stainless fundamental truth: weaknesses and imperfections are part of our nature and define our humanity, which is why the will to correct our défaillance through the intervention of Futuristic machines are destined for bankruptcy. Though you notice the intention to build a story that is first and foremost a criticism of technocratic eugenics and the impossibility of living under the dogmas of communism because of our congenital avarice and will to overwhelm, Empathy falls into the usual traps that the walking simulator can hardly ever avoid it.
The Empathy plot : Path of Whispersit runs through the choral story of the evanescent memories, from which emerges a stainless fundamental truth: weaknesses and imperfections are part of our nature and define our humanity, which is why the will to correct our défaillance through the intervention of Futuristic machines are destined for bankruptcy. Though you notice the intention to build a story that is first and foremost a criticism of technocratic eugenics and the impossibility of living under the dogmas of communism because of our congenital avarice and will to overwhelm, Empathy falls into the usual traps that the walking simulator can hardly ever avoid it.
In some ways, some mechanics come close to those seen in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture , yet it is noticed that developers have sewn on the history of dynamic gameplay elements that not only can not convince but fall victim to some ugly choices of design.
Remembers of the world it was
Empathy: The Path of Whispers will immerse you in a dreamlike world of elements that may appear not immediately interconnected, but that, if viewed through a wide-angle view, well photographed a company that flourished under good auspices and is now only pale and sad remembrance of a dead world under the pressure of unreachable ideals.
You will find it primarily thanks to a kind of tester you will get in the initial strokes, with which you will have to align sinusoids that allow you to combine two planes of existence apart from each other. By doing so, impalpable objects will become real, solid, “alive”. They will be linked to the memories and perspectives of local men and women who will provide you with valuable details to rebuild the puzzle.
About puzzles, those in Empathy: Path of Whispers did not hit us. Apart from being simple, too intuitive, and to a large extent trivial, it should be said that they look like forcing that interrupt the pace of play and nothing adds to the overall experience.
However, their arbitrariness creates a nuisance, which must be added to the guilty lack of suggestions or clues that make it clear what is the underlying logic behind situations that only make time and leave you wandering around in the surroundings like souls in pain.
Just to give you some examples, you may find that you have to find a certain object to be inserted into some machinery so that you can activate the lever of a hoist, but there is no way to know where this object lies unless you thoroughly which you find (or even the previous one). However, you will have to do this very often, otherwise you will not be able to unlock the next monologue line and the game will not go ahead.
