The King's Bird

Through its minimalist silhouettes, you get a cliched tale of oppression and freedom. The simple haunting music sets a tone. Platformers are one of the oldest genres of video games, and while this one controls differently, it is still a classical platformer at heart. But you want to hear the protagonist sing. You want to fly. She wants to fly. And in video games, there’s nothing more powerful than the moment that the player and the character’s desires become one.

The King’s Bird offers up a unique platforming experience through its gameplay and design, that leads to some pretty spectacular moments. The feeling of flying is captured masterfully here, and simple controls that are hard to master keep you coming back until you finish the story. The sound and art design, while done before give unique spins that make the world all the more rich in detail. While the story is nothing to write home about, only a handful of other small issues really caused me any annoyance or trouble while playing, and I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who needs a good stress reliever or an excuse to unwind at the end of the day.

Developer Serenity Forge might not get away with the whole artistic storytelling approach in the backdrop, but up front, The King’s Bird — while not without some unnecessary frustration to begin with — does deliver, where it matters, on its challenge and integration of physics to end up a satisfying precision-platformer overall.

There are a few issues holding The King's Bird back from being a true standout hit, but those who like their platformers to be a bit avant-garde, should be able to appreciate this virtual ride, along with speed run enthusiasts.

The King's Bird has unfortunately a frustrating level design and a gameplay that lacks of precision. After some really pleasant initial moments, including flying features, the game unfortunately become too tricky for the player.