BLAEO — Backlog Assassins Extraordinaire

November's Theme: Nonverbal November

Games

Post your suggestions for other games fitting this month’s theme as a reply here - games with a story that don’t use any words. Reply to the first reply if you spot a game that you think shouldn’t be on this list. I’ll only put these games in brackets, you can still play them for the theme if you already started before they were taken off the list.
You can use revilheart’s Checker to see which games have been added since the last update and which games you own (may need to be updated first).
I won’t count who played how much this month, but please let us know if you’re participating and which game(s) from the list you beat (the first one is enough).

Please note that some games have regional variants (due to violence etc.) - so it may be in your library, but with a different AppID.
Thanks to everyone suggesting games for this theme! <3

Comment here if you see a game on the list that doesn’t fit the theme

Bedlam has quite a few words to it?

thanks, removed

I played Between me and the night this past month and it’s not really nonverbal. The protagonist even keeps talking to himself and commenting on what’s going on, plus there is dialogue with other people.

Thanks. I only scrolled through screenshots and watched a short video, seemed fine.

In Papo & Yo robot and girl actively talk with protagonist and give him advices

thanks

I don’t think Refunct has a story. And as I mentioned below, The Room has written (and possibly spoken?) words to convey the story.

The description for Refunct states something like “rebuilding a world” (mine’s not in German, not sure what exactly it says), I took that as a story. I haven’t played it, but thought it might be like Zenge (which has images after every chapter that are supposed to make up the story).

About The Room, I scrolled through some screenshots and didn’t see anything, so I added it. Since only that one was suggested and not the second one, I assumed part 2 might have words in it and left it off. Put the first one in brackets now, thanks for the help.

This 4min speedrun shows the entire game of Refunct, minus picking up optional collectibles. Judge for yourself.

And in The Room, as you can see in this section of the walkthrough, there are written “log entries” that essentially tell the story, and written instructions/tips/hints to help you along the way. There are more, but I just pointed to one.
I mean– I know it doesn’t really matter…and we need a critical mass of games to make it a workable theme. But I’m just pointing things out because we were asked to. :)

[Edit: I haven’t played The Room 2 (yet).]

That speedrun thing made me really dizzy after a few seconds, but I get what you mean, will put it in round brackets/parentheses ;)

Superbrothers has notes and thoughts written, like in this video, at multiple timestamps: https://youtu.be/H_vaKlnQCQY?t=244 https://youtu.be/H_vaKlnQCQY?t=302 https://youtu.be/H_vaKlnQCQY?t=130

Betrayer has a screenshot in the store with dialogue on it

Deadlight also has quite a lot of character thoughts presented on screen, like these ones: https://youtu.be/6vf_8115GIw?t=236 https://youtu.be/6vf_8115GIw?t=403

I don’t know the exact goal, the player not hearing / reading anything or from the character’s perspective, so which are acceptible ones from these, are up to you.

Thanks, removed/put them in brackets in case someone started playing them already.

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This comment was deleted about 7 years ago.

The Room has letters scattered in every chapter, I wouldn’t really call it nonverbal

thanks

Evo Explores has a verbal story. After each level you get a written story fragment.

thanks

This is a really nice theme but quite hard to find games that truly fit…

From what I recall, Myst has an initial text explaining the story, several books to read and FMV cutscenes to advance the story. Many puzzles are also text based.

Detective Draco

I wouldn’t consider Deadlight as a nonverbal game since it has talk between characters, cutscenes and thoughts all around.
Here’s a gameplay for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzsEseCEpN0

Tengami – I’m not sure how much actual cohesive story there is, buuuuut after each level/season you get a written haiku and the opening sequence introduces the ‘mission’ in words. Only just noticed this was on the list.

However, you could perhaps add Tulpa - http://store.steampowered.com/app/331340/Tulpa/
As far as I remember (and browsed on a couple of videos) the story has no words, only the instructions are written out.

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This comment was deleted about 7 years ago.

I have started playing Beyond Eyes and while the girl doesn’t speak except to say the cat’s name the game is constantly giving story while you walk around and explore. I’m already to chapter 3 so I will complete the game but it’s definitely not nonverbal.

I believe Ibb & Obb doesn’t have any words spoken or written.
others:
~~140~~

What’s the story in 140? You’re the second one to suggest it, but I don’t remember any kind of story in it.

There’s no story. It could be confusion regarding “game without words” and “games with stories without words.”

Sorry, confusion in the description.

The Checker link in your post appears to have changed and is currently broken. I think this is the correct link: https://github.com/revilheart/rhBLAEO

Also, the Checker hasn’t been updated since before the url change. So “backlog-deepness.rhcloud.com” on lines 9-10 need to be replaced with “www.backlog-assassins.net”. (In Tampermonkey, after installing, go to the Dashboard and click on rhBLAEO to edit the script.)

Thanks for the help, but I tried doing that and it’s still not working. Any other suggestion?

Blaeo settings -> rhBLAEO -> API key if you haven’t put one in + Sync

There is no rhBLAEO tab in my settings.
Line 9/10:
// @match http://www.backlog-assassins.net*
// @match https://www.backlog-assassins.net*

edit: some pics

You lost the slash while replacing. It should be:
// @match http:///www.backlog-assassins.net/*
// @match https://www.backlog-assassins.net/*

It worked! thanks a lot! :D
btw, you should add the slash in your first reply. It will probably help others. :)
edit: it’s working! \o/ Just found out that I own Evo Explores xD

Alternative for Errise solution:

Open Tampermonkey Dashboard
Select rhBLAEO
Switch to Settings tab
In Includes/Excludes section, add new user match: “https://www.backlog-assassins.net/*”

The script is updated now, so no need for extra steps ^^

Thanks. Fixed the link a few days ago, just forgot to comment ^^

You have ABZU on the list but not JOURNEY?

Is JOURNEY available on Steam?

Nope, it’s a PS4 exclusive.

There’s no dialogue in Bulb Boy, I believe it fits. Also The Old Tree is a short cinematic game without words.

I own a bunch of these games, will have to try and play a couple. :)

The Old Tree (it’s a 15 minute game forgot to take screenshot)
Titan Souls
Tiny Echo
Tengami
Mushroom Wars

thanks, added :)

If anyone is looking for a suggestion, I just started Botanicula and it is beautiful and delightful!

May I ask why The Room is in the list but not The Room Two?
Does the latter not fit or was simply an oversight?

They either should both be there or neither of them should be there.
IMO, neither should be there. I haven’t played The Room 2, but in The Room 1, there were written and spoken words to convey the “story.”

Almost all games on the initial list were suggestions from members. I scrolled through some screenshots and didn’t see anything for The Room, so I added it. Since only that one was suggested and not the second one, I assumed part 2 might have words in it and left it off. The first one is in brackets now (effectively removed), won’t add the other one.

~~I don’t remember any word in TEMBO THE BADASS ELEPHANT. It has some onomatopoeias though, not sure if those count. The story is told between levels with comic strip-like interludes.~~

Edit: Nope, I was wrong.

Started this yesterday and realized just now it fits perfectly with the theme!

From the description: “Hero Of Many” is a story told with no words that explores what it means to be a hero.

thanks, added :)

I’ve played and finished Old Man’s Journey and it’s such a beautiful game. It was very nice and relaxing (I find that those wordless game tend to be), the music was nice, the graphics super pretty (I took a ton of screenshots, I didn’t even share half of what I took cuz I didn’t want to put anything spoilery). I really recommend it even though it’s pretty short.

thanks :)

The Plan has quite intriguing story with unexpected ending and no words

Yes, but I’m leaving off free to play games, since they won’t exactly help with reducing the backlog ;)

What do the parentheses mean in the game names?

removed/put them in brackets in case someone started playing them already

Ah– I searched for “paren”, which is what I call those. [These are brackets.] Maybe a US-Europe thing. :)

I’m not a native speaker, I always thought brackets and parentheses were interchangeable, but it seems brackets is more like the hypernym for all kinds

Neat article. Yeah, I also hear [] called “square brackets” (to clarify them and distinguish them from angle brackets), but right or wrong by default I think of brackets as []. I love language (and learning regional differences)!

If I rememeber correctly, Fire doesn’t have any spoken words :)

thanks

Stranded would fit, only 1 scene has a few words as an internal UI thing (1st screenshot) but story is otherwise not written in any way.

thanks :)

Just finished playing Botanicula - it was a joy. Beautiful, amusing, charming, and whimsical - it was a really nice and unusual point and click adventure game full of surprising moments that made me smile.

Some suggestions

Journey of a Roach no dialogue just some pic thought bubbles
Don’t Starve
Fire

Thanks :)
Do you know if the other titles in the Don’t Starve series also fit?

Don’t Starve Together the game has no verbal stuff like the original game but players do need to communicate their needs to each other using mods that allow typing or using voice chat so wasn’t sure that qualified.

I’d add Missing Translation and Monochroma to this list. The first is free-to-play puzzle game and has a story of sorts, though it’s more of a concept demo for a fuller game that (as far as I know) hasn’t been made. Monochroma is a dark, atmospheric puzzle platformer with no words, spoken or written.

Added Monochroma, thanks! Leaving off free to play titles since they don’t help reducing the backlog

Just finished Hitman GO. There are no achievements for beating the game, but that’s a screenshot of the final map with the final level being beaten.

I’m not 100% sure, but I’ve played these before and I don’t recall any words.
McPixel
Metrico+
Windosill

Anyone confirms?

Thanks. Does Metrico+ have a story? I left off Windosill because as far as I remember there’s no story.

Kind of. Everything’s very abstract, I don’t think I fully understood it. There should even be different endings based on your choices.

You’re right about Windosill, I don’t remember any story, just a few puzzle levels.. but it’s so short and well made that it shouldn’t do any harm to anyone’s playtime anyway =P

~~Has anyone tried MANDAGON? It seems to be nonverbal. Besides, it’s free, 1h long and easy to 100%. Should be great for this theme. :)~~
Nevermind. It does have some words here and there.

from what I remember I would have added it, but it’s free anyways and thus not really in anyone’s backlog

Myst Masterpiece Edition comes in two versions. Here’s the one you haven’t linked yet: http://store.steampowered.com/app/244430/realMyst_Masterpiece_Edition/

added, thanks :)

I’ve just beaten htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary and aside from exactly one exposition line in the intro that tells you names of the main character and 2 floating lights around her, and 2-3 tutorial lines (this is how you climb a ladder, this is how you push a box), all of which happen in like first 2 minutes of the game (out of like 10-12h of gameplay), the rest is devoid of words. And there is plenty of nuanced story there, layers upon layers. So imo it could be added to the list :)

added, thanks :)

I just beat Mushroom Wars which though it has words like “Level #” and the list of 9 goals per level like “Conqueror” and “Defender”/basic tutorial stuff. I was surprised it weirdly had this whole animated no dialogue story throughout the campaign, which was unexpected (considering it’s an RTS game). Funny how the monthly theme sneaked into my “other” games.

So far have beaten 4 nonverbal games! Pretty happy with that amount. :)

How about Violett? More puzzle-based than story-based, but in theory she’s trying to get back to her parents. So far all “dialog” has been symbol-based.

Do we still need to list beaten games or do you extract them from our played list?

Whaat, how long has that played list existed for? And how did I never notice it so far?! This is so handy :D

I didn’t remember so I quickly checked =P
There you go :)
SPOILER: since the 27th of august EDIT:2016!! =P

oh, in case you didn’t notice, you can access your through the “My games” dropdown menu in the top right :)
instead, to see others’ you have to add the /played after their name (for now..)

I actually glanced over changelog myself but didn’t see it. It has been here longer than I am and I just never noticed it woooops.

Yea figured the /played thing really fast but took me like 5 minutes clicking on every button on the site to finally try “Recently played” ;D I am so blind sometimes T.T
Thanks for the info!

hehee, it happens =P

you’d still need to let us know whether you played anything for the theme at all, since revil’s not doing the automatic lists anymore and I’m certainly not going through hundreds of played lists ;)

ok then, I’ve completed:

Fire
INSIDE
The Room, which have been removed but I had already installed it so I played nonetheless =P
Rituals, which is still on the list but I’m fairly sure there’s more text here than in The Room, so I don’t know if this counts either..

I Completed the following

Fire
Beyond Eyes
Bulb Boy
Miniature - The Story Puzzle
Shelter

will this count for the current monthly? Unravel

That’s an Origin link though?

yes…origin only game sadly

For Nonverbal November I’ve beaten/ completed:

Hob
htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary
Little Nightmares newest DLC, The Hideaway (the rest I’ve completed earlier)
RiME (weirdly isn’t on the list, but it was specifically designed to convey story without words through gorgeous visuals, nothing is spoken/ written there)

for this month managed to beat
Journey of a Roach