Chants of Sennaar Review
Living as a Rosetta Stone

Hey, do you like exploring? Do you like learning about cultures?

Great! Do you enjoy not understanding anything that’s said to you and feeling lost, forcing you to adapt to and learn an entirely new language just to survive?

No? Well then, I…let me check my notes.

...

Okay, what if you had to do that, but it was a game, like how doing chores in Animal Crossing is suddenly fun? Great, we’re on the same page again!

But seriously, if games like Dark Souls or Tunic have taught me anything, it’s that there’s a certain joy in discovering and deciphering the world around you. Which is why I had such an enjoyable time playing Chants of Sennaar. With easy instructions, solid environmental clues, and fantastic atmosphere, Chants of Sennaar takes you on a short but satisfying journey of culture, discovery, and connecting with others through the ordinary power of language. The developers at Rundisc have done a fascinating job of taking the idea of a puzzle game and giving it new context through language.

The Limits of My Language Mean the Limits of My World

Based on the biblical myth of the Tower of Babel, Chants of Sennaar sees you playing as a lone traveler climbing a tower and observing the various cultures that inhabit it on your quest to reach the top of the tower. The tower is sectioned off into five separate areas, each with their own identity, and most importantly, their own language.

And you of course start out knowing…none.

That’s okay, though! This is a learn-as-you-go game, and each area of the game is well paced to help you learn each language. Each time you do, more of the mystery of the world and the overall story reveals itself.

Each language uses a logographic script for its text, meaning each character translates to a single word. This means you will always know what a character means once you learn it. When you encounter a character for the first time, it’s recorded in a journal, but not translated yet. You can takes notes on these characters, making your own guesses to the translations that will appear over the characters when you read them in game.

You’ll also receive a translation book, which provides various pictures and clues about the words you discovered. Discovering enough characters will reveal a new page of the book, which you can then slot characters in to. Once a full page of pictures has been matched to the correct words, you’ll receive the true translation of each character on the page, and those characters will be automatically translated from that point onward.

Just learning languages won’t be enough, though. You’ll need to take what you’ve learned to solve several environmental puzzles to proceed forward. And you’ll need to sneak around a few places to get in areas where you’re otherwise not wanted. Other than that, you’ll just be exploring the tower, it’s people, and it’s secrets, and there’s plenty to see here.

A Different Language is a Different Version of Life

The setting of Chants of Sennaar is beautifully crafted visually and mechanically, giving each area an civilization a unique identity while ensuring your understanding of each language used. Architecture and color palettes especially play a big role here. The Warrior culture mostly live inside a large fort of blue stone, with splashes of red from their own insignias. The interior design makes you feel small and closed off, fearful of whatever you may have to face. Meanwhile the Bard culture has vast open gardens, luxurious buildings, and bright colors of a warmer palette. The feeling of exploration, wanting to relax and stay a while is baked into the level, making it hard to want to leave.

Each area will start you off with a few characters that can be easily translated, either by providing a page’s worth of words all at once, or showing one phrase in multiple languages. This not only helps you understand certain words and the grammar structure of a language, but also insight into the nature of the culture. The Warrior culture’s phrase speaks of their lives as militant protectors, for example. All other words are baked into every aspect of the culture you’re studying. What makes this so great is that the game provides you the opportunity to learn meanings easily without holding your hand wile still providing you help if you need it. In the Devotee culture, you are presented with a huge mural that depicts the people’s beliefs and several new words o translate. Now you have enough information to figure out what several of these glyphs mean and can even translate them after seeing them. But shortly after seeing this mural, you are treated to a game of cards which uses the same glyphs attached to specific images from the murals, so if you’re stuck, you still have the help available.

Words Are a Pretext

The ironic thing about a game about words is that words just don’t do it justice. There's a reason it was nominated for multiple awards in 2023. Chants of Sennaar is fantastic game of discovery and connection in a world of people just looking to be understood. Every new word learned is one step closer to understanding the people and cultures around you and what you need to truly bring them together. If you like solving Sudoku, crosswords, or escape rooms, this one is for you.

I don't want to say too much about the game, as it is a game all about discovery. It hast a solid art style, good music, and a great story about how languages can separate us, but also bring unity. If you’re looking for a short game (roughly ten hours for most players) to engage your brain with and thoughtful world to explore, then Chants of Sennaar is a great fit for you! Just don't forget the translator.