App Army Assemble: The Whispering Valley - "Is this gothic point-and-click adventure worth your time?"

The Whispering Valley is a recently released spooky point-and-click adventure that sees you investigating a seemingly abandoned village in 1896. There's a hidden secret to uncover, and it falls on you to do so. That's all a tad too scary for me, so I handed the game over to our App Army community. They're infinitely braver.

Here's what they said:

Jojó Reis

The Whispering Valley is a point-and-click style exploration and puzzle game. My first attempt at playing it on the iPad wasn't very good. The game runs at an unstable and low fps. The graphics aren't that good, and since it's a game with little interaction, it should be much lighter. However, the game has its strong points.

If you like solving problems and investigating cases, then this game will be good for you. What caught my attention is that I love solving puzzles, and since it's all about clicking on the screen, it's super easy to control on a touch screen. The sound is also very interesting. If you like these types of games, then you'll really like it. It has its weak points, but they end up being forgotten by its engaging plot.

Oksana Ryan

There are certain expectations when you start to play this genre - the mix of puzzles, good storytelling and great graphics are a must. This game, to me, just fell short of being a great experience. I found the atmospheric feeling in keeping with the narrative, but there seemed to be a lot of aimlessly roaming around, looking for clues and keys and I found the backdrops were quite basic.

The actors spoke in French but I had English subtitles, so I turned the sound off. I found the controls very sensitive and I had to go quite slowly or I found my visuals going in any direction but where I wanted to be. However, once I was used to it and I started following the first clues I began to enjoy myself. A decent enough game for the price.

Robert Maines

The Whispering Valley is an atmospheric point-and-click adventure. You play as a priest investigating a cursed village. Although you can look around each location you ‘jump’ between locations by clicking on a hand pointing in the right direction. You must solve problems using objects found in the game to progress.

Although it uses the Unity Engine this feels like it’s been converted from systems much less powerful than current iOS devices. The jump mechanic to get between locations feels clunky and graphically it looks like something from the early games on the first PlayStation. Sound is sparse but effective at ramping up the atmosphere. Not a game I would return to.

Jason Rosner

The Whispering Valley is a new folk horror-style point-and-click game. I was immediately drawn into The Whispering Valley (WV) world thanks to the fantastic atmosphere created by its use of really well-done retro-styled graphics that have classic Resident Evil vibes.

This is the perfect time of year with the spooky season wrapping up for such an adventure, and for fans of the genre, WV did not disappoint. While the pacing can be slow at times, the point-and-click nature of it all lends itself well, along with some eerily great sound effects to set up a tension of never quite knowing what evils lie at wake. The narrative takes place in a rather abandoned village in Quebec back in 1896. Something just never feels quite right, and it’s up to you to figure out just what secret is hiding with the few remaining inhabitants of Sainte-Monique-Des-Monts.

Searching for clues and figuring out the puzzles along the way, however, does require some real patience. I’m a big fan of the voice acting here, and I appreciate these types of extra details that really show the love that was put into this work. In addition to The Whispering Valley, there’s also a prelude available called The Whisperer for those who’d like to get a taste before purchase.

Jim Linford

As others said it’s a gothic point-and-click style game. I like the 3D world. The atmosphere reminds me of Resident Evil 4 with the run-down villages. The controls don’t take too long to get into. I guess it’s a bit like the old point-and-click games from before the millennium or at least the early 2000s since you are restricted as to where you can go. I’m not the best with point and clicks so I haven’t got much I can compare it to. Looking forward to playing more of it.

Brian Wigington

I was intrigued by the gloomy atmosphere of the trailer for this game. I am not a huge point-and-click adventure gamer but I do enjoy the genre from time to time. Right away I felt that the graphics were a bit bland in areas where you are navigating and looking for clues but the in-engine "cut scenes" looked quite nice with a slightly nostalgic feel. The sound was decent with creaking floorboards, atmospheric noises, and sounds that went well with the actions performed like opening a letter or trying to open a locked door.

The voice acting was good and I feel like the French dialogue almost made the game more interesting with its setting being in an unfamiliar (to me) country. The interface felt a bit imprecise to me at first as I thought I would be able to interact a little more with some of the items that looked useful like a candle or furniture with drawers. I did appreciate that you could sort of pat a dog when meeting him near the beginning.

Overall, I feel like this is a very competent game that is a bit slow. There is less freedom of movement than I thought there would be after watching clips of the game. I am ok with this since it is an adventure game, but it was a little disappointing at first. Having said that, I mostly recommend The Whispering Valley to gamers who are more into adventure games with lots of puzzles and hunting for clues and items and a smattering of dialogue now and again to move the story along.

Mark Abukoff

A very atmospheric and very Gothic slow-moving point-and-click adventure. The dark backgrounds and spooky, mostly deserted French village in the middle of nowhere really draw you in. The fact that you even have to find a candle and matches. And somehow the silent main character adds to that. The graphics are nicely gloomy, and the fact that you’re only able to click in certain directions and at certain points in order to move makes it feel restrictive, which first off saves you from a bit of wandering trying to find whatever it is you’re looking for, but also for me, lends a slight air of claustrophobia to it. 

I did have difficulty, however, finding all of the clues that I needed to find and ended up having to search for YouTube videos to help, which adds to the challenge, of course, but at the same time, it makes me feel like I’m having to do a bit of work to enjoy the play. Overall, I think this is a winning experience, and fans of the genre should enjoy it quite a bit.

Naail Zahid

Gothic-styled click adventure which is sorely lacking in interesting things to do. While the atmosphere is cool, and the graphics feel retro, the narrative and progression of the story are very snail-paced. I spent a good few hours with it until I eventually got bored. You have to be a really big fan of classic point-and-click adventures to want to stick with this one until the end. Sad, because the atmosphere was pretty good.

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