A Highland Song

Nestled in the peaks and valleys of the Scottish Highlands lies a narrative adventure filled with secrets waiting to be uncovered. A Highland Song, developed by Scottish studio Icosahedron, invites players into a lush world brimming with folklore and mystical intrigue. You play as Moira, a teenager who has spent her whole life living near but never traversing the region’s iconic slopes and trails. When Moira receives word from her uncle urging her to join him at his coastal lighthouse, her journey across the rugged land begins.

A Highland Song stands apart with its focus on traversal and navigation over combat or collection quests. Platforming plays a key role as you scale cliffs, spelunk caves, and cross streams by leaping from stone to stone. Maps scattered across the world gradually piece together, helping you discover efficient routes and hidden areas.

Since Moira lacks superhuman abilities, managing hazards like frigid temperatures, heavy rain, and treacherous cliffs becomes pivotal. Seek shelter in coves and thickets when the elements turn harsh. Between scrambling up peaks and descending into valleys lies a landscape packed with remnants of the past.

Tales Lost and Found

Developer Icosahedron masterfully builds a world where history and lore seem embedded into the surroundings. Ruined structures harbor clues to their forgotten inhabitants, while spectral echoes lend insight into pivotal moments that shaped the land. Much like The Witness, the narrative emerges organically through exploration instead of excessive exposition. Small visual details bring decaying sites to life, prompting you to mentally recreate what once occurred there. The Highlands hide countless secrets off the main path for curious travelers to uncover on repeat playthroughs.

Throughout your journey, Moira grapples with personal family history that intertwines with regional myths and legends. Ghosts, giants, talking crows, and more mystical figures influence her passage through the hills in subtle yet meaningful ways. While the story isn’t presented through branching decisions, its threads weave an enchanting tapestry to motivate pushing forward. Like real-world Scottish folk music, the narrative carries somber moments but ultimately uplifts the human spirit.

The Sounds of Scotland

A Highland Song’s soulful soundtrack celebrates traditional regional music with a modern edge. Scottish contemporary Celtic groups Talisk and Fourth Moon composed tunes that shape themselves around the landscape. Soft woodwind melodies accompany quiet meadows before transforming into driving drums and strings that energize perilous climbs. In rhythm game-inspired sequences, jump and skip across step platforms perfectly in sync with the soundtrack. These special moments turn memorably melodies into interactive centerpieces. The soundtrack ebbs and flows with the environment to complement exploration instead of overtaking it.

Few games capture a specific place so effectively through art, music, and design quite like A Highland Song’s atmospheric interpretation of the Scottish Highlands. It finds the delicate balance between gameplay, visuals, and audio that many narrative exploration titles strive for but fall just short of attaining.

Review: 8.5/10

The core experience lasts between 4-6 hours, with extra time needed to fully map out the world or uncover deeply hidden narrative beats. Some might desire more substantive gameplay variety or meatier story content to supplement such a rich setting. However, A Highland Song nails its relatively narrow ambition to deliver an audio-visual trek encouraging players to appreciate the history and mysteries encased within one iconic natural landscape.

Pros:

• Gorgeous stylized art reflecting different moods/areas
• Intriguing fragmented narrative promoting curiosity
• Fantastic original soundtrack complementing setting

Cons:

• Could use a bit more gameplay variety after a few hours
• More written narrative content would be welcomed