This is a hard game to recommend. Truth be told, it has a fair share of drawbacks. Even with that in mind, this game possesses amazing naration, a deep, innovative combat/RPG system and a powerful story. It touches some very dark themes, and does so with finesse. The psychological allusions fused with the norse mythology work together to build an unforgetable and deeply affecting experience. My advice - play the demo, and if you are not turned off, go for it.

A great and mature story combined with an absolutely interesting turn-based combat system make for a great formula of a game.
The drawback? The game has its share of slow moments, especially in the Prologue, and mainly in the engine (Adobe AIR) and the quite large share of issues you'll likely have with it.

But overall, issues aside, it's really fun, and there might also be a Season 2 coming. Be sure to let the developer know in this discussion that we want a proper engine this time around!

The gameplay seems pretty decent (and the battle mechanics particularly interesting), but after thirty minutes or so I've had to set this game aside (at least for the moment) because I simply can't take any more of the purple prose, especially given how often it descends into complete doggerel in what is presumably an attempt to sound "poetic." This isn't even remotely funny-bad, as Bulwer-Lytton contest entries, but simply painful-bad, the hail-like slew of obstreperous adjectives hurtling down in contradictory fashion, each a shard of ice with its own unique, cutting edges inflicting a slightly different shape of wound on my suffering literary sensibility, to combine to envelop me in a veil of unseeing mist, muffling prosaic taste with a bitter aftertaste of a poison blade. (On the other hand, if that sentence doesn't bother you, go right ahead and dive in to the game.)

This is a game worth at least trying out, as it shows you an entirely different way of thinking of the whole notion of the RPG as more of a physics puzzle game based upon a skill tree than any standard dungeon grind.Many people criticise this game for its slowness and they certainly have a point, and most of it seems to be flaws with Adobe AIR, the game's poorly-chosen engine.However, part of the slowness is also deliberate. It's a deeply psychological game, built around a core of the sense of loneliness and isolation, even from those who should be friends or even family.Winter Voices is also buggy especially because of Adobe AIR and some levels can seriously take minutes to even start the mission just because the engine is so inefficient, it can't even load the map. The game has an unforgiving side, as well. Skills bought on the skill tree are permanent, and the game likes to spring surprises on you where suddenly, some skills are disabled, and a build that was powerful before suddenly fails.The strong points of this game are story and gameplay. The story is amazing. The protagonist is one of the most relatable characters in recent memory and the dialogue is very well written.The gameplay is very original, I can honestly say I've never played an RPG quite like this. Pretty much every aspect, from the battles to the stats and abilities are a means to drive the story forward. This is definitely not a game for everyone. However I would strongly suggest it to RPG fans and people looking for something new and unique. Overall 8/10.

What to say?

"Your Mileage May Vary" seems appropriate.

I got this game in a bundle, they put the episodes beyond what was in the bundle on special. I thought I should buy the episodes, but decided to try the prologue before investing any cash into the episodes.

I'm thankful I did. The game and story seem very interesting. The world that the developers created IS great looking, and I do want to see more of it, but I've given up having any fun playing this game.

The game kinda makes me feel like it's ME who's being tortured in "playing" the game rather then the main character. Most of my complaints seem to echo others who would not recommend this game (and even some that do). Moving around is too slow, the puzzles/combat seems to vary from easy to "this is making me hate my life", I also seem to think that perhaps the learning curve is at least a little bit steep, I don't seem to understand effectively what attracts/detracts/masks you from the enemy memories (something I didn't realize was happening until I got tired of the game) or how that fits into the universe (how does one hide behind a rock from a bad memory?).

Another thing that also puts me way off with this game is the lack of ability to do any kind of actual fighting. I'm all for the game not being violent, but I finally stopped playing when I felt hopeless that all I can do is push these "memories" around, and reduce their damage, while they slowly hunt me down, pushing me, reducing my movement, surrounding me, and finally killing me. If I could lock some of the enemies down by trapping them somehow, or maybe push them so far they stop being a threat. I do wonder if some of those things are options that I just don't understand.

I feel like I've given the developers a few hours of my life, and despite their valiant attempts, all they accomplished is having tortured me.

Having said all that, it might just be something I'm missing, or just not my cup of tea. The developers do seem to be competent, and able, to create something that could be intresting AND fun, they've just created something I hate.

A very poetic, melancholic and narration-driven turn-based strategy-RPG with some beautiful art. I wish my character would move a bit faster, the combat works with it but exploring areas outside of it takes a pretty long time because she can't run but walk slowly only. Probably part of the design idea of being a melancholic, semi-dark game, but I am sure this will drive off numerous less patient players.

The combat is very interesting. The area you are in is turned into a grid-based field you can walk turn by turn. You try to achieve certain goals like reaching some point on that grid, survive for X turns or protect allies. That alone isn't all-too-new - the unique thing about it is that it is strictly defensive from what I've seen. All your skills are focused around averting, immobilizing or pushing around enemies, sustaining combat, spawning "minions" to protect you, regenerating energy and whatnot. You can change between two sets of skill descriptions in the options menu, one set tells you what the skills do in a narration-fitting way, the other gives you more concrete numbers for those who care. Every combat scenario and goal is merged well with the narration. Sometimes you are even supposed to lose the fight because your character's mind and the narration wants you to do so. Even if you fail this initial, sometimes "twisted" goal the game still allows you to continue the story. I haven't seen a "game over" screen yet. I like this idea. Should certain combats be too difficult you are not forced to retrack and reload stuff, the story and narration keeps flowing.

There is no money and inventory, at least I haven't seen any thus far. Your character levels up with XP. XP is earned by talking with NPCs and by achieving the combat goals as best as possible. When leveling up you can activate passive and active skills on a skill tree resembling a snowflake. And you increase your attributes. They increase your combat stats, and one attribute - humor - is supposed to give you more humorus dialogue options. Most of the time there are at least three dialogue options: You say something in a cold/stoic way, in a sad/whining or in a funny/ironic/sarcastic one. I haven't examined the ways they change depending on my "humor" attribute, nor if things would turn out differently if I had chosen other lines. My impression is that things won't change too much, but I will update this review in case it should turn out I'm wrong, I'm not too far in the game.