New game: "Swan Song" playthrough!

New game!

Swan Song is a very different game than what I usually play. It's not actually adventurey. It does have a narrative, but its focus lies primarily on the puzzle element. Now, I'm not that big on puzzle games, but there's a very good reason for me playing this one. The developer, Business Goose Studios, are Belgian, and their offices are only a half hour drive from my home. There aren't many game developers I can say that of! Their previous game, the Persian art based 30 Birds, was more of an adventure game, so I should really check that one out as well.

Help the swan cross the box.

In Swan Song, the objective is to help a little swan cross a music box. There are platforms it can jump on, but it's your job to make sure that the platforms are actually there when the cute little birdie makes it move. By placing musical notes on the music sheet, you can move the platforms around in time with the music's beat. Of course, at the start these puzzles are quite simply, though my swan did plummet to its death occassionally when I placed the notes one beat too early or too late on the sheet. Don't know if that says more about my puzzling skills, or about my sense of rhythm... The puzzles do get a lot trickier over time, though!

What's this? A story?

But it's not all puzzling in Swan Song. The gameplay truly limits itself to that, but in between the puzzles, a story unfolds as well, in several different ways. This music box, a gift from a father to a daughter is kind of magic. It already rearranges itself into a new puzzle every time it closes. But sometimes you will also find storytelling items inside. I haven't gotten all that far yet, but so far I discovered a letter from that father to his daughter, a cassette tape of a girl crying in her room when her father finds her, and I'm sure there's lots of other stuff to find.

Tristan has some explaining to do...

Swan Song is fully voiced when it comes to these narrative scenes, but there's where my one note of criticism lies. I didn't like how the text is immediately fully readable, with the voices seemingly having to catch up. This kind of spoils the effect of the scenes, and the emotional performances of the actors. In other games, text might appear in sync with the voices, and I'm missing that here. The devs have assured me they're working on it, though, but since the game supports multiple languages, it's trickier than it sounds...

With lots of levels to go, I better get back to helping my small swan across the box, and further discover the story of Tristan and Edith!

You can find the Swan Song on Steam and on itch.io!