Birding in Pope Lick Park

Note: This review was written during IFComp 2024, and originally posted in the authors' section of the intfiction forum on 15 Sep 2024.

This is a charming game where you take a short walk around a park, immersing yourself in the countryside, while looking out for birds and learning about them.

I really like the textual descriptions for the images of the birds and locations. Even with images turned off in the browser (which i tried as a check) it makes the game playable for people who can’t see pictures.

I also liked the in game links to external resources about where you are exploring. All real places, and by following the links you can learn more about them.

Best of all for me was encountering lots of different birds. Extremely different birds from those I’m used to in Scotland. For example an American Robin looks dramatically different from a British Robin. The game teaches you about the birds in the game in a fun yet educational way, while also giving you a relaxing virtual experience out in the countryside.

On the downside the game has issues on smaller screens. I was playing on my laptop, using the downloaded version in my Mac Safari browser, which was fine. My husband - an extremely enthusiastic birder - had tried the game earlier on his iPad mini, but the very large resolution images blew up massively on the screen, meaning that the rest of the user interface was unusable. Another reviewer has mentioned this problem. But it did mean that I knew to use a computer.

That aside I found it a charming and educational experience. I felt as though I had been exploring a new area and spotting and learning about birds. Which was fun.