THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games have given me the opportunity to try out their new post-apocalyptic RPG, Fade to Silence, a game that takes you to what remains of our world after an unknown otherworldly cataclysm caused it to become a broken frozen wasteland. Does the game deliver salvation or will it leave you in the cold? Let’s find out!
You take on the role of Ash, a man struggling to survive with his daughter in what’s left of our world. Ash is the leader of a refuge that serves as the home base for what’s left of his family and other survivors you may come across in the world. Ash is plagued by the voice of a wraith-like entity known simply as the inner voice that taunts him at every turn and appears from time to time.
The main focus of the game is to go out in the world and gather supplies in order to survive. The world itself is dangerous because of the bitter cold that can threaten to freeze you to death, starvation, and strange creatures that were formed by the glowing red “corruption” that pulsates in the world.
One of the biggest threats in the world is blizzards and when these storms appear, not only is it hard for your character to see, it lowers your body temperature fast. It’s always good to know where shelter is where you can build a fire to stay warm.
There’s a crafting mechanic where you can upgrade your outfit to help keep you warmer, also you can make tools and weapons along with other survival essentials. In the world, you can encounter survivors, each with a specific skill that could help rebuild your refuge but you need to choose wisely as they will need resources to survive as well, more people means you need more food. If you decide to take on a survivor, you can invite a friend to take control of them in a co-op mode where they can help gather supplies.
Now I should note, the game is buggy, I was told this before I played it by the devs themselves. They are aware of the issues and are working to fix (or already have fixed) them. With that, yeah I agree there are bugs. The game crashed on me a couple of times; some of the animations in the cut scenes are choppy, I’ve had survivors vanish for no reason, and myself and other NPCs have got stuck in walls. These may be fixed after the game’s launch so I can’t really fault the game for that.
when you place a waypoint, it appears as a green beacon
I do like the environment the game takes place in. The lighting helps set the mood at times and the animation of the snow when you walk/roll through it is awesome, and that fact that the blizzard re-covers things in the snow is great attention to detail by the devs, so from an artistic standpoint, I do appreciate that. At first, I was not sure about the controls and mechanics my first playthrough but when I played it again it ended up not being as overwhelming as I felt it was at first.
Fade to Silence is something worth looking into if you’re a fan of RPGs that take place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The story is intriguing especially since there’s no real explanation as to what happened but slowly you learn by exploring. If you’re willing to overlook some technical issues, involved mechanics, and the thought of freezing to death, this game is worth playing. On my scale of 5 stars, it’s a 3.5. The game is out now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Window.
