On the Wings of Love
The Day I Became a Bird is a hand-drawn visual novel game based on the children’s book of the same name. Developed by Passion Games in collaboration with Hyper Luminal Games, a studio based in Dundee, Scotland, the Day I Became a Bird (otherwise referred to as TDIBAB in this article) is a tale of love in its purest form. The love explored in this game is immersive and nostalgic, perfectly portraying the innocence of childhood and how every day moments can be tinted with wonder. For such a short game, the plot was so rich and immersive it felt like I became part of the story, not just a viewer. I would highly recommend The Day I Became a Bird to everyone who reads this.
The Day I Became a Bird follows a young boy named Frank as he encounters Sylvia for the first time. Sylvia is lost in her fascination and love for birds, an animal Frank will soon come to appreciate as his feelings for Sylvia grow beyond curiosity and into something sweeter. The art style is hand-drawn, consisting of soft and simple colours, reminiscent of a child’s drawing (although much neater). Lighting is a key element of TDIBAB, often used to cast a light from the heavens onto a scene before Frank. This stylised approach truly gives us Frank’s perspective, the normal fading into the background as a soft, romantic light captures the beauty of the world around him.
There is no dialogue in the game, forcing the developers to show intention through expression and action alone, and they do a fantastic job of this. Each emotion, no matter how subtle, shows through their body language and facial expressions. The lack of dialogue perfectly suits these themes too, as children often lack the words to rationalise new feelings – they can only experience the moment and watch how it progresses. What I really enjoy about The Day I Became a Bird is that no moment is too small, even the cycle to school is a game. This feels like another great reflection of childlike wonder where there is joy and life in every moment.
The Day I Became a Bird is a very short game, consisting of just over one hour of gameplay. It felt like closing a chapter in my own life that I wasn’t prepared to end. However, it fully utilises every moment of gameplay to build on the story. Gameplay is divided into days and chapters, all within a book. This is another subtle yet great representation of children, where each day closes and the next begins as a new story with the potential for anything to happen.
The game combines storybook openings with closed-world exploration and simple puzzles to create interactivity every step of the way. With previous visual novels I’ve played, it feels like reading with forced interactivity. With TDIBAB, I became Frank. There was a guided path, but the freedom to explore the environment around me. Each button prompt and quick-time event felt essential. Whether it’s finding the resources to impress Sylvia, or acing a game of hopscotch, the interactive elements blend seamlessly into the game and story.
Accessibility is Key
Accessibility for this game is a 10 out of 10. There is no time limit for completion anywhere. Actions have unlimited attempts and there is no pressure to complete any story. There is a minimum number of feathers that you must collect to progress each chapter, however, these feathers are placed in open and obvious positions and used to guide you along the correct path. A completionist run of the game simply requires some exploration, interacting with other elements such as hopscotch or helping friends.
The settings contain a plenitude of accessibility options, also presented when beginning a new game. There are options for a dyslexic-friendly font, colour-blocking to highlight core elements, and camera shake disabling. You can also turn off quick-time events to enjoy the narrative more fully. Quick-time events, however, have no time limit to complete the prompt. If you miss any items, such as when cycling through ten rings to get to school, the game will generate further rings until the event is completed. This is great for completionists like me that want to collect all feathers before hitting that final ring and finishing the scene.
To summarise, The Day I Became A Bird is a visual novel that takes us on Frank’s first journey of love and wonder. The game is enchantingly sweet and has strong visuals to support this, especially in the use of lighting. I highly recommend this game to all readers, especially those with accessibility concerns as the game puts in multiple measures to accommodate every possible concern. Hyper Luminal Games has done an excellent job of bringing the same-titled book to life in a way that is charming and immersive. I look forward to similar games from them.
The code for this review was provided by Passion Games. This review has been cross-posted to OpenCritic.
