Unheard - Voices of Crime
Genres: Puzzle, Horror, Mystery, Point & Click, Story Rich, Atmospheric
Release Date: 28-3-2019
Developer: NEXT Studios
Our verdict
8/10
- Difficulty: Easy
- Players: 1
- Playtime: 3–6 h
Unheard is an audio-only detective game. You test a device that replays every conversation at a past crime scene, then move between rooms on a top-down floor plan, follow whichever voices you like, and match names to speakers to work out who did what. It suits deduction fans who want a short, unusual case-solver and are happy to play with headphones on.
Most players love the concept. Reviewers compare the scrubbing through overlapping conversations to Tacoma, praise the sound design and visuals, and call it great value at its low price. Several say the base cases are simple, and that the free English DLC case adds the layered plotting the main game lacks.
The recurring complaints follow from the core idea: you spend a lot of time relistening to the same dialogue, the English voice acting and writing are weak, there are no subtitles, wrong answers carry no real penalty, and each level ends with a long unskippable recap. Most players finished in three to six hours. Buy it cheaply if the premise appeals; if you want hard deduction, Return of the Obra Dinn or the Golden Idol games go deeper.
Pros
- Solving crimes purely by eavesdropping on recorded conversations
- Free-roam timeline lets you follow any character's voice
- Free English DLC case adds a more layered mystery
Cons
- Lots of relistening to the same dialogue
- Weak English voice acting and no subtitles
- Base cases are easy and wrong guesses carry no penalty
About
Put on your headphones and step back into the past. Use the voices you hear to return to crime scenes, tracking down each individual involved and solving the cases. But where do the voices come from? Can you trust what you hear? And what's the mysterious thread weaving all of these cases together?A Unique Case-Solving Experience
Discover the truth hidden in the voices from the past.
Step through time as you use our device to eavesdrop on conversations from past crime scenes. Every clue, every move, and every motive will be presented in the form of audio. Rather than controlling any one character, you only need listen to their conversations, following along as the story evolves. Use the information you hear to match names to voices and determine how everything (and everyone) is related. Can you discover the truth?Open-Ended Narrative Mystery Game
Explore the story and piece together the puzzle in your own way!
Don't expect to be "fed" a pile of clues. Rather, take the role of a fly on the wall, observing and listening to the events as they unfold. Anyone could be the culprit; key clues may be revealed at any second; any character's storyline may cross paths with another at any point in time. YOU be the editor—the order of the story is up to you!
——————————————————————————
Tributes To:
Detective Fiction: In Unheard, all the clues in a case will be presented to players. There's no hidden information, nor rooms that require a key to enter. Players will be privy to the same information as everyone present at the crime scenes.
Immersive Theater: All characters in Unheard have their own storylines; however, each of these storylines will become interwoven in the same space, and at the same time, resulting in complicated cases that force you to meticulously search for and track clues. You can choose to follow one character or move around between multiple characters. You can also replay the audio as many times as you want until you reach a conclusion.
Radio Drama: Unheard is, in a way, an interactive radio drama. By combining aural narrative techniques with the type of exploration elements present in video games, Unheard offers a brand-new, non-linear radio drama experience.
Special Thanks:
Special thanks to our voice actors and directors in both China and the U.S. Thank you for your continued hard work and support.
