I was a little wary about buying this game right off the bat. When I looked it up I found the company webpage was in French, so I was worried about quite a few things, based simply on the fact that I’ve played Japanese Indie games that had been translated to English…poorly, to say the least. Still, I decided what the heck. The game didn’t have a demo and I genuinely wanted to play it so I gave it a shot.
Now, let me just start off by saying that overall I did kind of enjoy the game. It’s got beautiful artwork, some interesting music and it was –for the most part– fun to play. That doesn’t, however, mean that the game itself was perfect.
In Winter Voices: Avalanche you play the first of what is supposed to be seven games. It’s a turn based RPG, which is not my favorite kind of game but isn’t my least favorite either. The opening scene to the game was a little long, but again, I’m not marking it down completely for it.
There is also the problem with distance. I understand that the creators of the game probably wanted to show us what it would really be like to walk around in the snow. You’re cold, your body is stiff, you’re not going to be skipping along the road. That’s fine. But the character moved so painfully slow and everything was so far apart it quickly became annoying.
Also, I really need to focus on the writing in the game. Being a writer myself (of course, when I’m not sitting in front of screen), plot and narration is very important to me when I play a game. 
Heck, I imagine it’s important to everyone, but it’s the first thing I notice and usually has the hardest impact on me. A game can look like a two year old drew it, but a solid storyline will usually get it good marks in my book.
Unfortunately, Winter Voices: Avalanche is….let’s say depressing. The voice actress for the heroine sounds like she took a sleeping pill before her recording. The writing itself can only be described as “emo” and “hella boring.” Oh, and repetitive. I feel like they repeated what was going on so often mostly because they figured players would be falling asleep while trying to grasp the purpose….and I was.
I’m still not entirely sure what this game was about, beyond the fact that there is snow. And her father died.
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A trek through a dark snow. | ||||
Game: Winter Voices | Developer: Beyond The Pillars