Finally, a relatable video game. Way back in middle school, every pupil was encouraged to dress up for a charity fun run around the school field. The next evening was then spent crudely creating a robot outfit using two cardboard boxes taped together and wrapped in tin foil – think Eric Cartman’s Awesom-O. While other pupils did chuckle at my costume choice, much to my chagrin, money was made for charity that day. Probably in the vicinity of £2 from my nan, but money for charity all the same.
Incidentally, another boy dressed up as “Super Mario the Racing Driver”, which I never really understood, essentially resembling the portly plumber while holding a chequered flag. Super Mario Kart was yet to release, so I can only assume they owned F1 Race on Game Boy. Or perhaps there was a racing episode in that awful, crudely animated, Super Mario Bros. cartoon.
This new indie, based on the book of the same name, is relatable because it stars Frank, a young boy who dresses as a bird to gain the attention of a fellow schoolgirl, Sylvia, who’s utterly obsessed with our feathered friends. It’s presented similarly to the book itself, with line drawings and doodles peppering the watercolour-style environments, along with nicely drawn still illustrations that appear before a chapter.
The story is spread across four days, each lasting around fifteen minutes and featuring a number of feathers to look out for and collect – some of which require Frank to interact with backdrop elements. Over these four days, Sylvia catches Frank’s eye and sends his heart fluttering, leading to a plan to create a bird costume using sticks and leaves from the local park. So eager is Frank to be noticed that they then wear their creation to school, resulting in stares and giggles from his classmates.
A day involves a few different sequences, including cycling to school – which entails riding through rings and avoiding puddles – completing jigsaw puzzles that gradually increase in size, and gathering items either inside or outside the school, all before constructing the bird outfit via mini-games. Fun touches are abundant, mostly in the form of interactions with other pupils – such as random musings, and much like today’s youth, mild infatuations with a monster battling video game.
Nothing here is particularly deep or complex, which is to be expected for something aimed at a younger age group. The story is sensibly paced, and no scene overstays its welcome, helping to maintain interest. Then barely an hour after it began, the story is wrapped up with a sweet and satisfying conclusion. Any missing feathers can be collected by dipping in and out of scenes via the chapter menu, which is where most of the replay value lies.
Much of The Day I Became a Bird’s appeal lies in its polished presentation, which effectively mimics the concept of a ‘children’s book brought to life’. It has a few thoughtful accessibility features too, and the menus are easy to navigate. The italic font can make some of the in-game text a little hard to decipher, mind. While it may have benefited from being slightly longer, the idea was obviously to retell an existing story through a more interactive medium, which it successfully achieves. It’s one to bear in mind whenever the need for a boredom buster arises.
Hyper Luminal’s The Day I Became a Bird is out now on PS5, Switch and PC. Published by Numskull Games.