We experienced the charm of interactive adventure video games once again in Detriot: Become Human recently, and there are actually plenty of similar games where you can make decisions to affect the story endings. The award-winning indie game – The Lion’s Song is one of the best in this genre too! Launched on Steam back in July 2016, the game has recently arrived on Nintendo Switch as well. We are lucky to be able to enjoy the game, so here is our The Lion’s Song review!
Introduction
Set its story against the backdrop of early 20th century Austria, every episode of The Lion’s Song follows a different character, each blessed with an exceptionally creative mind. Players will be able to experience their very unique stories where they struggle for creativity, human connections and inspiration. The choices you make will affect the way in which the story unfolds!
Gameplay and Features
Shown in our gameplay above is the first chapter that tells a story of the musician Wilma Doerfl, who was sent to a cabin in the Alps so she could concentrate and complete her song composition in time. However a thunderstorm rages during her period of stay, she was unable to go out in search of inspiration.
You will be able to click and search around the cabin to help Wilma. For example, you can click on a poetry of collection for Wilma to read or go outside to arouse her creativity from the sound of the raindrop. Other than that, you will need to choose a dialogue to answer when Wilma talks to others too.
Most of your time will be spent only in the cabin in the first episode but moving on to the other episodes, you will be able to travel between locations in the city. You can also have conservations with many different individuals, and learn their different perspectives on a specific matter.
At the end of every episode, there will be an end screen displaying the choices you make and how your choice different from the other players. From here, you can replay the scene for a different choice. The game also has a “Connections Gallery”, allowing you to look up and revisit what you have experienced.
The stories are presented in a simple yet memorable pixel art style, while the soundtracks and sound design are outstanding – it explains the mood of the situation well, I could feel the struggles and grief of the protagonists from it.
Conclusion
Although the way you can play the game is quite dull, thanks to the amazing effort in its art and sound design, you can easily understand the hidden meaning in the deep stories. Also, there is actually a connection amongst the different protagonists, in which your decisions may affect the story of the other protagonists, but the characters themselves didn’t realize it at all.
However, there is a minor downside of the game – you can only move the pointer by the joystick. Why use the joystick when there is a touchscreen available? Maybe the developers should consider adding on another control schemes for the ease of playing. Nonetheless, The Lion’s Song is a game that worth your time.
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The Lion's Song
The Lion's Song is featuring deep stories, along with the excellent art and sound design, you will be able to experience the struggles of the protagonists and help them to break through their limits. However, the controls are tiresome as you can only control the pointer with joysticks instead of using the touchscreen.
PROS
- Immersive and meaningful stories
- Awesome work on art and sound design
- Connections between the different protagonists
CONS
- The game play is monotonous
- Cannot use touchscreen