In this post I would like to talk about a wonderful linguistic puzzle game called Chants of Sennaar. This game made its debut in 2023 and holds a 10/10 rating on Steam. It was developed my Rundisc and it focuses on you adventure around the Tower.
At first it may look like a simple point-and-click game with easy puzzles, but it’s not the mechanisms that make the game difficult. And no, it’s not the seldom stealth parts either. The challenge of this game comes from mastering five languages of the different people who live in the Tower.
In order to understand what the words mean you need to read the context in which they are used and try to guess the meaning until you shall confirm it during your ascension to the top.
During the later part in the story you will also have to work a translator in order to help different people communicate with one another. This little exercise I have found to be the most exciting because different people use different words to refer to the same thing and it’s you task to understand those language distinctions.
Which is more it may inspire some people to take the game’s existing languages and expand them using the rules of those languages. And yes, there are rules and they will help you understand the words you see.
A Little Linguistic Exercise
I would like to show a specific example on the fourth language that you will encounter in the game. It’s spoiler free, so don’t worry about learning some key bits before playing. It’s just my favourite language in the whole game, so I want to use it.
Please, allow me to introduce the basics:
These are just a few examples of the hieroglyphic indicators that the game uses. Based on the complete table, which you can find on the Steam Community page (link here), we can see that they form verbs from nouns and names of places come from verbs associated with those places. By that I mean:
This research can lead us even further and allow us to coin our own words from the words given in the game or even speculate how some antonyms may look like in the language based on the words the game provides. For instance:
Unfortunately, the range of words in the game is very limited but it’s still enough to excite a linguistic enthusiast.
All in all, it’s a magnificent game, though short it can captivate you with it’s puzzles and atmosphere. It’s music and visuals are also stunning. Each section is different in colour scheme and can be easily distinguished.
It’s message is simple and wonderfully displayed in the very languages that you learn throughout the game. It’s an experience I cannot recommend enough. You don’t even need to buy it if you can’t afford it, simply checking out a walkthrough may be enough. you can try to guess the word meanings with the player as you watch.
Geeky Nerd 
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