Of Bird and Cage

Of Bird and Cage has a couple concepts to respect in isolation, but that doesn't disregard its head-banging assault on good taste.

Of Bird and Cage presents a very interesting premise that mixes a movie, a metal concert and a game. Unfortunately, it fails to execute this idea, with poorly polished graphics and gameplay and a poor story. The soundtrack is neat and there is a great effort by the developer in this aspect, but it is not enough to sustain the title. It's worth a conceptual experience, but as entertainment, it leaves something to be desired.

Despite its intriguing, creative premise, playing Of Bird and Cage is a depressing experience. Its humorless, bleak story is coupled with subpar gameplay mechanics and low-quality production values. Whatever thematic chances the game wants to take are undercut by its lackluster presentation. The music alone might be a decent album’s worth of tunes, but it can’t save the pretty terrible game it has to support. It would be hard to recommend Of Bird and Cage to anyone, especially fans of music-based games. Just go listen to your favorite metal band, and make up a story in your head.

Of Bird And Cage is a great concept for a videogame; real care and attention has been taken to produce a quality metal album that tells a story that provokes an emotional response. With a two hour run time and multiple endings, there is scope for replayability, but as the focus has been squarely put against the soundtrack, other areas suffer. Visually Of Bird And Cage does the job, but the gameplay elements felt rushed, and the lack of direction severely hampered my enjoyment.

As a fan of emotive music and story-driven games like the Life Is Strange series and Tell Me Why, I was excited to see a title like Of Bird and Cage appear on the market. It seemed to promise a blend of deep narrative and powerful music. After watching the trailer, my interest had well and truly been piqued. Check out my rapid review below to find out if this musical endeavour delivered on its promises.

Bird and Cage appears immediately loose compared to other narrative-driven first-person titles. The story of the game seems to be more suitable for a short music video than a game with a high interactive rate and fun.

Streamlining it to be more of an immersive walking sim with various morality choices would have fit the flow of the game better. I appreciate what they were going for, I really do. I adore this concept. However, sometimes a great idea doesn’t translate well to a video game.

There’s still a lot to appreciate about Of Bird and Cage, such as the music, the tone, the desire to do something like what we almost saw. Hopefully, this isn’t the last from the developers as I respect the drive, but slow down, pull it back, work with the good ideas, and don’t let the music go flat again.

Of Bird and Cage is a narrative-driven game mixing first-person shooter, environmental puzzle, walking-simulator, driving, platformer, and boxing mechanics - all hammered into the shape of a roughly two-hour-long metal album. A valiant effort by a fledgeling studio with some serious star-power providing tunes to match. But, how does it all fit together?

Of Bird And Cage is a different proposal in which it is the game that revolves around its soundtrack, and not the other way around. Despite its graphical shortcomings, the story it wants to convey and its musical proposal in the form of heavy metal are at a great height. Recommended if you like this musical genre, and also master English.