A Whisper in the Twilight making noise on Kickstarter

Written by Jack Allin — February 4, 2022 at 13:20

It seems wherever humankind is destined to go, we'll have a hard time getting along. Even if it's a small colonized moon in a faraway solar system, as is the case in indie Italian developer Max Rudy Magni's upcoming sci-fi puzzle adventure, A Whisper in the Twilight, which is currently on Kickstarter in need of support.

After arriving on the moon of Hippalectryon, the original settlers lived in harmony for many years, prospering thanks to the mysterious ancient technology called Mechanical Arcana left behind by an alien race. Over time, however, their descendents split into different tribes, each with "its own cultural heritage and beliefs." There's the River People, with their "luminous buildings rising up over the water; the Zharatians, religious fanatics and intricate builders who erected the great city of Zhar; and the Skywatchers, dwellers of the mountains and guardians of the Mechanical Arcana." Later, when the moon was devastated by natural disaster, the land between them was laid waste and the cult-like Zhar used the resulting chaos and rising wave of violence to seize more power, invading the territories of the other factions. 

This is all eleven-year-old Zory has ever known, until her world suddenly changes in ways she never could have imagined. She's a Skywatcher, who returns from a trip to the Crying Mountains to discover that her village has "been plundered and destroyed by Zhar's soldiers." Now all alone in "a world full of puzzles and mysteries," the young protagonist becomes the last hope of her people. With help from an entity belonging to the race of aliens that once inhabited this moon, Zory must find a way to survive deadly traps, rescue prisoners, and "awaken the magic" of the Mechanical Arcana, all the while unraveling more of Hippalectryon's "mysterious past" in the process. 

Based on a book by Magni called The War of the Cults, A Whisper in the Twilight plays out in first-person, free-roaming 3D built using the Unreal Engine. Whether on foot or by means of available transportation, the game will take players across a variety of inhospitable, even hostile environments in a place that falls somewhere between "realism and fairy tale." Only the most observant traveler will overcome the many puzzles and obstacles in their path – some of them deadly – as "symbols, sounds, dialogues, colour" and more may all conceal hidden secrets necessary to progress.  

In order to complete the game with improved production quality and "badass professional voice acting" in English, the developer has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise €14,200 by March 4th. If successful, we could see A Whisper in the Twilight released for as-yet-unannounced platforms as early as February 2023.