Celebrating All Things Spooky: Whispering Willows

Over the weekend, I played the side-scrolling horror adventure game Whispering Willows.

Whispering Willows puts you in the shoes of Elena Elkhorn, a girl who heads to the mysterious Willows Mansion after her father goes missing there.

She soon learns she is descended from a shaman who once lived in the area and has the ability to enter the spirit realm. This ability is a core part of the gameplay, because as you explore the mansion and its grounds, you’ll need to frequently leave your body behind to solve puzzles in areas you can’t reach.

Entering spirit form also gives you the ability to talk to ghosts, which sometimes just provides a bit more dialogue but often plays a role in the puzzles you must solve.

Numerous notes left behind by various characters flesh out the story of what happened in the mansion, and it really is a somber story. Once again, this is a horror story that ends up feeling more sad and haunting than anything else. Overall, I enjoyed it, although the final sequence feels a bit rushed.

Meanwhile, the gameplay is pretty solid. It’s simple and the puzzles are fairly easy, but it has that nice gameplay loop I like of getting keys to unlock doors and gradually being able to explore areas that were blocked off before. The final chapter had some frustrating parts, but not enough to damage my impression of the game.

I’m not sure I’d necessarily call Whispering Willows a horror game, but it’s certainly a spooky one that has its share of creepy moments.

So if you want a spooky game about ghosts, a haunted mansion, and the tragic events that occurred there, it’s worth giving Whispering Willows a try.