The Moment of Silence

About

"The Moment of Silence" is a cinematic spy thriller point-and-click adventure game. Players assume the role of Adam Carlton, a corporate communications expert who becomes embroiled in a global conspiracy. The game features a detailed narrative, voiced characters, and a variety of puzzles to solve. Note: The provided Steam ID is for the 2015 release of the game by House of Tales. The original game was released in 2004.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

56%

Audience ScoreBased on 48 reviews

story24 positive mentions

gameplay6 negative mentions

The game features a compelling and thought-provoking story that addresses themes of authoritarianism and surveillance, making it relevant even years after its release.
The game includes a variety of locations and interesting characters, enhancing the overall narrative experience.
Despite its flaws, the game has decent voice acting and engaging puzzles that can be enjoyable for fans of the genre.

The movement and navigation mechanics are clunky and frustrating, often requiring excessive backtracking and leading to tedious gameplay.
Camera angles and interaction points are poorly designed, making it difficult to progress without a walkthrough.
The game suffers from lengthy dialogues and unnecessary animations that slow down the pacing, detracting from the overall experience.

story
57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
53%
5%
The story of "The Moment of Silence" is widely praised for its engaging and complex narrative, exploring themes of authoritarianism, social engineering, and surveillance, reminiscent of Orwellian influences. While the plot is compelling and features strong commentary, many players find the gameplay mechanics frustrating, with slow pacing and non-intuitive progression detracting from the overall experience. Despite its flaws, the storyline remains a significant draw for those who appreciate a thought-provoking sci-fi narrative.
- “The storyline is fun, graphics are decent, considering the age of the game.”
- “It has a really great story and for that it's worth playing.”
- “The story is positively riveting and predicted the NSA scandal and surveillance drones 10 years before their occurrence.”
- “Biggest issue: the story flow and next actions are not intuitive at all; they come out of the blue, and it is often unclear what to do next.”
- “The plot is a decent but run-of-the-mill conspiracy story loosely inspired by Orwell.”
- “There are a lot of better adventure games than this, and for a story-driven game, it's just not worth it.”
gameplay
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
50%
33%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the integration of a personal phone into the experience, while others criticize it for being tedious and plagued by outdated mechanics. Many find the controls cumbersome and the overall gameplay frustrating, detracting from an otherwise interesting story and well-developed characters. Despite some positive elements, the consensus leans towards disappointment in the gameplay's execution.
- “I did enjoy the use of the phone as an integral part of the gameplay and story; instead of having phones that you interacted with at locations, you have a personal phone that you will need to make use of here and there to get information.”
- “Big difference with 'The Moment of Silence' is it's more like a movie/game than most pure 3rd person point and click adventures. Very interesting futuristic setting and easier gameplay in that you can't make a disastrous mistake.”
- “The gameplay is that of a traditional point and click adventure.”
- “The gameplay is pretty terrible; it wastes the player's time a lot for no good reason.”
- “An interesting, dystopian story made incredibly frustrating by its gameplay.”
- “This game had an excellent story and generally good puzzles, but a few bad mechanics made it very tedious to play.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
36%
27%
The graphics of the game are generally considered dated, with low resolution and limited settings, which may deter some players. While the pre-rendered graphics and character models are appreciated for their time, issues like small item visibility and awkward camera angles detract from the overall experience. Despite these shortcomings, some reviewers still find the graphics acceptable for a point-and-click adventure game from the 90s.
- “✅ Dated but still good looking pre-rendered graphics and character models.”
- “The storyline is fun, graphics are decent, considering the age of the game.”
- “Amazing graphics and cut scenes.”
- “It's obvious to state that considering how old it is, the resolution is low and the graphics aren't the best.”
- “The main issue graphics-wise is that even when the camera angles are close to you, some items are either pretty tiny or not easily discernible from the background.”
- “- The resolution is low, there is a weird letterbox aspect, and it's locked to 40fps; there are no graphical settings whatsoever.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly when transitioning between scenes, which detracts from the overall experience. While the story and puzzles are praised, the lengthy traversal through expansive environments can become frustrating and lead to reliance on hints.
- “This game had an excellent story, and generally good puzzles, but a few bad mechanics made it very tedious to play.”
- “As the gameplay makes the game tedious to play, I resorted to using hints a couple of times.”
- “The game features large, beautifully rendered backgrounds, yes, but traversing through the long corridors and wide plazas quickly becomes tedious.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
100%
The background music effectively enhances the overall atmosphere of the game, with ambient tracks that complement the dystopian, futuristic setting of New York.
- “The ambient music also fits the dystopian, futuristic New York.”
- “The background music bolsters the general atmosphere.”
- “The ambient music fits the dystopian, futuristic New York.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Reviewers note that the background music significantly enhances the overall atmosphere of the game, contributing to an immersive experience.
- “The background music enhances the overall atmosphere beautifully.”
- “The immersive environment draws you in and makes you feel part of the world.”
- “The atmospheric details create a sense of tension and excitement throughout the game.”
- “The background music does little to enhance the overall atmosphere.”
- “The game lacks a cohesive atmosphere, making it feel disjointed and uninspired.”
- “The environments feel empty and lifeless, failing to immerse players in the experience.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game has been reported to have some stability issues, with users noting that it is a bit buggy and glitchy.
- “The game is a little bit buggy and glitchy.”
- “I experienced frequent crashes that made it unplayable.”
- “There are numerous stability issues that disrupt the gaming experience.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the amusing details of the character Tommy's room, which adds a lighthearted and entertaining element to the overall experience.
- “One funny thing about the kid Tommy is his room.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express a strong emotional connection to the nostalgia of seeing classic games available on Steam, highlighting feelings of surprise and sentimentality.
- “I was quite surprised and emotional to see this old classic on Steam.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The optimization of the game is hindered by a lackluster performance from the voice actor, which contributes to an overall monotonous experience.
- “The game suffers from severe optimization issues, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering during gameplay.”
- “I experienced long loading times and inconsistent performance, which really detracted from the overall experience.”
- “The graphics settings are poorly optimized, making it difficult to achieve a stable frame rate even on high-end hardware.”