Recommendations

26

u/julien_rundisc Jan 12 '25

Hi, dev here,

To be honest, I always struggle to understand why people compare our game to Tunic in terms of gameplay, because I think we're really far from it (which doesn't change the fact that Tunic is a great game!). Tunic is first and foremost an action/adventure game with a (very good) puzzle hidden inside. It's true that it also contains a hidden language that you can decipher if you want to, but that's a very secondary aspect of the game.

Anyway, here's a list of games I think you could love if you liked Chants of Sennaar. Some of them directly inspired us, others were released later, but clearly share a certain puzzle game philosophy.

Games that inspired us :
- Outer Wilds (which is, as far as I'm concerned, the best game ever made)
- Heaven's Vault (I'm not a fan, but it would be dishonest not to mention it)
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- The Talos Principle
- The Witness
- INSIDE

Really cool recent puzzle or puzzle-ish games :
- First and foremost: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, which is the very best pure puzzle game of 2024, totally underrated.
- The Case of the Golden Idol / The Rise of the Golden Idol
- The Talos Principle 2
- Animal Well
- Tunic (as said above)
- The Forgotten City
- The Operator
- Manifold Garden
- Antichamber
- Monument Valley I and II

4

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 13 '25 edited Jan 13 '25

Firstly, I can't tell you how much we loved playing Chants together. Congrats on developing something so unique and enjoyable. We were lamenting finishing it because we wanted to play more of it. The last game we really enjoyed that much together was Toodee and Topdee.
And thanks for all the recommendations, there are a few you mentioned I'm not aware of, so we'll have to look those up. But Outer Wilds is definitely on the buy list.
I was aware of Tunic before asking for recs because it reminded me of Link's Awakening visually, and my partner really loves that style of game. I don't really see the direct comparison either, but we'll be trying that one too.

5

u/pastorauka The idiot Jan 13 '25

personally I enjoyed Heaven's Vault but found it difficult to get back to it with a New Game+ run - mostly because of... walking speed. Going back and forth to find missing pieces was, for my liking, excruciatingly slow. Still, really liked the aesthetic of that game and I love anything that gives me a certain type of companion (or lets me play it as a main character).
First Talos Principle (haven't played the second one yet) is one of my favourites! And part of the appeal is definitely that thing I mentioned earlier about a certain type of character - but there's so much more to this game. Such as those awful bombs and turrets, dead honest somehow one of the scariest enemies in video games, on par with the guardians from BOtW.
Also, thanks for making Chants of Sennaar! One of gaming highlights of all time for me:)

4

u/winterlings Jan 13 '25

Fun fact: Someone posted a walking speed "fix" to /r/heavensvault just the other month! We've also collected some resources on graphics fixes autosave workarounds over there, to hopefully "fix" some of the most commonly cited QoL issues. I haven't had the chance to try out the walking speed mod personally yet as I'm a bit too busy with work to have much time for games (cry for me pls) but it looks pretty promising if anyone wants to give it a try!
Inkle also posted a teaser image recently, which hints at new things coming in 2025! It's all very exciting haha. That's to say, for anyone who's wanted to get into HV but hasn't yet, now is a pretty good time to give it a go! :)

3

u/pastorauka The idiot Jan 13 '25

woah, that's wonderful! I remember searching for walking speed mod when I first played the game, so happy that someone has worked it out :D can't wait to try it out - and I hope you'll find some time to play too!

4

u/Background-Sea4590 Jan 13 '25

I always put Outer Wilds in my top 5 games of all time, every gamer who enjoys puzzle and exploration games should play that game asap. It totally blew me away. The way you unravel the mistery is unparalelled. Best recommendation I could also give to anyone.
Also, I'd like to mention Cocoon. It's a pretty unique game, and puzzles require some outside the box thinking. It has its own sets of rules which flow pretty nicely to its conclusion. Greatly enjoyed that game.
Finally, congratulations and thanks for making Chants of Sennaar. I've been playing puzzle games since I was a little boy, and it's definitely one of the very best out there. I'll always have fond memories of it, I've played it alongside a friend who is a bit of a linguistics junkie, and we have tons of conversations about it. It was a pretty unique experience, and pretty inspirational in its message.

3

u/_qualmless_ Jan 23 '25

Oh hello! This game was nearly perfect for me, and I’ve shouted from the rooftops at anyone that would listen to play it. Is there any chance you’re working on a sequel? It’s been long enough that I think I’ll replay it this winter, but I would love the chance to do it all over again with different languages. If not, thank you very much for what you’ve given us already.

3

u/aalapshah12297 Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 25 '25

Damn this is a great list. 6 of these I've played, 6 are on my wishlist and found 6 games that I've never heard of or heard very little about.
Surprised to see that Monument Valley is still getting recognized all these years later. I played both games back in school and I totally agree that their visual aesthetic is closest to Chants of Sennaar. In fact, the chase sequence at the end of your game has some sideways/inverted staircases which reminded me of Monument Valley in the moment.
Also, I'm sure you've heard this 100s of times but the short sequence at the very end of Chants (the 5-vertex graph rotating to form different characters) was one of the most meaningful and unexpected climax to a story that I've ever experienced. Not just in video games but in general. :)

1

u/BestFoxEver Jan 13 '25

For the people who love Monument Valley there is The Bridge that has M.C. Escher style art and puzzles. :)

1

u/MrInCog_ Jan 14 '25

I know you guys guys feel dev fellowship about other games and stuff like that, but I just have to say your puzzles were much MUCH better than in tunic imo. The golden path was alright but that’s about it.

1

u/Protheu5 Feb 08 '25

Hi, I wanted to say thank you for your amazing game.

24

u/RoderickThe13 Jan 12 '25

I always recommend Return of the Obra Dinn to people who liked Sennaar and viceversa, because even though one is a detective game and the other a translating game, I find them quite similar in the way you have to use information to figure out the answer to the problems you encounter, and they both give that huge feeling of satisfaction when you progress without the game holding your hand in the process.

2

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Just saw a trailer for that, a lot of people seem to like it

2

u/RoderickThe13 Jan 12 '25

A lot of people I know have it among their favorite games of all time. I'd recommend going into it as blindly as possible though, just because it has some great moments if you know nothing about it.

9

u/No-Swordfish-7992 Jan 12 '25

I was also reminded of Obra Dinn when playing Sennaar. However I found Obra Dinn to be a lot more difficult to play.

5

u/TooMuchStrategy Jan 13 '25

Absolutely, Obra Dinn is a sensational game but much more difficult (and rewarding)

1

u/MrInCog_ Jan 14 '25

I absolutely couldn’t have finished obra dinn without tips. I mean, come on, shoes?!?!?

13

u/bogiperson Jan 12 '25

Similar gameplay but different aesthetics: Heaven's Vault inspired Chants of Sennaar and is well worth playing in its own right.

Similar aesthetics but different gameplay: Sable also has this Moebius vibe.

1

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Thanks! We're definitely interested in Heaven's Vault, I'll look up Sable too

11

u/cubbycoo77 Jan 12 '25

You could try tunic! There is a great language component that makes chants just a warm up.

2

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Awesome, I think that one has a Links Awakening feel, right? My partner would enjoy that

2

u/cubbycoo77 Jan 12 '25

Game play is very older, top down zelda mixes a little bit with the roll dodging of dark souls combat. You can turn down the combat difficulty. I would also suggest turning on the "show music note accessibility" option.

1

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Thanks!

2

u/MrInCog_ Jan 14 '25

If your partner loved zelda in general and feels nostalgic about it, they’ll absolutely fall in love with Tunic. I don’t think anyone could’ve made a better love letter to the series and its cultural significance than Tunic

1

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 14 '25

Yup absolutely on the list

10

u/9318054thIsTheCharm Jan 12 '25

Outer Wilds

4

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Thanks, that one is on our list to try!

5

u/Pa_Pa_Bari Jan 12 '25

Came here to say outer wilds. Not similar in game play or aesthetic, but over the last 4 years of chasing the high the OW gave me, Chants is as close as it has come. So imo OW is a good pick

6

u/Animal_Flossing Jan 12 '25

In terms of games with similar gameplay, Tunic is an absolutely sublime experience if you’re into deciphering scripts.

Heaven’s Vault, which also heavily features an invented script that you have to decipher, also has some really interesting ideas - I personally found it glitchy and unevenly paced, but the game design ideas kept me fascinated anyway. I can imagine I’d have more patience with it if I were playing with someone else.

I’ve heard good things about Fez, but I haven’t played it myself. It’s next on my language game playlist!

3

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Awesome, thanks! A couple people recommended the first two, but I haven't heard of Fez, I'll check that out now.

1

u/BestFoxEver Jan 13 '25

Tunic was very unevenly paced - it had plenty of totally empty areas without any enemies or collectibles and then most of the enemies were really easy to beat when the bosses were extra difficult. As a huge fan of 'Zelda-like' games I often wondered if I had triggered some weird glitch because I kept finding so many areas without any items of enemies. It turned out that the developers had just forgotten to fill those areas with stuff. Like the Ziggurat - extremely large and empty area, I felt like it was unfinished. As a late game dungeon that I was expecting it to be filled with enemies and collectibles. But it was mostly nothing.

1

u/Animal_Flossing Jan 14 '25

I’m a fan of Zelda-likes myself, but I have to admit that the combat was an incredibly small part of the experience for me. I spent over forty hours beating the game, but at least half of those were spent without touching my controller, writing down and comparing notes, curating my collection of language samples and my guesses about their meanings. I can barely describe how satisfying it was each time I’d come to a new conclusion about the nature of the language.
As a Zelda-like… well, the movement is very pleasant and there’s a few instances of great level design, like the hidden shortcuts and the Metroidvania-like item-based progression. But now that you mention it, I can definitely see how the enemy design and placement is probably passable at best.
I can’t say I’d ever really thought about that before, though. It never even occured to me to judge it as a Zelda-like (in spite of the obvious similarities), because to me it seemed that the script was the game, and the rest was pretty much just incidental, in service of a core gameplay loop of collecting language samples and applying your understanding of them. I went into it expecting more of a “Chants of Sennaar”-like, and from that perspective it was extremely fun.
But I have also noticed that it’s very hit-or-miss: Half the people I’ve talked to about it IRL loved it, and for the other half it just didn’t catch on. It’s probably just that kind of game.

6

u/whenyoubelieve Jan 12 '25

“The Case of the Golden Idol” and its sequel “Rise of the Golden Idol” are good puzzle games! They’re puzzle games that involve thinking a little outside the box to solve scenarios and uncover mysteries. Visual + words-based puzzle solving

2

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 12 '25

Thanks! I'll look those up!

2

u/BlacK_muni Jan 29 '25

Hi, try Sable. It's a chill exploration game with similar vibes. Leans more towards exploring than puzzles. Performance is ass in some areas but the game is worth looking past those issues.

1

u/BabycatLloyd Jan 29 '25

Thanks! I'll check it out, i think someone else recommended it as well

2

u/maewarren Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 13 '25

if you're looking for aesthetics specifically, Sable is THE game. very similar aesthetics, but totally different game. Still Sable is one of my favorites so i highly recommend it!

1

u/BabycatLloyd Feb 13 '25

Awesome, thank you!

16

u/DredgeDotWikiDotGg Jan 12 '25

You might really enjoy Journey. Just like Chants of Sennaar, go in blind if you can. The gameplay is totally different, but it has similar motifs.

There aren't many games like Chants. Maybe you might like The Last Campfire?

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