Chants of Sennaar is a Beautiful Puzzle-Adventure Game

Decipher fictional languages in a world with a striking art direction

Chants of Sennaar Turns Languages into a Puzzle

The Fabled Hero, The Traveler

Inspired by the myth of the Tower of Babel, Chants of Sennaar puts the player into the shoes of the fabled Traveler who finds themselves within a mythical tower. This tower houses five distinct clans of 'Peoples,' who have been long divided by fear and mistrust, and thus do not speak to each other.

Perhaps as a result of this, these Peoples have created their own languages, further contributing to the divide. But it is said that one day, an unknown Traveler comes to break down these walls and to bring peace to the Peoples. This is where the story begins.

Chants of Sennaar gameplay focuses on point-and-click puzzle-solving mechanics as players explore the enigmatic tower and meet equally enigmatic Peoples. Decipher their glyphic languages with your trusty notebook and communicate with them in order to climb up the Tower and restore peace within the different clans. But beware—not all People are willing to let you do as you please. Some areas employ a stealth element, sneaking around and making sure that the Traveler moves out of harm’s way.

It definitely isn’t your typical hack-n-slash type hero-saves-the-world game. “Through our game, we aim to spotlight a different type of hero—the diplomat, the translator,” lead developers Julien Moya and Thomas Panuel said in a 2023 interview with Axios. They noted that these types of protagonists “don’t solve problems with violence or courage but with empathy, listening, and open-mindedness,” the type of person that even our world at present needs.

Small Beginnings, Big Dreams

Rundisc, the team behind Chants of Sennaar, is essentially a two man team, and Chants of Sennaar is not their first hand in developing games. Their first game was Varion, created by two artists who had a love for video games. Needless to say, it wasn’t a huge hit. “It didn’t matter, because it was mainly a hobby,” said Moya in a Bloomberg interview.

But they wanted to try again. They began working on Chants of Sennaar around 2020, during the pandemic. After a year and a half of working on the game, they then took a leap, bringing the game demo to the Gamescom convention. In that convention, Focus Interactive took notice of their game and was so thoroughly impressed that they offered to fund the rest of the development and the rest, as they say, is history.

In order to bring their vision to life, they enlisted the help of three more freelance developers—but that’s still a rather small studio. “Given our modest size, we understand that competing with industry giants isn’t realistic, so we rely on resourcefulness and a quest for originality—both artistically, in terms of storytelling, and gameplay.”

The Game With Hieroglyphics

If you’re into unique puzzle-adventure games with a charming aesthetic, Chants of Sennaar might just be the game for you. Its Steam store page is full of warm and inviting animated pictures of the game, which stands out immediately. Screencaps of the game showcase the game’s striking art style and warm-toned color palette, mainly in yellows and reds. They’re in very eye-catching colors, and invites one to learn more about it.

From the gameplay trailer, we can see that it does not only feature puzzle-adventure mechanics but also stealth mechanics. It’s a nice addition to the game in order to not be repetitive or tedious with just solving puzzles and figuring out the meanings of the glyphs in every level. The original soundtrack that plays in the launch trailer is wonderful, and instantaneously takes you into their world.

Despite being only eight months old since release, Chants of Sennaar is already a multi-awarded title. Crowned Best Indie Game at the 2024 New York Game Awards, it was also nominated in The Game Awards, and the BAFTA. With that many favorable reviews under its belt, the game definitely deserves a spot in your bucket list.

Chants of Sennaar is available on PC (Steam, EpicGames, GOG), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One.

The game’s original soundtrack, both in digital format and vinyl format, can also be purchased in Steam (digital format only), and Focus Entertainment’s official store.