By Emily

Game description: 

"Legend says that one day, a traveler will reunite the Peoples of the Tower who are unable to communicate with each other. Observe, listen, and decipher ancient languages in a fascinating universe inspired by the myth of Babel." 

If you are a language nerd like me, then this game is perfect for you. 

Chants of Sennaar is an adventure puzzle game made by French-based independent studio Rundisc. It takes inspiration from the Tower of Babel, an origin myth related to the diversity of languages. 

You play as an unnamed protagonist exploring a Tower divided in 5 levels, each level is inhabited by a different group of peoples with their own language and culture. Your goal is to encounter each group, decipher their languages, and unravel the mystery at the top of the Tower. 

With your notebook, you write down discovered graphemes and deduce the meaning of words from interactions with the Peoples, illustrated signs, and contextual clues. The fictional languages in the game are represented by logographic writing systems, meaning each written character has a meaning that could be lexical (a word) or grammatical (marker of plural for example). 

The game is sprinkled with puzzles and also includes stealth mechanics. You may think this is a very chill game, and for the most part it is. But it can get very intense at some points! 

When you have mastered the different languages, you help the Peoples of the Tower communicate with each other and foster links by translating. (I found this part super fun because not only do you learn to understand the languages, but you get to practice them too!)  

The visuals of the game is absolutely stunning. Every level has its own aesthetic, color palette, and architecture style which reflect the way of life and attitudes of the different peoples. It is an immense pleasure exploring these fasinating mini-worlds within the Tower . 

I had an incredible experience playing this. The puzzles, graphics, music were all fantastic and the ending was absolutely perfect. The pacing is good and challenge increase too. In my opinion, this game will be considered as a must-play classic in its genre in the future. 

The game is available to play on PC, PS4, Xbox, Switch. You can play the demo for free. 

The game also has an amazing soundtrack that gives you goosebumps, as you can hear in this short trailer.

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