Developer: Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour
Publisher: Deconstructeam
Year: 2025
Genre: Adventure
System: Windows
Many Nights a Whisper is a short (about 60 minutes) third-person archery game where you play as the Dreamer, an archer who must make an incredibly long shot into a massive chalice to grant the wishes made by people in your community. During the day you can make practice shots into closer chalices to get better at archery and at night you listen to the anonymous wishes from people and choose to accept them or not. You repeat this cycle for a few days as your mentor makes your bow stronger, until it’s the big day where you have one chance to make your big shot.
I finally picked this one up because I had seen it on a few End-of-Year lists and I’m glad I did. I can’t really say anything more insightful than what a much better writer at an outlet like Rock, Paper, Shotgun can but it’s a lovely game. The game does a very nice job of mixing lighthearted wishes with heavier ones, and never feels like it’s punishing or judging you for the wishes you choose to keep or leave. In some ways it kind of reminds me of a solo tabletop rpg where it will prompt you for your thoughts and make you think about your choices, but never gives you a definitive “you have chosen wisely” statement. I was surprised that the game has a final shot that you only have one attempt at and need to replay the game to try again. Obviously I made it because I am a Real Gamer (I hope my sarcasm is clear here) but even if you do, to continue the solo ttrpg comparison, the game does not do an extended epilogue telling you about the wishes you accepted and what happens. It leaves this all to you to think about and I think that’s part of why this game works so well for me.
I appreciate that all the actions seem to have some heft to them too. Cutting a braid to accept a wish requires you to hold down a button for a second or two before letting go to cut it. When you’re practicing to shoot arrows, the longer shots take a few seconds to fully pull back on the bow and let go, with you watching the arrow fly through the air for a while to see if it hits its target. It all helps make that final shot a lot more tense, when you need to pull back on the bow all the way and make sure everything is all lined up before letting go.
It’s easy for me to recommend Many Nights a Whisper. It’s a very short adventure game/interactive fiction that can be experienced in under an hour, longer if you want to replay it, and very affordable at $3.