The Game Census
the static speaks my name cover art

the static speaks my name

the whale husband · 2015-08-10

Steam

AdventureIndieRPGFree To Play

Modes: Single player

Releases: Aug 10, 2015 (Mac), Aug 10, 2015 (Linux), Aug 10, 2015 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

A dark/sad/weird/funny first person exploration game. You play a man on his last night alive as he obsesses over a mysterious painting. More of a story game in that it emphasizes mood and character over gameplay. Takes ten minutes to play and has "next-gen" features like a shrimp tank.

0
playing now
82%
positive of 5.8k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
62/100
IGDB user rating (29 ratings)
0.6h
to beat · rushed 1h · completionist 1h
pending
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Free
steam price (US)

0 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 03:00 UTC (census sample)

The Static Speaks My Name is a video game released in 2015 by Jesse Barksdale under the name 'the whale husband' for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux. Described as a "dark, sad, weird and funny first-person exploration game (that) emphasizes mood and character over gameplay," the game is a horror-themed adventure game in which the player performs the last routines of a suicidal man obsessed with a painting. The Static Speaks My Name was praised by critics for its unique tone and unusual partnership of disturbing and absurd themes.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 0 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 155 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~19/week).
  • · Review velocity up 1% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 11% of 11,424 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
434320182026Week of 2018-01-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 7 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

402026-08-06 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-07 07:00 — 1 players2026-08-07 15:00 — 1 players2026-08-07 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-08 07:00 — 1 players2026-08-08 15:00 — 0 players2026-08-08 23:00 — 3 players2026-08-09 07:00 — 0 players2026-08-09 15:00 — 2 players2026-08-09 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-10 07:00 — 0 players2026-08-10 15:00 — 1 players2026-08-10 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-11 07:00 — 0 players2026-08-11 16:00 — 1 players2026-08-12 23:00 — 1 players2026-08-14 07:00 — 1 players2026-08-15 14:00 — 1 players2026-08-16 22:00 — 1 players2026-08-18 06:00 — 0 players2026-08-19 13:00 — 1 players2026-08-20 21:00 — 0 players2026-08-22 05:00 — 1 players2026-08-23 12:00 — 1 players2026-08-24 20:00 — 1 players2026-08-26 04:00 — 2 players2026-08-27 12:00 — 0 players2026-08-28 19:00 — 1 players2026-08-30 03:00 — 0 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Attention

3972026-05-30 — 16 pageviews2026-06-02 — 20 pageviews2026-06-05 — 19 pageviews2026-06-08 — 39 pageviews2026-06-11 — 26 pageviews2026-06-14 — 12 pageviews2026-06-17 — 17 pageviews2026-06-20 — 21 pageviews2026-06-23 — 15 pageviews2026-06-26 — 15 pageviews2026-06-29 — 23 pageviews2026-07-02 — 14 pageviews2026-07-05 — 10 pageviews2026-07-08 — 9 pageviews2026-07-11 — 8 pageviews2026-07-14 — 14 pageviews2026-07-17 — 17 pageviews2026-07-20 — 16 pageviews2026-07-23 — 9 pageviews2026-07-26 — 17 pageviews2026-07-29 — 20 pageviews2026-08-01 — 23 pageviews2026-08-04 — 11 pageviews2026-08-07 — 13 pageviews2026-08-10 — 7 pageviews2026-08-13 — 14 pageviews2026-08-16 — 12 pageviews2026-08-19 — 12 pageviews2026-08-22 — 11 pageviews2026-08-25 — 20 pageviews2026-08-27 — 14 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerFamily Sharing

Player tags

RPGDarkIndieShortHorrorSurrealAdventureAtmosphericExplorationMultiplayer

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

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Similarity via IGDB.

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