OPUS: Rocket of Whispers

Overview

OPUS: Rocket of Whispers is a story-driven adventure game developed and published by Taiwanese independent studio SIGONO. The game was released on iOS and Android on September 14, 2017, and a graphically enhanced version with PC optimized controls is scheduled to be released on PC and Mac on February 8, 2018. An additional Switch version was announced on December 2017 by the developer, but the release date is yet to be announced.

OPUS: RoW is the second installment of the OPUS series, the first game being OPUS: The Day We Found Earth. The series focuses mainly on story and exploration, and delves into themes of loss and loneliness, while the main characters explore vast, mysterious worlds.

With a heavy focus on storytelling and simple gameplay, OPUS: RoW draws inspiration from East Asian religious views on death, and tells a somber, yet heartwarming tale of two survivors after an apocalyptic plague in the distant future. Players will follow the journey of John Mason, the son of a rocket engineer, and Fei Lin, a witch from the Church of Earthology. Driven by their own reasons, the two set out to launch a space burial for the spirits whose lives were taken by the plague.

Gameplay

The gameplay is split into two parts. The factory part, where players will build the rocket and craft equipment to aid their exploration. And the exploration part, where players explore the outside world, searching for rocket components, and uncovering the aftermath of the plague.

The Factory

While inside the factory, players will interact with everything in a 2d point-and-click manner. Using the materials found through exploration, players will be able to build three kinds of things:

1. The Rocket, central to the space burial and main goal of the game. The story usually progresses when a rocket part is completed.

2. Equipment, which helps John explore the outside world and reach new areas to find key items for the rocket.

3. Artifacts, which tell the story of their owners before they were claimed by the plague, giving players a glimpse of what happened during the apocalypse.

Players can also interact with objects and furniture in the factory to unlock their stories, and piece them together to learn more about the lives of John and Fei.

Exploration

Anywhere outside of the factory will be explored in a top-down manner, players will control John and have the freedom to walk anywhere they want, but may be limited by obstacles that require equipment to overcome. During exploration, John can do a number of things:

1. Search materials and artifact to be crafted in the factory

2. Travel to distant town and city to uncover buildings and landmarks which provide clues to what had happened during the plague

3. Encounter ghosts who once lived in this world, and fulfilling their final wishes

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack titled “OPUS: Rocket of Whispers Original Soundtrack by Triodust “was digitally released on September 4, 2017 on Bandcamp. The soundtrack features 42 digitally remastered songs from the game with 1 additional bonus track. The soundtrack is written, performed, produced and mixed by Triodust, and mastered by Hsu, Chia-Wei.

Track List