Chants of Sennaar Review (poharani)
This is one of those rare games that you play for thirty minutes at first, then in the evening you decide to do a little more; but before you know it, it's been an hour already. The first thing you do tomorrow morning is a two-hour session, which you stop because you don't want to rush it and you want to leave something for later as well, but then you just can't help it and you spend three hours glued to the screen, yawning, but going strong, because there's only a couple of achievements left for the full completion anyway.
Mechanics-wise, it's a game about deciphering unknown languages, in a way that's most natural for humans: by observing others that use it and by interacting with them. Visuals are highly stylized, and it works well with the vibrant color palette. Locations are memorable (when they need to be), traversal is easy, and nothing ever feels like a chore. You'll be swarmed by new words and alien concepts for a few seconds and you'll think you'll never be able to understand a word of what these weird people are saying and what their shrines are preaching, but as you walk around, little by little, you'll get a series of small aha! moments that will snowball into a fully deciphered vocabulary before you know it.
But beneath that, an equally important distinguishing feature of the game is a beautiful timeless narrative about our undeniable differences, inevitable prejudices, and ultimately the beauty and importance of communication.