Songs of Life is a cartoon-style tabletop game by Dreamstep that uses cards to tell a story about the Three Kingdoms. Unlike the usual tellings of the tale, Songs of Life covers the story of three Chinese physicians. Each of the physicians cross paths with each other as they battle several calamities. With the help of their allies, the physicians grow as individuals that help them deal with the challenges they face.
The stories take time to develop but show a different side of ancient China through a medicinal perspective. The voice acting is also top-notch with the Mandarin carrying the right emotional tones. Unfortunately the game plays like a visual novel with some unexplained card games on the side with don’t assist the narrative and feel shoved in. Songs of Life is a game where you stay for the story but aren’t sure about the other parts.
The physicians are Hua Fu, Zhang Zhongjing, and Dong Feng. Each of them is allied with a faction and meet each other early on. However, certain events bring sickness and plague into the land. Each physician must address the crisis while developing their skills. Along the way, they reunite with each other and combine their knowledge to avert the worst outcome.
Despite taking place in the Three Kingdoms setting, the story has several deviations. You barely cover the warfare and there are far more supernatural elements. Some characters have flipped genders, most notably Yuan Shao who is a woman in this story. These differences tie into the story’s conflicts as medicine becomes the focus instead of combat. There is still some level of violence and plotting, but this doesn’t get much focus. It’s an unusual take but it does allow other characters to shine. Normally in the Three Kingdoms narrative, it’s war heroes or aspiring combatants who get a story focus. Songs of Life explores other characters like doctors who normally don’t appear in the story. This alternate perspective gives you a window into the treatment of doctors and how they deal with people. The protagonists are extremely skilled physicians but aren’t blind to their limitations. This allows you to see how the protagonists handle challenges and their growth as a result. It’s not a story where geniuses never fail or people never lose faith; everyone must continually improve and revise some of their former biases. Seeing a story where even confident individuals must humble themselves is refreshing and makes you wonder what’s next.
Focusing on Chinese medicine is a double-edged sword for those not familiar with the subject. There are many diagnoses, treatments, and methodologies that sound ridiculous. While an accurate reflection of ancient Chinese medicine, it’s confusing to hear educated people make these statements. Introducing supernatural elements doesn’t help as this blurs the line between actual treatment and magical cures.
The narrative has some branching elements as you initially play through bad scenarios before reaching the good ones. You can sometimes choose how the protagonists respond but it doesn’t have a major impact on the story. If you are going through all the possibilities anyway, teasing unimportant choices feels unnecessary.
Songs of Life’s worst aspect is the card games each character has access to. There aren’t many instructions and you must guess how to play. It’s also not apparent what the games have to do with the story. Songs of Life works when it sticks to the story like a visual novel. The card games feel like add-ons just for the Tabletop and Card Games categorization. If you removed the card games, you have a visual novel with a strong story that sticks to its cultural roots.
There are flaws but Songs of Life does a decent job of telling its story. Drawing from the Three Kingdoms and adding a medicinal perspective creates a genuinely interesting narrative. Unfortunately it requires a good level of Chinese cultural understanding to properly enjoy and the card games seem pointless. The end result is a game that’s hard to recommend if you aren’t already enamored with the premise.
Victor played Songs of Life on PC with a provided review copy.
