I've discovered a surprising number of offbeat trends in indie games in the past few months. You've got grandma games, mental health games, games about saving a dying PC, and one of my personal favorites, bird games. You know, games like Fugl and Aer. Games about being a bird and doing oddly satisfying bird things, namely flying. Today, I'm pleased to add Fruits of a Feather to my list of bird games. It's a demo you can get on Itch for whatever price you want, starting at free.
I say it's a demo, but prototype is probably more accurate. Fruits of a Feather is by Screencheat developer Samurai Punk, you see, and the studio is rebooting it as a new bird game, Feather, which is due out later this year. Artist Nicholas McDonnell recently shared a GIF of Feather on Twitter, and it looks lovely.
Working on a new section in #Feather. pic.twitter.com/zOxvuNVhp5May 2, 2018
Which isn't to say Fruits of a Feather isn't lovely, mind. It is, by all accounts, a fun bird game, and one with a bit more direction than most. Your goal is to collect all 192 fruits dotted around a pretty, low-poly island. Swooping down to snag a fruit as the wind whips by and your tail feathers part the water below never gets old, especially with some nice piano playing in the background.