A heart-warming journey of discovery, as orphaned chick 'Birb' sets off to find his true origins. Follow this cheerful little bouncing bird who revels in singing, and guide him through this magical journey of stunning pixel art and gorgeous animation that shapes itself to your musical interactions! Chirp to activate platforms, and sing to the residents of the forest, learning new notes to aid. A little Songbird wants to learn how to sing and dance! So he goes to his uncle for help. His uncle is a famous peacock who is also a great dancer! Sing, dance and learn with thislittle Songbird! Enjoy the great music and landscape! Play with the ASD keys. Songbird's come a long way since its initial 1.x releases, much like Miro, another Mozilla/Gecko media-centric derivative. I used to be constantly frustrated with Songbird's obscene memory/cpu requirements and its absolutely awful performance, but with Songbird 1.7.x, overall usability has been tremendously improved. Songbird Symphony is a rhythmic platformer for the Nintendo Switch developed by Joysteak and published by PQube. Songbird Symphony A heart-warming journey of discovery, as orphaned chick 'Birb' sets off to find his true origins. Follow this cheerful little bouncing bird who revels in singing, and guide him through this magical journey of stunning pixel art and gorgeous animation that shapes itself to your musical interactions!
Buy Songbird Symphony as a Steam Key.
A heart-warming journey of discovery, as orphaned chick 'Birb' sets off to find his true origins. Follow this cheerful little bouncing bird who revels in singing, and guide him through this magical journey of stunning pixel art and gorgeous animation that shapes itself to your musical interactions! Chirp to activate platforms, and sing to the residents of the forest, learning new notes to aid you in captivating rhythm battles against the creatures of this sprawling, enchanting world.
Features
In this journey of self-discovery, Birb will come across dozens of cheery denizens with joyful and bubbly animations. Fly your way across areas rendered in beautiful pixel graphics as you learn more about the tales of the forest.
Come to the aid of the creatures of the forest to find hidden musical notes scattered across the levels. Your good deeds will release extra layers of beats that will blend harmoniously with the soundtrack, bringing further the atmosphere of the world to life.
Learn new notes as you engage in catchy musical segments that will challenge your rhythmic skills. Join the choir and press notes in synchronization with the music to sing along!
Lead Birb across interconnected levels bursting with life and hidden areas to uncover. Pick up feathers along your way and find their owner to discover myriad of secrets and the lore of this magical world.
It’s rare that a game so instantly grabs my attention and focus in the same way as Songbird Symphony did. I installed the quirky platformer in the early afternoon, and didn’t put down the controller until the credits rolled late that evening, exhausted and profoundly satisfied.
Joysteak Studio‘s “platformer with a musical twist” is a sheer joy to play, from beginning to end. The story is at once unique and familiar; the gameplay is a fabulous blend of classic platforming with musical / rhythmic elements; the design is retro and charming without feeling outdated.
From start to finish, Songbird Symphony charmed me, and has made itself a nest in my heart.
Read on for my take on the game’s story, gameplay and design.
Story: Of Home, Family, and Song
🎵 We all want to
Find a place where we feel
Like we truly belong🎶
At it’s heart, Songbird Symphony is a coming-of-age story. You play as a chick named Birb, an energetic ball of fluff raised by a kindly (if eccentric) peacock called Uncle Pea. On realising that he is not a peacock, Birb elects to journey off into the world on his own to discover where in the world he belongs. In his journey, he meets many other birds. From those birds, he gains new notes to add to his songs, makes new friends, and learns important lessons about himself, about family, and about belonging.
It’s a story we’ve seen before in countless iterations, but Songbird Symphony‘s execution of the trope is masterful. Joysteak describes their creation as “Disneyesque”, and there’s a lot of truth to that. You’ll feel like you’re accompanying this tiny bird on an adventure of epic scale, full of song, danger, and excitement. Unless your heart is carved from a cold, diamond-hard stone, it’s impossible to be unmoved by the adorable, indefatigable Birb.
Gameplay: Puzzles, Platforms and Pitch in Songbird Symphony
Songbird Games
At its heart, Songbird Symphony is a puzzle platformer. Push blocks, stand on buttons and use a combination of jumps and glides to traverse the forest. However, the integration of rhythm and musical elements is what makes the platforming elements pop. In order to activate platform elements and mechanisms, you must sing the correct notes with the correct timing. The timing is linked with the beat of the currently playing ambient music, which is a lovely touch.
The other kind of gameplay is the musical “boss battles”, for want of a better term. Each time Birb encounters a new kind of bird, you enter a call-and-response duet that challenges your timing and reactions. Because each bird’s song is unique, the mechanics of these duets vary, keeping each encounter fresh. At the end of each duet, Birb learns a new “note” – corresponding to a button on your keyboard or controller – increasing his musical repertoire. As a result, these duets grow in complexity as the game progresses.
Songbird Symphony Trophy Guide
That said, while the complexity and difficulty undeniably ramps up, especially towards the end, the game never becomes inaccessible. All that is required to “pass” a section is to participate in it – you can try again, if you want to, but the game will never prevent you from advancing the story because you can’t master one style of song. The gameplay is a vehicle for the design and story, and the developers wisely prevent it from interfering in either. Speaking of design…
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Design: Retro Style, Modern Skill
Songbird Symphony‘s distinctive, retro style combines modern sensibilities with a classic execution and palette. Above all, Joysteak’s passion and humour shines through in every creative decision. The character design, in particular, stands out. Each bird, from the pompous chickens, to the raucous kookaburras, to the mysterious bowerbirds, are lovingly represented. Furthermore, the designers have managed to do an awful lot with their limited number of pixels, including top-notch animations that really bring the birds to life.
The game’s audio design is, understandably, top-notch. Each area’s ambient music conveys the tone expertly, and the matching “boss-battle” duets are simultaneously unique and fitting to the overall game. Karaoke-style lyrics on these songs do a phenomenal job of creating the illusion of singing, despite the entire game being unvoiced. If that’s not impressive audio design, I don’t know what is. Of course, the concept of song and singing is crucial to the game’s story.
Songbird Symphony
Songbird Symphony‘s quirky sense of humour, heartwarming story, delightful gameplay and distinctive soundtrack make for an utterly unforgettable experience. Clear an afternoon to join Birb on his journey of self-discovery, and prepare yourself to be moved and enthralled. You won’t regret it.