The Silent Swan

The Silent Swan takes flight on PC and PlayStation 5

Minimalist open-world narrative adventure available now both digitally and in physical format on PS5

The search for a missing spouse would be difficult enough under any circumstances, but all the more so if you must venture out beyond the world you know with only a loose trail of origami birds to follow. An adventurer would have it no other way, of course, and that’s your lot in life in The Silent Swan, the newly released open-world narrative adventure from indie Spanish developer Praenaris.

Years after a calamity known as The Fall “plunged his lineage into disgrace,” Mirov Kavrazyma discovers that his wife Selene – the only witness to the event – has disappeared without a trace. The only clues she left behind are a series of written letters folded into four-winged paper swans, detailing the secrets of The Fall. Though a “strange uneasiness” warns him of what might happen if he follows in her footsteps, Mirov can’t help but venture into “The Land Beyond the Walls” in search of Selene. In doing so, he will also “unveil the history of two cities: Urzhum and Sernur; [and] of two conflicts: past and future.”

Described as a “minimalist and sober game,” The Silent Swan is an atmospheric first-person 3D adventure in which you must guide the protagonist through an open, desolate world of “gothic spaces full of towers, pinnacles, arches, and other elements” enveloped by “fog and silence.” The large urban areas, separated by land bridges traversed by vehicles known as quicycles, are now abandoned but “every building, every floor, every walkway” can be thoroughly explored. As you collect items and solve “brain-teasing” puzzles to progress, you will discover other writings as well, left behind by those who once inhabited these places, which when pieced together begin to create an elaborate “poetic story, with traits of legend.” You’ll also have choices to make, which will “determine the conclusion of your story and that of the characters you encounter along the way” to one of multiple possible endings.

A product of the PlayStation Talents initiative, The Silent Swan is now available to download on Steam for Windows PC, along with a console version for the PlayStation 5 in both digital and physical formats.