A Bird Story

A Bird Story is an adventure role-playing video game developed and published by Freebird Games. It was released in November 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux as a minisode connecting the previous game by Freebird Games, "To the Moon", with its sequel, "Finding Paradise". It received mixed reviews from critics, whose main complaints were its dullness and slow gameplay.
Gameplay.
"A Bird Story" is a short video-game in which the player controls an imaginative young boy who is ignored by the majority of the other characters and throughout the whole game; all characters except the boy and a few others have ghost-like bodies. When the boy finds an injured bird, he becomes happier and begins to notice more people, and his introversion lowers. The map is as though the game is a recollection of memories, instead of being in real time. The player could be in a park which leads into a hallway. In a "Kotaku" review, the lack of dialogue was compared to the expression "show, don't tell".
Development and release.
"A Bird Story" was developed by Freebird Games using the RPG Maker XP engine. It was ported to Linux and MacOS with the open source "RPG Maker XP" game engine recreation "MKXP".
"A Bird Story" was primarily released as a connection between "To the Moon" and the proper sequel, "Finding Paradise" on November 5, 2014. It was the second minisode released between the publication of "To the Moon" and the development of "Finding Paradise", which was released in December 2017. The player will control the same character in "Finding Paradise" as they did in "A Bird Story", although Gao states that players do not need to play it to understand the sequel. The basic plot of the game is talked about in the sequel, as are mentions of "To the Moon".
Reception.
"A Bird Story" received mixed reviews, with an overall 66/100 Metacritic rating based on 18 critic reviews. Many reviewers have compared this game to "To the Moon", another game by Freebird Games. Andrew Barker, in a review for "RPGFan" said the game is an enjoyable experience but isn't for everyone; the game's pace moves slowly and even though it's an hour long, the memory of the game will linger. The lack of proper gameplay was criticised by many reviewers; in a "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" article, John Walker criticised the "incredibly slow" movement mechanics, in a "Kotaku" review by Cassidee Moser, the only listed con was the linearity of the gameplay and in a "PC Gamer" review by Tyler Wilde the game was described as dull and slow but sentimental nonetheless. The predictability of the storyline was also criticised by reviewers such as Christian Donlan from "Eurogamer".