I had a really great chance to try out Whispering Willows, and I tried it out for the Wii U. Is there any reason why I said “Whee” in the title? Not only did I want to complete the alliteration with “W”, but the game is a lot of fun.

Now, this is a game that I don’t think is supposed to be “fun” per se, as there are a lot of parts of this game that are pretty serious. Whispering Willows is a side-scrolling adventure game where the player is Elena, and there isn’t really much backstory given other than she is trying to find the mystery about her missing father.

The issue with Elena is that she is exploring this very spooky place, and she learns that she can project her spirit. She can’t walk through walls, but if there is a crack in the wall, Elena can seep herself through and do something so her body can get in. Elena’s spectral form has some limited telekinesis for moving objects like pulling levers to unlock doors, which leads to more places to go.

Elena is solving a mystery and she often gets clues from the ghosts that she can talk to in her spectral form. There is also these notes that Elena finds that she collects in order to find out something about the mystery. I haven’t played the game all the way through, but it looks as if the mystery is about some massacre of indigenous people has taken place, and spirits are not at rest. That is, this is what I think is happening, because the notes that Elena collects in the story have several parts scattered all about. I honestly don’t think it is necessary to get all the notes to win the game, but hey, if you are going to play, get all the stuff you can get.

This game kept me going, as there is always a door that you need a key to open, or a ghost that needs an item. Yeah, this is like other adventure games where you have items that you find and use them later. There is even an inventory, but if you have the right item in the right place, you’ll find what you’re looking for.

As I mentioned, I played this on the Wii U, and I only have one problem with the game. Whenever you walk through an open doorway, the game has to load, and it takes about a half a minute. It reminds me of playing game on 80’s computers, and waiting for the next screen to load. I’m guessing that nothing could be done about that, and it doesn’t remove the player too much from the game. However, there is one part of the game that takes place in a maze, and there is a lot of waiting in between locations.

So, if you want to play the game, it is available on several platforms including the big three consoles, and the Steam Store for $9.99.