A Bird Story

A Bird Story is an hour-long narrative-driven game about a kid and a bird.  I really enjoyed it.

It is unexpected in a number of ways.  It's about a narrative, but there's no dialogue, and it's a computer game with fairly limited interactivity.  That said, it does well on both accounts. The lack of speech forces the game to show, not tell, and the atmosphere and emotion come across clearly.  And while most of the game is just guiding the linear story forward, it does have some interactivity -- jumping around in puddles, throwing a paper airplane -- which is a nice touch.  It puts the player sufficiently in control to differintiate it from a movie with poor graphics, and it sets the game up to take back control for some delightful surprises (try leaving your parent's room towards the start of the game!).

I'll be glad to play more games from this developer!