SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 5 — Birdspotting sends its players, armed with a notebook, tape recorder, and a pair of binoculars, off on a jaunt across brushland, by beaches, around lakes and up lighthouses on a trip to find local species and secrets.
A first trailer for Birdspotting sets the scene for a laid-back outing across Nordic-inspired landscapes.
It’s the restful result of an international collaboration between Dutch designer and animator Joran van Loenen, Moroccan programmer Khalil Arafan, Australian writer Michael Berto (aka Paws Menu), and French keyboard player and composer Yoann Turpin.
Birdspotting players will be filling their notebooks with jottings about local species within a range of hills, rivers, and lakes, the game’s debut trailer description indicates, with feathers, nests, eggs and other secrets to find.
It’s not without a sense of humour, either, with a brief, exclamatory new bird alert recalling archetypal stealth game franchise Metal Gear Solid.
Though the Birdspotting team haven’t specified a release platform or date, the game’s use of cross-platform style suggests it could find a home not just on PC, where titles such as these can thrive, but also on console and even mobile if the interest and capability is there.
In development since January 2018, Birdspotting is coming soon.
Until then, several other recently released games also offer close-to-nature experiences.
A Short Hike, for PC, Mac and Linux, is a playful amble to the top of Hawk Peak Provincial Park, with friends to meet and make along the way; Eastshade, also for PC, Mac and Linux with console editions to come, dovetails lush landscape walks with leisurely oil painting; Feather, for Nintendo Switch and PC, has players swoop and soar around a peaceful island with no enemies or combat to interrupt the journey. — AFP-Relaxnews
