Fade to Silence

Fade To Silence is a mess of ideas that don't come together well enough to be worth experiencing. There's plenty of potential here, but every idea is half-baked, undercooked, and buried by other systems.

Yes, sleds are awful. The worst mode of transport, unless you have flying reindeer. I did not. Like The Witcher 3’s Roach, the wolves sort of have a mind of their own, but it’s even more pronounced. As we sped through the decayed forest, I offered them suggestions about where we might go, and they just did their thing, which mainly involved getting stuck on everything. They got stuck. The sled got stuck. The reins got stuck. Walking would have been faster. Then, finally, I was forced off my sled because the wolves didn’t like the area ahead of us. I got back on to turn them around, but was imm...

In my opinion, the game culminates into an expert combination of storytelling, survival, and community management, leaving me quite satisfied with the result. True, there are a lot of survival games out there, and aside from obvious clones, each is trying to find their niche to hopefully push their game, their story, into something more than the standard fare. For me, though not perfect, this game hits that goal. Well done, THQ Nordic.

A fun and unique blend of survival/crafting and survival/horror. Emphasis on survival and emphasis on horror.

Fade to Silence‘s strengths definitely outweigh its weaknesses, though. Its unique setting makes you want to go out and discover its secrets. Its camp building elements reward you for seeking out other survivors and building bonds with them. And the survival aspects give the game depth and added challenge. It isn’t just a bog-standard adventure game with a frosty backdrop; in Fade to Silence, the weather is your biggest foe. Whether you’re a fan of action-adventure or survival games, Fade to Silence is well worth checking out.

In my quest to find something to scratch an itch similar to my experience with the survival game The Forest, the newly released Fade to Silence popped up on my radar. Instead of a vast island with climes from tropical to northern tundra, you play as Ash, a survivor of some world-ending disaster who must brave the permanent winter blanketing the new landscape. What starts as small excursions into the unknown for food and fuel soon become full out expeditions in search of survivors, resources, and hoping to cleanse the world of the evil consuming it.

For the flaws that it has, Fade to Silence is an ambitious game that provides a unique experience in a crowded genre. The world is stark, cold and unwelcoming, and there’s a discomposing atmosphere that always puts you on edge. Fade to Silence isn’t for everyone, but for those who want to experience a harsh, unforgiving world, this is just the ticket - just don’t rush into permadeath mode right away.

Lackluster combat and poorly explained mechanics aside undermine the fact that Fade to Silence is an often decently crafted survival sandbox effort that neatly dovetails Lovecraftian themes into its design to often surprising effect.

There is a decent survival gameplay loop at the core of Fade to Silence. It's just that everything that emanates from that core is either cheaply cropped from another game or poorly executed in this one. I just kept coming back to this feeling I was playing disjointed parts of these other games, not a unified experience of this one.

Fade to Silence’s strong premise is marred by clumsy execution, poor writing, and painfully slowed pacing.

Many considered the survival genre to be overcrowded, with numerous titles in the genre being released every year. Fade to Silence is the latest entry in the genre and it’s got some pretty ambitious goals but is it enough to stand out from the crowd?

A survival game that, despite a few interesting ideas, struggles to provide any reason to persevere with its overfamiliar gameplay and poorly handled storytelling.