Musical puzzle

KOCHI: I am standing in the middle of an open courtyard. It is a maze of platforms and stairways. The stairs lead nowhere. The platforms are unreachable. I draw out my trusty pan flute and play a few notes near the music stones. I move the pillars around. Push. Pivot. Push. I remind myself that the rhythm must be exactly right. I shuffle through my remaining instruments to select what resembles a lute and adjust the note playing on an innocent pillar in the corner of the room. 

I then hurry towards the centre and stomp down on a glowing rock. The notes on the pillars play a haunting melody. The stairs rearrange themselves. The platforms draw up to my height. I skip over to the next room, with the satisfaction of finishing a puzzle and… making music?

Sonority is a puzzle adventure where we play as Esther. Esther’s friend, Batama the bear, is unwell. Batama can only be healed by a melody that resides deep in the lost world of Sonority. Along her journey, Esther forges an interesting friendship with a racoon, and a group of sleepy singing rocks. But her way forward is blocked and can only be overcome through the music. Given its premise, I could argue that some musical sense is required to solve the puzzles. 

But as in most point-and-click games, the puzzle can be broken down using underlying logic. In this case, it would be number patterns and orders in the musical notes. It kind of teaches us music, rather than requiring us to know it already. While the puzzles get progressively complex, which means more time to solve music patterns, the puzzles themselves are not the most fascinating part of the game. The appeal lies in the melody that our actions elicit, the reaction of the beautifully constructed 3D world, and the gratification of having another part of the map reveal itself.

About the game
Sonority is created by Hanging Garden Interactive and published by Application Systems Heidelberg. It is currently available for play on the PC (Mac, Windows, and Linux). The game is a great buy if you are looking for a few hours of relaxed puzzle solving. I rate Sonority with a resounding 7/8 musical notes.