Alive with the sound of music

Hopping from stone to stone, a teenage girl narrowly avoids the splash of the stream below. Next she rushes down a slope, momentum carrying her forward. She scrambles up the side of a crag, careful not to lose her grip. At the top, as the girl finally stops to catch her breath, the camera pulls out to reveal the Scottish Highlands around her – then out farther still, demonstrating just how alone she is in this beautifully bleak landscape. There’s not another soul for miles.

After the crowded cruise-ship setting of Inkle’s previous release, the contrast is clear. “We’ve had a bit of feedback since announcing the game of, ‘Oh, this doesn’t look like a usual Inkle game’,” director Joseph Humfrey says. “That just makes me think: Oh, what is a usual Inkle game?” He’s got a point: Pendragon’s turn-based strategy doesn’t have much in common with the archaeological adventuring of Heaven’s Vault. But what people are thinking of, we suspect, is the source of 80 Days’ immense charm, what Overboard condensed into its half-hour runs. The characters. The writing. The joy, ultimately, of a good chat. While there are people to meet in the Highlands, here and there, that’s not really where this game’s interest lies.

Or, as writer and narrative director Jon Ingold more succinctly puts it, “We’ve never made a game with a jump button before.” He hesitates to call this a platformer, partly because that implies a testing of reflexes – something else the game isn’t very interested in. Besides, jumping is far from all A Highland Song has to offer. There are climbing sections that nod to the stamina management of Breath Of The Wild’s own mountaineering, and light survival elements that have you seeking shelter to stay alive. Oh, and occasionally it turns into a rhythm-action game.