Whisper of the House Brings Unpacking To Whisper Town
There is an increasing number of games releasing that I am ashamed to play around my wife. I don’t mean because of their overtly sexualised content or excessive violence, but due to the fact I’m not that person in the real world. I hate gardening, but give me a few hours in Lawn Mowing Simulator and I’m a happy chappy. Same too for PowerWash Simulator and House Flipper, considering my DIY skills are non-existent.
Whisper of the House is another that needs adding to this list. Channelling indie-darling Unpacking, you are employed by people in Whisper Town to sort their belongings out. Unlike Unpacking though, there is a rather mysterious side to Whisper of the House that will likely be the one reason you see this through to the end.
As you arrive in Whisper Town, your first job will be to unpack your own belongings. With the ‘help’ of your robot companion, Mark, who does nothing at all aside from hold the box you need to empty, you must make your new house a home. After that, the requests to help others come thick and fast.
You will be employed to help people move house, open up bakeries and cafes, even help someone open up a music shop complete with about 20 guitars. Their belongings are as you would expect: the baker has several hundred ingredients to store away, recipes written on note paper. But it lacks that storytelling that Unpacking managed exquisitely. In Whisper of the House, there is no emotional connection to the objects you are unpacking.
Exploring Whisper Town And Its Mysteries
You are free to wander round Whisper Town as you please, and this helps show off the excellent pixel art graphics. There are plenty of items to interact with, and you may find new items to decorate your own home with, or tickets that act as your currency.
You may also come across a strange pyramid with a large number 42 emblazoned on the side. You can go into it, but it is strangely empty. There are pedestals in there, but nothing on top of them. For now, at least.
I won’t spoil what the number is related to here, but I will be honest, you can find out pretty quickly what it refers to, and it sort of flattens the whole rest of the game. Had it been saved until towards the end, I would have been more invested throughout.
But if all that mystery and intrigue isn’t for you, this can largely be ignored as you focus on unpacking peoples’ belongings. And then, as you progress, you can focus on your own dwellings as you rack up an impressive property portfolio. The tickets you earn can be traded in for packs of furniture that feel very loot box-like in their execution; rather than picking individual bits you are given an item at random. But then, if all that customisation isn’t for you, and you’d rather focus on the mystery, this can largely be ignored also.
The Xbox Port Needs Some Work
Whisper of the House is a port of a PC game, and for better or worse, feels like it too. Only when you are wandering about the town do you control your character. Once you are inside a building, you instead control a cursor, picking up and moving furniture that way. There are plenty of different functions in the bottom left corner, such as the ability to take photos, return to the world map and toggle the lights on and off, but these do not indicate which button corresponds to them. In fact, many of them do not have a corresponding button, meaning you have to move the cursor over to them. Worst of all, it is slow, and without an option to speed the cursor movement up.
Also, on a couple of occasions, the game has told me to right-click on an item.
That isn’t the only bug I encountered. After solving an admittedly clever puzzle using an alchemist’s lab, I had to use the in-game stickers in photo mode to retrieve something. Only I was unable to grab the sticker I needed. Similar too for when choosing a colour scheme for objects and walls that can be customised, it does not register when choosing a colour. I suspect these are further issues caused by converting a mouse to a controller, and I hope they get fixed in time.
Doesn’t Quite Match Unpacking
On paper, it looked like Whisper of the House was going to offer something above and beyond Unpacking. In reality though, it falls short, even with a multitude of extra layers. Where Unpacking was able to tell a heartfelt story through simply taking things out of boxes, unpacking in Whisper of the House feels lifeless in comparison. The additional elements, as welcome as they are, don’t really offer the sense of intrigue that was promised.
It feels too close to the real-life chore of unpacking after moving house.
Important Links
Tidy, Decorate And Discover The Secrets Of Whisper Of The House – https://www.thexboxhub.com/tidy-decorate-and-discover-the-secrets-of-whisper-of-the-house/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/whisper-of-the-house/9nq6xpgtpx86
