The King's Bird Reviews
The Kings Bird is perhaps one of those games suited to gamers who love speedruns, where twitch platforming comes second nature and has the patience to really stick with the game. I enjoyed the first few levels, but the shortcomings of the controls and the haphazard nature of if they work or not kind of distracted me from what is an interesting and challenging game to play. Perhaps I need to just get better and these types of games, but having played games for 27 odd years I like to think I have the skills necessary to at least get to grips with the most challenging of games. As it stands The Kings Bird is hard to recommend to the casual gamer, but speedrunners will probably get the most out of this if they can get to grips with the somewhat broken mechanics.
The lovely aesthetics and graceful movement in A King's Bird are undercut by a too steep difficulty and imprecise controls.
The King's Bird has a lot of potential in both the challenging and the serene, but its tolerances for mistakes get just a little bit too tight. It wants to be two games. On the one side, there's an almost Journey-like indie with beautiful gameplay, audio, and visuals that calm the mind and soothe the soul. On the other, Serenity Forge wanted to create tough challenges that would feel like a triumph to overcome. While I was completely on board with the marriage of ideas at first, the two began to clash somewhere along the way as the trials no longer supported the gameplay. What Serenity Forge managed to do with the visuals and sound is on another level, but the loose gameplay mechanics never quite fit into how precise the challenges are designed to be. I wanted more of what The King's Bird was, and less of what it became.
Rich gameplay concepts and lush aesthetics caged by suffocating level design and a weak story. The constant clash between free, flowing movement and repetitive, often claustrophobic levels puts a damper on the entire experience.
WORTH CONSIDERING - The King’s Bird could have been something truly special, but middling controls, average level design, and infuriating difficulty will leave many giving up on it well before the ending. Some will no doubt cherish the challenge, but most would be better served looking elsewhere.
Perhaps The King's Bird's brilliance shines through on other platforms. Maybe speedrunners will find the level timer an irresistible challenge. I might even Git Gud myself if significant updates round out the edges, but for now, I'd recommend something a bit more polished.
The King's Bird captures a freewheeling spirit in its aerial platforming but doesn't do enough to leave a mark with anyone but the most hardcore.
If you enjoy a challenging platformer, The King's Bird will test your limits. Even if you don't, it is at least important to note what the indie title is able to accomplish with its physics. Still, a lacking progression system, threading the needle difficulty, and bad camera work currently hold The King's Bird back from being a great game, and it is instead merely a good one.
There are moments in The King's Bird where it's easy to lose yourself in the gameplay and striking visuals. Rocketing around colourful stages and indulging in the serene soundtrack is fun, but frustrating puzzle mechanics and little variance in the gameplay taint the experience.
The King's Bird fails for its imprecise and unnecessarily complicated gameplay for a platform game, making the experience more frustrating than fun. Even though the game has a stupendous look and a high quality soundtrack, it is difficult to recommend only for its technical side.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The King's Bird has the potential to be wonderful—and in its art and music, it is. Based on that alone I would play it all day. But the sense of freedom it is trying so hard to evoke is held back by its finicky controls, and since the game's very foundation is meant to be freeing, it falls short. Altered controls and a slightly wider margin for error, especially on console, would really let The King's Bird soar beyond the confines of its cage, and boost its mechanics up to the high tier of its design.
There are a few issues holding The King's Bird back from being a true standout hit, but those who like their platformers to be a bit avant-garde, should be able to appreciate this virtual ride, along with speed run enthusiasts.
The King`s Bird is a beautiful ID title though that will find a core of gamers that love it. Just be prepared for some patience and learning.
The King's Bird is a game in a truly magical environment. The soundtrack is delicious and the gameplay is great. But in the last the game stutters a lot. Sometimes the character doesn't act right and you will die instantly. This becomes a frustration.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
The King’s Bird is a beautiful, daring platformer that lacks a strong narrative.
While there are clearly some efforts to distinguish from other platformers of an allotted, check-list fashion on a visual/world-building sense, the inevitable blurring-together of seen-before sparse storytelling and relative simplicity in appearance mean that The King's Bird doesn't quite excel as a complete package.
There isn't really much to say about The King's Bird. It's a simple looking game that comes down to using the world around you to propel yourself forward. At times this can be fun and other times extremely frustrating. When push comes to shove, it's good enough that I can see the value in it and has more than enough to keep someone interested, especially if they want to improve on previous runs.
The King's Bird is a good example of a platform game that follows the old adage "easy to learn, difficult to master", as its demanding controls will demonstrate. Players who muddle through it with patience and perseverance, however, will find a work that is very rewarding, and not just because of its marvelous art style. A very welcome addition to the Nintendo Switch catalogue, which could perhaps improve on its gameplay's repetitiveness in some instances.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The King's Bird is a tightly designed precision platformer whose gameplay loop consists of retrying the same frustrating areas until reaching the satisfaction of conquering them. Lather, rinse, repeat. The moments of flying through a dreamscape and sticking the landing are a true delight, at least. For fans of hard-mode platformers, this may arrive as a welcome treat and worth sinking a handful of hours into for that sweet payoff, but those with other tastes may want to keep looking elsewhere.
When things are going well, The King's Bird is a wonderful and fluid experience.