The Thin Silence is a dark journey inside the mind of Ezra Westmark. Exploring self doubt and other issues with puzzles and extensive narrative.
Two lads from Brisbane, Australia meet together to become twoPM Studios. A gentle roster of pixelated side-scrollers under their belt, they give us their biggest project yet: The Thin Silence. As their official website states, "We're two guys...making things around two pm every weekend." the hobbyist nature of their little studio becomes more impressive when you start to take a look at The Thin Silence.
In The Thin Silence, you're dropped into the unfortunate situation of playing Ezra Westmark. A prisoner in your own mind, the game is about exploring self doubt, depression and other humanly struggles that many suffer from and overcoming them. At £7.19, you'll get about five hours of gameplay out of this title. It's quite a reasonable draw for the amount of work put in and how gorgeous it can really shine at times.
I can't say this game is for everyone based solely on it's subject matter. It holds a lot of pain for many and can be quite a sensitive avenue to travel down for others. That being said, there's a flip side as well: perhaps it will give some people hope and help them through their own struggles. The Thin Silence holds up no illusions on it being a tool for self reflection, and for people looking at buying and playing their games based on more cheerful entertainment--this is not for them.
The puzzles are meant to be a bit difficult, sometimes frustrating. You can restart and play them over and over again with a big theme being perseverance. The puzzles themselves are quite smart on the whole--working your way through stages you'll have to be clever. It's not an adventure game and you won't find your character swinging from the rafters or picking up an arsenal of weapons. The Thin Silence revolves around it's raw narrative, unfortunately sometimes missing the mark. However, there is a bit of respect for a game that does not apologise for this and pushes forward.
The Thin Silence won't be an easy game for many and the developers know this. It'll be a game that people avoid solely based upon subject matter. But for the brave souls that dive deep into Ezra Westmark's mind--it can be a rewarding experience. The gameplay is easy enough to learn, the pixelated graphics are a charming edition and the puzzles are well done on the whole. I'm stressing here that it might be worth researching what the game is about before purchasing. If it's your speed in terms of plot, then I can assure you that you won't be disappointed.