Empathy: Path of Whispers

Empathy: Path of Whispers attempts to tell a series of intriguing personal stories in a mysterious, abandoned world. The end result however is a visually dated, largely boring, and technically broken game that doesn't deserve your time and money.

60%Game Brain Score

story, graphics

gameplay, stability

60% User Score Based on 121 reviews

Critic Score 47%Based on 4 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $4.04

Buy NowGet on Steam$19.99

About

"Empathy: Path of Whispers" is a story-driven adventure game where you explore a seemingly abandoned world by experiencing the emotions and memories of its former inhabitants. By uncovering lost memories, players can restore the world to its former state, uncover its mysterious past, and prevent an impending apocalypse. The game features a unique world created from people's emotions and memories, allowing players to manipulate and explore the surreal environment.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 121 reviews

story47 positive mentions

gameplay5 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a haunting atmosphere that immerses players in its world.
The story is rich and complex, offering a unique narrative experience that unfolds through exploration and discovery.
Voice acting and sound design are well-executed, enhancing the emotional depth of the game.

The gameplay can become repetitive, with a heavy reliance on backtracking and a single puzzle mechanic that may frustrate players.
Many players experienced bugs and technical issues that hindered their enjoyment and progression in the game.
The narrative can be confusing and fragmented, making it difficult for some players to fully grasp the story.

story
172 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
68%
5%
The story in "Empathy: Path of Whispers" is a complex, atmospheric narrative that unfolds through exploration and the collection of memories and objects, allowing players to piece together a fragmented tale. While many reviewers praised its depth and emotional resonance, others found the storytelling confusing and non-linear, leading to a lack of immersion. Overall, the game is recommended for those who appreciate rich narratives and exploration, despite some criticisms regarding voice acting and gameplay mechanics.
- “The story is brilliant and witty yet deep and dark.”
- “Empathy: Path of Whispers is a beautifully written story-exploration game with a remarkable atmosphere!”
- “What it doesn't say in the brief is, it's a story being told by someone to you in the form of memories and clues you find along the journey, helping you solve a greater story and mystery.”
- “Even though the game itself has some beautiful views, the story didn't grip me.”
- “The story doesn't make any sense at all; it's way too scattered and fragmented, and nothing really interacts with each other.”
- “What ruined this game for me was the absolutely horrendous voice acting and the lack of a discernible storyline.”
graphics
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
41%
6%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players praising the beautiful art style and stunning visuals that enhance the atmosphere and storytelling. However, some users report performance issues, such as crashes and low texture quality, particularly on lower settings, which detracts from the overall experience. While the visuals are often described as captivating, there are criticisms regarding their dated appearance and inconsistency across different areas of the game.
- “The visuals are stunning and dreamlike, especially the first level.”
- “Loved the graphics & scenery - kept me entranced the whole game.”
- “The music, graphics, voiceovers, and story are amazing.”
- “After about 20 crashes to desktop moments, and turning down the graphics settings, I gave up in chapter 4.”
- “I had to turn down my graphics settings to stop it crashing every 5 minutes on my AMD 6700 card.”
- “Graphics are often low-fidelity; the game mostly looks as if it was 10 years old already.”
gameplay
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
72%
17%
The gameplay in "Empathy: Path of Whispers" is primarily exploration-focused, characteristic of walking simulators, where players wander through environments to uncover memories and pieces of the story. While the game features some unique mechanics, such as a memory collection system, many players find the gameplay repetitive and slow-paced, with a lack of challenging elements. Overall, it appeals to those who enjoy emotional narratives but may frustrate others due to its limited mechanics and tedious tasks.
- “It's an interesting game with a few novel game mechanics which are fairly easy to learn.”
- “The game has a few unique mechanics including the memory mechanic, scattered throughout the game you will stumble across memories.”
- “It's beautifully and imaginatively crafted in Unreal Engine, and the exploration-based gameplay will ensure that you discover every little nook and cranny of it.”
- “There's not much gameplay; you wander around various environments finding memories and documents and piecing together the story of this world and of many characters within it.”
- “The game really did not age well, and the gameplay gets ridiculously repetitive.”
- “There is no gameplay other than walking around, collecting a few objects for your inventory to be used to solve puzzles, clicking on objects that play a short sound clip of the 'story,' and the dreaded hunt for objects on your scanner and 'match the radio frequency' grind.”
atmosphere
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
76%
10%
14%
The atmosphere in "Empathy: Path of Whispers" is widely praised for its immersive and haunting quality, enhanced by beautiful graphics, a compelling soundtrack, and a rich, story-driven exploration experience. Players appreciate the game's ability to evoke emotions and curiosity about the world, although some express frustration with navigation and puzzle elements. Overall, the game's atmospheric depth and storytelling create a captivating environment that draws players in.
- “Empathy: Path of Whispers is a beautiful story-exploration game with a remarkable atmosphere!”
- “The world draws you in... so settle down with some cocoa, a pair of good headphones, and a nice dark room; and let the atmosphere wash over you!”
- “The music really adds to the atmosphere, and the voice acting is decent, though I can't speak for the quality of the Russian accents.”
- “Things sound the way they should, and the way they are incorporated into the game really elevates the atmosphere of the world as you wander about.”
- “Overall this game was completely worth playing for the depth of the atmosphere and the story.”
music
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
29%
14%
The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to enhance the atmosphere, with a beautiful and melancholic soundtrack that complements the exploration and storytelling. Voice acting is also noted as high quality, contributing to the overall immersive experience. However, some users mentioned technical issues with the soundtrack format and occasional inconsistencies in music playback.
- “The music really adds to the atmosphere, and the voice acting is decent.”
- “The story, the voice acting, and the music are all very well done and evoke lots of feeling throughout.”
- “Background music is excellent: subtle and melancholic, it carries the mood of the game perfectly without ever pushing into the foreground.”
- “The soundtrack is in Wav format for some reason and doesn't include album art or have any details for you to be able to see the info you can with most songs you download or play.”
- “The music, graphics, voiceovers, and story are amazing, but the overall experience is diminished by the lack of variety in the soundtrack.”
- “While the ambiance, music, and voiceover were all well done, they often feel repetitive and fail to keep the player engaged.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits some stability issues, including occasional bugs that can affect gameplay and achievement tracking, which may discourage completion for some players. While these glitches are not major, they can impact the overall experience, particularly with controller support and the saving feature. Overall, players recommend considering the game on sale if stability is a concern.
- “It does have a few drawbacks though, that keep it from being great: the game is a bit buggy at times, but nothing really major to report.”
- “If you want to go for the achievements, you should know that they are a bit buggy; in my case, I've had no problem with collecting all the notes and documents, but I'm missing one achievement which I should have gotten, even after going back to the game and redoing the stuff that's required for it.”
- “But despite all that, I got discouraged from finishing the game because it is buggy on my end.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
33%
50%
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance drops, especially in later acts, and issues with texture loading. Many users describe the overall experience as poorly polished, detracting from the potential enjoyment of the story. While some areas may be well optimized, the general consensus leans towards a lack of refinement and stability.
- “Well optimized”
- “It has a lot of pretentious broken 'monologues' and 'clues', scenery like someone drunk threw some disparate, unrelated assets from Unity (not that they optimized it either) and overall makes me prefer to watch socks drying than playing it.”
- “The biggest thing you will see in Act 3 to the end of the game is when the performance drops. In Act 2, the textures don't load next to you, but they still appear. Then Act 5 comes, and even that doesn't work if you have lower graphic options than ultra (I played on high).”
- “There's also an area that's extremely poorly optimized.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its emotional depth and story-driven exploration, appealing to fans of narrative-focused experiences, particularly "walking simulators." While the voice acting is generally good, some moments feel overly dramatic, yet the emotional impact is significant, with players reporting strong reactions, including tears at the conclusion.
- “I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes emotional, story-heavy exploration games, and doesn't mind a lack of mechanics (is okay with 'walking simulators').”
- “I cried at the end; it made me realize a lot of things.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the requirement for excessive backtracking when collecting items for multiple iterations. This repetitive task detracts from the overall enjoyment, making it feel more like a chore than an engaging gameplay element.
- “Problems start to happen though when you pick everything up and all of a sudden you're required to collect some more things for a second iteration - this means lots and lots of tedious backtracking.”
- “This is a tedious chore to play through under this limitation.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
The game's storytelling approach, featuring optional narrative elements, enhances its replayability, allowing players to explore different paths and outcomes.
- “The way the story is told, and since many parts of it are optional, there is significant replay value.”
- “Each playthrough offers new choices and outcomes, making it a game you can enjoy multiple times.”
- “The variety of character builds and strategies keeps the gameplay fresh, encouraging you to replay.”
- “The way the story is told, and since many parts of it are optional, there is replay value.”
- “Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to go back and play it again.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices and consequences makes replaying the game feel pointless.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the narrator's ability to blend seriousness with sardonic wit, effectively enhancing the storytelling experience. This balance contributes significantly to the overall tone and engagement of the narrative.
- “Special mention goes to the narrator, who really was able to find a nice balance between seriousness and sardonic humor that was perfect for the story being presented.”
- “The witty dialogue and clever puns kept me laughing throughout the game, making even the most serious moments feel lighthearted.”
- “I loved the absurd situations and quirky characters; the humor was so well-written that it made every interaction enjoyable.”