A Highland Song review: Storytelling at its peak

Yet behind these sodding sodden squalls lies a majestic beauty, so artfully manifested in A Highland Song, the latest game from the left-field UK studio Inkle. These Cambridge-based indie developers made their mark with distinctive narrative adventures including 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault.

Now they’ve looked north for inspiration to Scotland’s jagged peaks and inhospitable climate, telling the tale of troubled teenager Moira McKinnon on a risky Highlands trek to find her uncle.

You can’t imagine another studio making this quirky 2.5D adventure that’s as much a personal voyage of discovery as a test of navigation and, unbelievably, music rhythm action. No one would buy, never mind understand, the elevator pitch of platformer meets exploration suffused with poetry, humour and storytelling – oh, and with a bit of Guitar Hero.

But this being Inkle, it’s a game that always returns to people as the heart and soul of the quest – which ultimately is for Moira to understand her upbringing and even herself. She’s kinda fallen out with her mum, you see, and when Uncle Hamish invites her to visit him at his lighthouse many miles away from their Highlands home, she slips out without saying goodbye.

With only a vague notion of where to go in the imposing landscape, she runs across meadows, scrambles up cliffs and slips down scree, catching an occasional glimpse of the lighthouse in the far distance. All the while, she narrates her expedition in a lilting Scottish accent, reading out the letters Hamish has sent her and wondering aloud where she’s headed. Along the way, she finds scraps of clues – maps, useful tools, discarded junk – that might bring her closer to her destination.

The danger for Moira lies not just in getting hopelessly lost, nor in falling off a steep ridge, but in surviving the inclement conditions, varying from mere bone-chilling drizzle to crackling thunderstorms. Caves and bothy huts can give brief respite but Moira has a deadline of just a few days to reach Hamish and can’t tarry. Her painstaking progress – navigating her way methodically from peak to peak – occasionally gives way to short snatches of abandon where she can sprint along rocky paths to the tune of a vigorous Scottish jig. Here, Inkle makes you play a rhythm action mini-game to match her steps to button presses, almost as a way to lift Moira’s flagging spirits.

And when the pace slows down again, your eye is always drawn to the developers’ sumptuous artwork, depicting the grandeur of the undulating terrain.

Inkle counsels that you’ll never discover all the Highlands’ secrets in just one playthrough, urging you to re-run Moira’s hike multiple times. In fact, your first run is likely to be quite confusing, including the occasional moments where the detailed artwork obscures the path forward and unorthodox nature of the gameplay.

Are you supposed to find meaning in every object you stumble upon? Can you use conventional adventure items such as a knife or a mirror as you might expect? Will Moira ever find real happiness? You may not find out the answers to some or all of these until you replay A Highland Song a handful of times.

In the meantime, you’ll have enjoyed several contemplative hours in the company of a sassy and determined young woman while unconsciously nurturing a desire to visit Scotland. Just don’t forget your raincoat.