A brilliant puzzle game where you decipher unknown languages through observation alone. Gradually piecing together a foreign grammar delivers a rare intellectual high. Clean art direction, mysterious mood: an original idea executed with near-perfect confidence.
Your verdict
Category
Puzzle1 player7+
Description
A landmark-less traveler gradually deciphers the forgotten tongues of a tower-city of five peoples. Published by Focus, released worldwide in 2023. Deducing glossaries you fill in yourself, observation puzzles, light stealth and a clean art direction of great elegance.
Chants of Sennaar review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
Clean line work in the spirit of Mœbius: flats of soft colour, monumental architecture and the symbols of a language to decode. This minimalist graphic elegance directly serves the puzzle, every fresco becoming a clue and the scenery itself a text to read.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Deciphering an unknown tongue through deduction alone: few games turn learning into a pleasure this pure. You study mute symbols, build their meaning, and fill in the glossary yourself with genuine pride. The art direction in flat blocks of color keeps every ounce of its elegance. The stealth segments, a touch stiff, are its only weakness. But the core idea is so true that it simply doesn't age.
What if an entire game were about learning an unknown language? That rare gamble, backed by Focus in a crowded calendar, slipped under the radar for lacking an obvious genre. You deduce the meaning of glyphs yourself, fill out a notebook and progress through quiet flashes of insight, never spoon-fed a single line. The Mœbius-inspired art direction and gradual linguistic complexity make for an experience of rare elegance. For curious minds who'd rather understand than fight.
Is Chants of Sennaar still worth playing in 2026?
Few games make learning a language such a pure pleasure. Chants of Sennaar sets down unknown symbols and lets us build their meaning by deduction, filling the glossary ourselves with genuine pride. The flat, colorful art direction remains gorgeous and has lost none of its elegance. The light stealth segments are its only weakness, a touch stiff. But the core idea is so right that the game does not age. For anyone who loves to decipher and observe, it is a singular experience, still fresh.
