Creating a music platformer title is an interesting mix on its own, but to do so where it all takes place in the world of birds and nature is a different kind of intriguing. Joysteak Studios has recently released a free demo for their upcoming game, Songbird Symphony, on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4, which shows off what a musical platformer game could be like. With it set to launch on July 25th, it was definitely a good move to let players try the game out now and get excited for whats to come.
Gameplay
You set off on an adventure to find out your origins and where you come from. This journey will take you through various parts of the forests as your first task is to find the wise owl to help you find the path of where to go next. As you venture through the platforming sections, there will be various insects and creatures that you will be able to interact with in order to unlock pieces of the background music.
Starting off with a rather plain and mundane background, it is up to you in order to unlock the rhythm within the forest by interacting with all the different creatures in each section. Once you get them all, you will hear the music fill up with all the different beats and sounds that the forest creatures make when working together.
Other than jumping through different platforms and searching for rhythmic creatures, you will have sections of “listen and repeat” moments. These are when there will be a segment of notes played in different ways and you are to play them back as you heard it. As someone who played on the PC version, my button was S for the beginning of the notes, but at the end I was also given K to work with. While I am not sure how many different keys are going to be combined once the game gets harder, the patterns they gave for just the two buttons were more than I originally expected.
Expectations
While the game starts off with some easy rhythm’s and easy-to-find forest creatures that put the background music together, I can tell they are planning to make this a more challenging game. If not in the platforming arena, then in the musical one. I hope they add difficulty options so players of all skill levels will be able to enjoy the game thoroughly whether they enjoy a nice challenge or just want to take it easy with some musical fun.
Conclusion
Songbird Symphony seems like a fun game and I look forward to the full release later this week. Some of the visuals and “dance moves” they have set up are a bit strange, but also comical. It seems that the journey will have both challenging and relaxing moments throughout, so be ready for whatever may come.
