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Silent Hope is an upcoming isometric dungeon-crawler ARPG that features a somewhat roguelite feeling mixed with an emotionally charged story and cartoony graphics. The game is developed by Marvelous and published by XSEED Games - the same companies that are known for the Rune Factory and Story of Seasons games. In fact, Silent Hope is loosely set within the Rune Factory universe, and many of the monsters and elements are shared between them, with many nods to Story of Seasons, including the very recognizable art style and beloved cows of that series.
Silent Hope may share a graphic style with Story of Seasons, but it is very much a dungeon-crawler. There is no romance or traditional farming sim experience to be found here. Silent Hope is not a roguelite, as the characters never die, yet it works similarly with characters attempting to make runs down into the Abyss and see how far they can get. They then come back up to the surface armed with materials and recipes to craft better gear and prepare to tackle the depths once again. Fun loot, lots of combat, and an interesting story premise will lead to players continuing to try again and again to work their way through the Abyss and see what has happened to the King.
The Emotional Story Behind Silent Hope
The land that Silent Hope takes place in used to be a peaceful and happy kingdom, led by a King and his daughter the Princess. The King was a loving and kind ruler, known for making homemade pizzas for everyone in the land at the yearly Harvest Festival, and he and his daughter would work alongside the community with everything from shoveling snow to farm work. One fateful day, the King mysteriously chose to use his magic to steal away the words and ability to speak from all the people in the land except his daughter and he threw himself into the chasm that led to dark Abyss. The Princess cried for years until the flood of her tears encased her inside a giant crystal.
Finally, the Princess called out for help and seven voiceless heroes came to answer the call. The Princess can only send one hero into the Abyss at a time, with the goal of finding the King and discovering what happened, what his motivations were, and how to restore the voices of the kingdom. Meanwhile, those left on the surface work to build a Base Camp at the edge of the Abyss and work with the resources that are brought out in crafting armor, weapons, and food to help with subsequent dives into the darkness. Although the Princess is trapped in her crystal, the hero in the Abyss can hear her voice as she supplies more understanding of the story while they get deeper into the dungeons, and she can bring them back to the surface when needed.
Dungeon Crawling Mechanics
Silent Hope is essentially played by choosing one of the seven available characters and leaping into the crater that has become the entrance to the abyss to fight monsters and collect resources. As the character works their way down it gets progressively harder, and several floors together will share a similar biome and form one chapter of the story, culminating in a big boss for that area. Each level is a fairly decent size and is randomly generated to provide new experiences with each run, and there are campfires every few levels that will allow players to start from that level on their next run if they would like, rather than fighting their way through all the floors again. Special Memory Rifts can also open up on the levels, which leads to a special area where the difficulty is greatly increased but so are the rewards.
Seven Heroes To Choose From Offers Variety
Though only one character can enter the Abyss at a time, they can be switched out at various points if players want to try a different feeling, and every run can be completed with someone new, although it is best to stick with one or two so that they can be leveled up well enough to handle the big bosses. Silent Hope lets players choose to play as a Wanderer, Warrior, Rogue, Archer, Farmer, Fighter, or Caster. As they level up they can have advanced classes to give new skills to their gameplay.
Players Will Keep Wanting Just One More Run Through The Abyss
Silent Hope seems like a simple premise, but it is executed beautifully. The level of challenge is just right, the loot that is picked up with each run gives a very satisfying feeling, and the story is a journey, not only in what happened within this kingdom but also an exploration of mental health and pride. It truly becomes a dungeon crawler with hidden depths as the philosophy behind the story comes into play and the need to know more of what happened drives players to want to keep going and try to get a little further. Silent Hope is truly a well-crafted experience that offers much more than meets the eye.
Source: XSEEDgames/YouTube
Silent Hope will be released for PC (via Steam) and Nintendo Switch on October 3, 2023. A digital Switch download code for Silent Hope was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.