THE SILENCE

A found-tape psychological horror for Minecraft

"This tape was found inside a wall of the old wing. Nobody remembers recording it."

The Silence is a complete 3D horror game that runs inside Minecraft, on its own engine, and a Minecraft mode in which someone else lives in your world.

▌ STORY MODE

Fifteen dark, cramped places, from the family house to the village at the edge of the forest. Read what was left behind, use old terminals, follow the clues and keep moving. The fear builds slowly: long silences, places you have to go back through… and then something is there.

▌ THEY ARE LISTENING

Your microphone is part of the game. Hold your breath, stand still, hide in wardrobes and under beds. The flashlight shows them to you… and shows you to them. No microphone? You can still play: hold your breath with a key and move carefully.

▌ ARIADNE STATIONS

Memories recorded on old cartridges: retro 2D levels that open the way forward.

▌ CO-OP

Two players, voice chat and a camera whose flash sees what your eyes cannot.

▌ MINECRAFT MODE

Someone else lives in your world. The Silence and the Distant Demon walk your Minecraft worlds, and the balloon keeps you company: open its menu with G, or give it orders by voice or chat.

▌ MELMOTH

The last door leads to a Minecraft world that is not quite right. Something huge is waiting there, and it fights to its own song.

▌ INSTALLATION

• Minecraft 1.20.1 with Forge 47.x.
• First launch: the main menu offers to download the story-mode resources (maps, textures, sounds and cinematics, about 1.6 GB, encrypted). They are downloaded only once, from GitHub, and checked file by file. When the mod is updated, only the parts that changed are downloaded again. The Minecraft mode works without them.
• Recommended: at least 6 GB of RAM allocated to Minecraft and a dedicated graphics card. The story mode is a full 3D game.
• Servers: a dedicated server only needs the mod's file. The story-mode resources are client-side.
• Tested with Oculus and Embeddium.
• 10 languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese (Simplified).

▌ WHAT GOES ONLINE

• The story-mode resources, downloaded once from GitHub, and only if you accept.
• The update check: the menu tells you when there is a newer version. The mod never updates itself; you update it from where you installed it.
• The public list of EBALIA's mods, shown in the main menu.
• Linking Patreon is optional. Only when you press Link does it send your player name and Minecraft account ID; a support code is sent only when you redeem it, so that each code works once.

Nothing else is sent or stored. No ads, no data selling. As with any download, GitHub sees your IP address.

▌ HEALTH WARNING

Contains flashes, flickering lights, sudden scares and horror scenes that may affect people with photosensitive epilepsy or who are sensitive to this kind of content. If you feel dizzy, eye discomfort or unwell, stop playing.

▌ CREDITS

• EBALIA — maps, mechanics, story, sound, programming and direction.
• PKFL — 3D models: story-mode entities and characters, and the mod's logo.
• Millie_Indifference — Minecraft-mode character design: The Silence and Distant Demon.
• Bon — character from The Walten Files (Martin Walls) · 3D model by the artist Mezer (@Mezer_).
• Melmoth's battle song — made with Suno.
• Sound (CC0, public domain) — OpenGameArt.org (qubodup and others) · Kenney (Impact Sounds) · effects synthesized by EBALIA.
• Textures and models (CC0) — Poly Haven.
• Speech recognition — Vosk, Alpha Cephei (Apache 2.0). It runs on your computer; in co-op, your voice only reaches your partner.
• Technology — Minecraft Forge · LWJGL · OpenAL Soft.
• Made with AI (only this): the lighting (baked and real-time), the optimisation (performance, stutter-free map loading and the mod's size), the player's integration (body, animations, hands and flashlight), object and door physics, the translations, and automated testing and bug fixing.

Thank you, PKFL and Millie_Indifference: your contribution made this mod possible. And thank you to every Patreon member for supporting us all these years.

▌ SUPPORT AND LINKS

• YouTube
• Discord
• Patreon: members can link their membership in the in-game Shop & support to unlock their tier's extras.
• Website and launcher

▌ LICENSE

© EBALIA. All rights reserved. You may play The Silence for free, alone or on your servers, and record and publish your playthroughs. You may not reupload or redistribute the mod or its parts, include it in modpacks without permission, or alter or bypass its support system. Imitations are not accepted: clones, knock-offs or unofficial "remakes" of the mod, its entities, its zones or its story, fake versions, and pages or channels posing as the official ones will be treated as unauthorized copies and taken down. Full terms are in the mod (Legal button in the main menu) and in LICENSE_THE_SILENCE.txt. Contact: Discord ebalia_real.