I wonder if other people will have the same reaction I did to The Day I Became A Bird. ‘Ah, young love’, said faintly wistfully. The ‘young’ part of young love is something I never experienced. I met my wife when I was twenty-three – not old, but not quite the story that children’s books are written about. Still, birds as a theme is one that resonated. We both adore birdwatching, but it’s more than that. We’ve done all sorts of grand, romantic gestures but nothing makes me feel in love more than lying side-by-side in bed listening to the birdsong through the window.
It’s those sort of warm, comforting feelings that The Day I Became A Bird elicits. Fully to be expected, given this is an adaptation of a short film, which in turn is an adaptation of a children’s book. The general story is taken from Ingrid Chabbert and Raúl Nieto Guridi’s book. The art style and stitching together of set pieces is taken from Andrew Ruhemann’s short film. The question, then, is what has been added in the transformation to video game?
Taking Flight
The Day I Became A Bird tells the story of a young boy, reluctantly waking up in order to go to school. On his way there, he sees a young girl, Sylvia, singing to the birds. He becomes completely smitten. As he learns more about her, he realises she has a fascination with birds, to the point of drawing them all over the playground. He takes on that fascination and brings it to quite the end point: creating a giant bird costume and wearing it to school. Somewhat of a spoiler alert: it goes about as well as you’d expect.
It’s a sweet story, through and through. A tale of infatuation taking us to crazy places, when the simplest thing to do would be to walk over and say hello. Interestingly, the short film that served as inspiration is included with the game. It allows for some comparison. I’d say the game characterises the protagonist a bit more through the gameplay (like sword fighting with a ruler), but the short film gives Sylvia an almost angelic quality which furthers the themes of young love. I’d recommend watching the film after you finish the game. It adds a rather poignant bookmark to things.
Winging It
On the gameplay side of things, Hyper Luminal Games have taken something of a scattershot approach to adapting The Day I Became A Bird. The core gameplay is a light puzzle game, where you walk around interacting with things, via button holds or quick time events, to complete simple objectives. These sections are split up by various gameplay interludes. I wasn’t too overgone on the ones that had you riding bikes through hoops, as it felt like you could just plop the controller down with little punishment. The sections where we cut out pieces for the bird suit, however, were delightful.
I’d say the gameplay is serviceable, if a touch unimaginative. Here I tuck away my inner child to become my grumpy thirty-something outer self. The same button presses are used for pretty much everything, which gets a bit stale. I did like that there are a few bits where we can encourage our kiddo to mess with the set dressing, but these seemed a bit sparse. The joy of adapting a film is allowing the player to immerse themselves in the world. I wished this adaptation allowed that more – especially when we were in the bird suit.
The Day I Became A Bird – A Worthy Adaptation
Still, I’d say that The Day I Became A Bird is an excellent way to introduce a lovely book (and film) to a new audience. People are embracing video games as an artistic medium more and more, after all, so it makes sense as a platform for children’s stories. I could bang on about the gameplay all I want, but at the end of the day it is engaging, with a pleasant story, which is most of what you need. I’m not sure it would’ve stuck in my head as a game when I was a kid, but I think the story would’ve made me smile.
What’s more, there were strokes of what I wanted here. The section where you go around gathering materials for the big bird costume, and then the sequence where you put it together, are my favourite parts. They are, I think, stronger than the sections in the film. You really get a sense of the determination of this kid. Bundling the film with the game really highlights the strengths of both mediums, but whichever version you click with most, you’ll end up with a big grin on your face by the end.
