*Note: I received the game for free for my honest review. Thank you so much to RenaissancePR for the PS5 game key!
The Day I Became A Bird introduces us to a young boy named Frank. Instantly I loved the art style for the game because it looks and feels like a whimsical children's book. There's a mini tutorial in Frank's bedroom on how to move him around, pick things up, and interact with surroundings. Frank even has a cute little dog that you can pet and feed before Frank heads off to school on his bike. This is where Frank's story begins and I loved the narrative pages as he tells his story because again it definitely feels like a lovely children's picture book.
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| Frank begins his story. |
There's an introduction to a bike riding mini game here where Frank has to dodge puddles and ride through rings while collecting golden feathers on his bike ride to school. It's fun, but it went a little fast for me and I kept missing a ring or feather here and there. Luckily, the game doesn't judge you too harshly for that and gives you plenty of chances to get the number of rings and feathers you need.
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| Trying my best at this minigame. |
Frank has a little trouble on his bike and crashes it in the park. Frank is okay and as he's sitting there he notices a girl singing to the birds. Frank is immediately drawn to this girl and can't stop thinking about her and how pretty he thinks she is. He gets to school and here Frank can talk to his classmates which gets information about the girl he saw in the park such as learning her name is Sylvia and that she's always drawing birds. There's little tasks you can do here like finding art supplies and putting together a picture that got torn apart. There's tile box style jigsaw puzzles you can do throughout the game that aren't too challenging, but definitely add to the game's charm.
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| Frank notices the pretty girl singing to the birds. |
Frank comes up with a plan to get Sylvia to notice him. He decides that he will find a way to become a bird since she loves birds. There's a whole day at the park where Frank gathers the materials he needs for this like getting branches by shaking trees to knock them loose or gathering leaves from the leaf piles. Frank can also talk to all the kids there and do various tasks for them in exchange for items he needs for his bird project. The isometric navigation to 3-D is interesting with the straightforward gameplay. However, sometimes I would miss things visually and have to walk around several times before I found the item I was supposed to pick up.
I also struggled with the minigame of Frank constructing his bird costume because the instructions weren't really clear about what I was supposed to do in order to cut out the shapes. I soon figured out that I was supposed to cut in between the dotted lines and I looked into the settings and discovered I could make the controls simplified which I greatly appreciated. That made things a lot easier for finishing this minigame and completing Frank's bird.
The Day I Became A Bird doesn't pretend to be something it's not. It's direct and honest in the storytelling showing that this is not just a story about Frank, it's a story about that feeling of being a kid and finding first love. It does it in such a lovely and thoughtful way and the simplicity is what makes it beautiful and allows it to shine. I found myself smiling often at Frank's antics trying to impress the girl he likes while enjoying the story, the art, and the gameplay. The game isn't long at all. It's short and sweet; I finished it in about 45 minutes. I feel this works because the narrative for the story is nice and doesn't overstay its welcome with a wonderful ending that ties everything together beautifully. It was so lovely and I'm glad I got a chance to experience it.
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| Become a bird! |
*The Day I Became A Bird is available on the following platforms: Steam, Playstation 5, and Nintendo Switch
*Join the Mothergamer community on Twitch where we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer
