Unlock your brain with this new puzzle game

The beginning of the semester can be rough. The mental shift from winter break back to the mindset of an active college student might feel similar to a brain implosion. However, the shift can be helped by easing the brain into “power mode.”

One way to do this is to solve puzzles. Any puzzle would work, but sometimes a large jigsaw puzzle takes up too much space or a simple crossword is too boring. Thus, it comes time to turn to puzzle video games for a puzzle that does not feel like pulling teeth. One such game that was recently released is the game “Chants of Sennaar.”

Developed by the independent French studio Rundisc and published by Focus Entertainment, “Chants of Sennaar” is a linguistics, narrative-based puzzle game available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The player is a non-descript traveler, who must make their way through a temple and meet the various societies of people that are living in the different areas and reconnect all of the broken relationships between each society.

However, each society has its own language. It is up to the player to slowly decipher the meaning behind each glyph in each language to understand the locals and translate with the other little societies. This is the main gameplay, but there are also additional, more traditional puzzles in the game–such as reconfiguring statues into particular positions, mazes, and stealth missions.

The art of the game is gorgeous as well. Each level has its own aesthetic and color palette and the shading is beautiful. The music is incredible, too, and the soundtrack (available on music streaming services) can make for some wonderful study music.

Overall, “Chants of Sennaar” is a beautiful new game that keeps the player’s mind sharp and active while leading them through a sweet story of reconnecting past bonds.

“Chants of Sennaar” is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One for $19.99. The demo is free to play.