In Verbis Virtus you take on the role of a young man, or perhaps a woman; the game is not clear on this. Your journey starts off with you traveling through the desert. You collapse, brush yourself off and rise again on your mission to locate a certain temple; which turns out to be quite literally right in front of you!
You open the temple door by triggering glyphs on the walls which lead you down into the bowels of the huge structure. That’s where things get crazy and why you need a microphone to play this game. Soon thereafter you learn spells, which aren’t cast by simple button-pushing. No, you actually need to speak the spells into your microphone.
“Luma Tial” is one of the first spells you learn, which is used to light up places. After playing for a bit I have come to understand that it’s not the words that trigger the spells, but rather the tone of your voice.
As a test, I said into the microphone: “Almekia Lance”, “Flare Arrow”, and “Dragon Slave!” (I happen to be a fan of the Slayers series). It took a few tries to get the tone just right, but I was finally able to cast spells using those words.
At one point the microphone locked up for a few minutes, during which time I could cast no spells. Is this a bad thing? Not really. I had admittedly been putting the game through its paces in order to test its break point; mission accomplished.
The game itself is amazing, as its core concept is truly unique…utilizing a microphone in a way we haven’t seen since “Hey you, Pikachu”. I find it incredibly refreshing to see the puzzle genre mixed in with this, as well; fighting monsters, casting spells, and being guided thru a giant mountain temple by an unseen host.
Having all these elements mixed in with the Unreal Engine to give the game a very amazing look is simply stunning. Ultimately, is the game worth it? If you are a fan of puzzles and want something unique (and you own a microphone) then yes, it’s totally worth it and I would recommend buying it. I know I am going to have hours of fun alone, discovering other words & phrases and hoping there is some kind of Easter egg.
And for those Harry Potter fans out there, I tried “Avada Kedavra” but it didn’t work, sorry.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!