The Lion’s Song is a quiet, touching affair. It’s an intimate, narrative-driven “point-and-click” game spread across four unique episodes, all of which are unlocked immediately for you on Nintendo Switch for a $10 entry fee. For the money, it’s absolutely one of the best games in the genre on the eShop, and something you shouldn’t overlook if you’ve been searching for something more mellow to play in the evenings.
Videos by ComicBook.com
At the turn of the 20th century, cultures all around the world were experiencing pockets of rapid evolution. A neo-renaissance of sorts was sweeping from country to country, introducing the world to the likes of Freud, Tesla, Gorbachev, Picasso, and Einstein. In this world of cultural upheaval and change, spread throughout Austria, we find a composer, an artist, and a mathematician. The first three episodes tell their respective stories, while the fourth and final episode braids each narrative thread together.
You’ll have several “fly on the wall” moments as each episode unfolds. Exposition is never held over your head, and every character wears their insecurities, longings, and ambitions on their sleeves. Themes of emotional dependence, creative frustration, identity insecurity, and struggle for equality are all juggled and woven deftly together as you navigate conversations and observe your surroundings.
These episodes are short, each one lasting no more than an hour on average. This is music to the ears of older, employed gamers like myself who have had to distance themselves from the 50-80 hour stories we used to pride ourselves on toppling when we were younger. The Lion’s Song is very aware of itself, and of you, and it respects your time. It has a story to tell, and it tells that story with care and finesse.
Indeed, as you sink further into The Lion’s Song‘s gentle score and warm, sepia palette, you may find yourself wishing that each episode were prolonged, if only for a short while. Getting to know these believably-vulnerable characters and the worlds that they have created for themselves, outwardly and within their own minds, is the true joy that awaits you here. The writing is top-notch, and everything seems nimbly paced, even in the quieter moments. No one character or scene overstays its welcome, and that’s something we rarely see in game direction these days.
For those of you wondering, The Lion’s Song does not support gyro aiming on the Switch, nor will you be able to poke and prod the touchscreen in order to investigate. This will be a letdown for some you, but for what it’s worth, it was not an issue for me at all. You will be doing a lot of clicking around, but it’s always pretty obvious what you’re meant to inspect in order to move things along. The game will occasionally call upon you to make some kind of logical choice or perform a very small feat of memory in order to progress, but you don’t have to worry about “failing,” or messing your save file up.
Your choices do have consequences, however, and at the end of each episode, you’ll get to see how other players reacted in each situation. Every episode has a handful of pivotal moments where player-choice is invoked, and it’s fascinating to see how your narrative ultimately stacked up to those of your peers. Your choices will also result in certain “connections” or discoveries being made, which can be reviewed in gallery accessible from the main menu.
If you’d like to, you’re invited at the conclusion of each episode to change the choices you made in each pivotal moment in order to discover new connections, thus filling your gallery without needing to replay each episode in its entirety. It’s a pretty great little feature, and a thoughtful touch from the developers. On one hand, those choices do provide incentive to go back and revisit these characters and replay their stories, but if you’re a completionist who’s short on time, you can unlock those extras quickly.
It’s a great little experience; understated and gratifying. In today’s din of nonstop, fast-paced, explosive shooters, competitive battle royales, and edgy role-playing epics, The Lion’s Song stands out as a surreal and ephemeral work of interactive art. It asks very little of you, offers so much, and then it’s gone; like a fleeting melody.
ComicBook’s Score: 4 / 5
