Indie games have been a great medium for artistic expression over the years, whether original and unique visual design, innovative narrative design, or memorable music scores. Many have found success by embracing their artistic potential, but seeing a new title with a fresh and inspired design is always exciting.
30 Birds, developed by RAM RAM Games and Business Goose Studios and published by ARTE France, is a narrative adventure game inspired by Persian and Turkish art and mythology, where we play as a young detective trying to solve the case of the Simurgh’s abduction in the magically floating Lantern City. While I love the Prince of Persia series as an Iranian gamer, I always felt like it wasn’t the best representation of my culture, so I was very excited to learn about 30 Birds and its inspirations from Persian miniature-style art and popular folklore.
We play as Zig, a young detective who is traveling to the Lantern City to speak to her informant about the upcoming festival. Simurgh, the leader of the city is waking up after years of meditative slumber, but our informant suspects that something is about to go wrong. As soon as Simurgh wakes up, she is kidnapped by an unknown entity, and sadness and fear stir within the populace as they watch their beloved leader disappear. We begin our investigation to find the culprit and free Simurgh, and we soon realize in order to communicate with her, we need the help of thirty birds to perform an ancient ritual.
The story and the world are filled with Persian-inspired easter eggs and characters. Simurgh herself (literally translated to thirty birds in Persian) is an ancient mythological creature in Persian literature and poetry. It’s known to be a wise and benevolent creature and has appeared in many folklore, most famously in the Book of Kings. In later works of Sufi poetry, Simurgh is a metaphor for god in a story where thirty pilgrim birds search for her to become their king, but in the end, they only find a lake and see their own reflections in it. Elements of these depictions of Simurgh is present in 30 Birds, but the modern-ish setting of the world and other inspirations have lead to a unique narrative that stands on its own.
The narrative of 30 Birds is light-hearted, charming, funny most of the time and serious and deep when it needs to be. The story is gripping and easy to follow, the characters are unique and memorable, and the world feels alive with characters moving about and living their lives. Even without voice over, the dialogues are interesting. Important characters have distinguishable speech patterns that let the characters personality come through.
The world is also filled with character with Persian and Turkish names, and even some nods to famous historical figures. The one I recognized immediately was Behzad the painter, a recurring NPC who is likely a reference to Kamal-Ud-Din Behzad, a famous persian painter from 15th century. The cultural influence is also present in the environment design. We see NPCs praying in a mosque, we stroll through crowded and maze-like bazaars, and can visit bathhouses with Iranian style architecture. The world of 30 Birds felt pleasantly familiar to me, filled with cultural and historical references.
But the most endearing quality of 30 Birds for me is its art style. It’s a loving tribute to Persian miniature paintings, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Compared to the five hour I spent in the game, I have taken way too many screenshots from every corner of the world. We explore the surface of the multiple lantern shaped zones in two dimensional maps, but by walking to the edges we can rotate the lantern and see the world in three dimensions. This 2D environment design is the perfect playground for the flat and odd perspectives that are common in miniature paintings, but rotating the map allows for more space to be explored without needing a huge map to get lost in or teleporting between the maps to break the immersion.
The soundtrack is also very cheerful and fits the atmosphere of the world. I could hear faint inspirations from middle-eastern and turkish music in the compositions, but not enough in my opinion. While still enjoyable, I was hoping for more traditional Iranian or Turkish influences in 30 Birds‘ score. At a few points, there was some sound balancing issues were sound effects felt way too loud compared to the music, and I actually had to reduce the volume because they sounded too jarring.
The gameplay is a combination of simple adventure and exploration with various minigames at certain points. It’s engaging enough to keep the player interested, but not too distracting from the overall story. Except for one or two instances, the minigames were a fun addition to the flow, although a few of them, specially one towards the very end, were unnecessarily complicated and frustrating. The quests and story are easy to follow for most of 30 Birds, but I did feel a little lost towards the end of the game, and had to spent a good half an hour visiting everywhere and talking to everyone to realize what I needed to know to continue the story.
I felt a deep personal connection with 30 Birds‘ setting and story, but I believe it’s a worthy game for anyone who enjoys these types of artistic indie games. It depicts a version of Persian and Turkish culture that I love to experience in real life, but as a fantasy story for those unfamiliar to these cultural references, it’s a cozy and fun story within a beautiful world.
Nima played 30 Birds on PC with a review code.
