Are you someone who enjoys indie games with an adventure aspect as well as a deep story that hits you right in the heart? To those who have said yes, then here’s an interesting game for you. The Thin Silence follows a man named Erza as players guide him through a torrent of puzzles and dark emotions. Each step taken will divulge a little bit more about Ezra’s secretive past and why the world he lives in currently seems almost lifeless. The Thin Silence is aimed at telling a story for players that invest themselves into this melancholy world. Those who think this sounds appealing will want to continue reading what else we have to say about The Thin Silence.

The Thin Silence is an indie adventure title where you must solve puzzles and explore the world around its main protagonist. Find various clues to help understand Ezra’s world and guide him through this destitute landscape. Solve various puzzles using items that you can craft into a multitude of tools that will help navigate and pass through treacherous areas. Prepare yourselves though as Ezra’s tale isn’t one for those of weak constitutions. The Thin Silence isn’t for anyone suicidal and/or suffering from depression as the game makes painfully aware from the minute you boot it up. If you can handle a dark tale filled with a hope that exists at the end of the tunnel, then you’re going to want to enter the world of The Thin Silence.

In The Thin Silence you control Ezra Westmark a man who has been through what can only be seen as hell. Enter Ezra’s journey as he faces off against his inner demons as he strives to recall his past. What happened to cast Ezra so far into the depths of despair? Can Ezra escape the solicitude of his heart or will his depression and failings bring his soul to a crashing stop? Only you can find out as you struggle to move forward in The Thin Silence.

When The Thin Silence—a game made by developers TwoPM Studios—started up, we read the warning message that appeared. This message essentially warns the player that The Thin Silence isn’t for those who are suffering suicidal or prone to mental depression. That alone made us very curious as to why The Thin Silence warns players of this so early on. After our nearly 5-hour trek, we finished The Thin Silence and understand why the early warning was important. The Thin Silence is a game that explores a reality that while fictional, is pretty sure to be relatable to many gamers out there. However, that doesn’t explain how The Thin Silence handles its actual gameplay and even a game with a strong story needs that to match with good gameplay. That’s why we here at Honey’s Anime wish to talk about our experiences with this dark but emotionally impactful game in our review of The Thin Silence for the PC.

The Thin Silence is a pretty simple game to explain. Players guide Ezra across various landscapes. Along the way there will be story elements seen from Erza’s past as well as numerous trials and tribulations to go through in the form of puzzles to solve. The Thin Silence does the story elements perfectly well with an ending that truly made us almost tear up and look towards our own personal battles in life. However, the gameplay for The Thin Silence does have some good points and some equally weak points. Let us first talk about what makes The Thin Silence so good and save the bad for last.

First let’s discuss the visuals and music for The Thin Silence. While The Thin Silence goes for a very simple art design, we didn’t think it was weak in the slightest. The environments for The Thin Silence pop with strong definitions and setting pieces that carry the story well. Likewise, The Thin Silence has an excellent soundtrack that keeps every dark moment and intense sequence stronger with fitting ambiance and musical tracks. The Thin Silence might not win best graphics for 2018 but likewise, it’s a charming design that works well to not distract from the exploration and story.

Speaking about that, the exploration and puzzle solving for The Thin Silence is incredible for the most part. The Thin Silence is a 2D exploration title where players move either left or right to get from one end of the screen to the other. Along the way, you’ll encounter lifts that need to be recharged or strange blocks in the road. Players can’t do much with Ezra as he’s almost incapable of jumping a centimeter high and can’t interact with most things without a tool in his hand. Here is where The Thin Silence gets interesting; across the game’s world are numerous items like boots, hooks, ropes and other random items. These items can be combined together via a simple three-point item wheel that can even allow already combined items to be combined with even more things. These tools will then be used to either grab far off platforms or climb ledges. When you get further into The Thin Silence there will be more puzzles to solve—even some rather simple computer puzzles that are fun but tedious—where you will need to figure out what set of tools will help you proceed the best.

What also helps The Thin Silence is that for the majority of the game, puzzles stay fresh and exciting. Often, we here at Honey’s Anime HQ had to stop and think what our next move would be. There is a reset button that will allow players who might have made a mistake with moving a boulder in the wrong area or such that makes messing up not feel too painful. The worst part will be when you have to reset in the later areas of The Thin Silence as some of these places can be huge areas to re-trek through. That though leads to several issues we came across while playing The Thin Silence. The late game puzzles and the fact that The Thin Silence lacks a run button.

We understand that The Thin Silence wants players to breathe in Erza’s world. The idea is that you experience both his moments of weakness and his rare moments of strength fully which would be lost if you just ran through each area. However, The Thin Silence is a bit overly slow as everything from lifts to climbing takes a considerable amount of time to accomplish. Add to this the fact that later puzzles—which become repetitive and tedious—often have you moving around in a room for several minutes and you’ll see that The Thin Silence should have had at least made movement slightly faster for Ezra and the puzzles around him.

The Thin Silence is a dark story that truly enters your heart from beginning to end and never let’s go. If you invest yourself into this 4-5-hour experience, then The Thin Silence will have a story you might relate to. The Thin Silence equally will keep your mind working as you solve numerous puzzles that range from easy to a bit difficult. Our major issue with The Thin Silence is that while playing, it can feel a bit slow due to the inability to run and the occasional repetitive puzzles you will find sewn throughout. Overall though, The Thin Silence for those of a strong spirit has a powerful message to send and it does so within a solid indie title. If you like slow and emotional indie adventure games then we fully recommend checking out The Thin Silence.

It’s not often that a game like The Thin Silence comes along with such a powerful ending message and a fun adventure. While The Thin Silence might suffer from an overly slow pacing and somewhat annoying late game puzzles, out experience while playing was one of wonder and awe. Honestly, we at one point couldn’t put down The Thin Silence and that in our minds means for an experience that is more enjoyable than most titles. Are you going to download The Thin Silence when it releases or are you thinking it might not be for you? Let us know in the comments below as we always love hearing the opinions of our beautiful readers. Remember to keep stuck to our hive for even more game reviews and articles here at Honey’s Anime!