REVIEW: The Lion's Song


Title	The Lion’s Song
Developer	Mi’pu’mi Games GmbH
Publisher	Mi’pu’mi Games GmbH
Release Date	July 7th, 2016
Genre	Point-and-Click Adventure
Platform	Switch, Android, PC, iOS
Age Rating	T for Teen
Official Website

After playing Unavowed, my interest in the point-and-click genre was completely reinvigorated, so I decided to take on another one. The Lion’s Song is a game by Mi’pu’mi Games, who I hadn’t heard of until this point. They’ve ported a few of the Hitman games, and have a few indie games under their belt, but this is the first game that I’d played from them. So, did their game leave me wanting more? The short answer is….yes!

First off, the art style in The Lion’s Song is absolutely stunning. You see games with good art all the time, but it’s very rare that you see a game able to convey its tone and vibe from just looking at it. Most tend to just have the neat art style, but this game goes above and beyond by not just having the good art style, but also having some fantastic shots. Being a former film student, I greatly appreciate the attention to detail. There are also some really trippy dream sequences, as well as visual representations of art which are a very nice touch and keep the whole thing visually interesting. It’s a very beautiful game, and that’s not just talking about the visuals.

The story of this game is also really gripping. All of the characters feel real and genuine, and the game touches on a lot of deep and mature subjects. Some of them even hit home to me personally, like having to deal with crippling fear and loneliness in the first chapter. The Lion’s Song is set in 20th century Austria, and you play as 4 different characters throughout 4 of the chapters. These include Wilma, the musician, Franz, the painter, and Emma, the mathematician. While the stories do seem to kind of dwindle in quality as the game continues, it was still an enjoyable ride from beginning to end.

The music and sound design of the game is really good, whenever we get to hear it that is. That’s one of my two major flaws with this game is that for most of the first chapter, it’s basically silent. Up until you hear the first melody the game is almost completely silent. With no voice acting or anything it was a bit of a slog to get through. Other than that the music in the rest of the game is phenomenal and fits the tone and atmosphere beautifully. They really did a good job with the soundtrack to this one.

And finally, we have the mechanics which are my other big problem with this game. They have the usual point and click mechanics, the only problem is that there’s almost no thought on the player’s part required. The hidden objects are normally stated by the characters, so the only real thing you have to do is find out where to head to next. The game is almost like a visual novel, which doesn’t bother me at all, it just wasn’t what I was expecting going in. You do have dialogue trees that you can answer differently that slightly affect the story, but they don’t really affect the other parts of the game in substantial ways. It’s a neat concept that you get to see how your choices match up to other peoples at the end of the chapter, then go back and play them differently right from that screen without them affecting the rest of the game at all. The game functions really well, I just wish there were more difficult puzzles and things to interact with.

Overall, The Lion’s Song is a wonderful game that I highly recommend to anyone who might be interested in it. The stories are fun and all connect in the last chapter of the game, and I had a wonderful time playing it. Right now you can pick up the season pass for about $10, which isn’t bad for the 5 hours of gameplay that I got out of it. I think you’ll have a really good time with it, and I’m excited to check out what this developer has in store for the future!