Meet weird avians, save a kidnapped goddess, and explore a gorgeous lantern world inspired by Persian art in this very funny new indie adventure game
On the eve of her prophesied awakening, Simurgh, the goddess of Lantern City, has been kidnapped by The Scientist, and it falls to you—a young girl named Zig who spends a lot of time on her phone—to figure out what's going on. That's the beginning of the story in 30 Birds, a gorgeous and unexpectedly funny exploration-adventure that's out today on Steam.
30 Birds initially caught my eye with its Persian-inspired art style and unusual mix of 2D and 3D visuals: Lantern City is literally a collection of giant lanterns floating in the cosmos, with gameplay unfolding across the surfaces of each. What held my interest, though, is its light, breezy, wonderfully funny writing and low-pressure gameplay. At first glance I expected something relatively serious and sombre, as befits an indie art game, but it's really more like, well, this:
Zig isn't alone on her quest to discover the fate of Simurgh. The first step, in fact, is to track down a collection of birds spread throughout Lantern City, each of whom will help in their own unique way. They're an eclectic mix of personalities: The very first bird you meet is something of a degenerate gambler, who may or may not have had something going on with someone else's wife. Details aren't provided, at least as far as I've made it into the game (I haven't finished it yet), but he definitely seems like a character.
Artistic director Coline Sauvand said they and co-creator Laurent Toulouse were inspired to make 30 Birds by a trip to Istanbul a few years ago. «I wanted to tell the story of our trip through traditional Persian art: Persian miniatures, which we had discovered thanks to the book My Name is Red,» Sauvand explained. «Back in Brussels, we made an interactive painting based on this idea, and that's when we said to ourselves, 'Hmm… it would be fun to create a videogame based on this idea!'»
One of my favorite moments in the early bits of 30 Birds came when I encountered a fire djinn guarding a door. I solved the djinn's puzzle
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