KEYBIRDS

DEVELOPER TEMPO LAB GAMES • RELEASE PREVIEW • PRICE TBA http://supershark.studio/keybirds/

Towards the end of the night, when Play Fare’s games showcase was winding down and people were filtering into the music space to hear acts like The Consouls and Batterie, I decided to play Keybirds. I was aware the game involved typing and, to be completely honest, I was too exhausted by my kids’ touch typing homework to garner much enthusiasm. Of course, this turned out to be the most hilarious and enjoyable experience I had all day. In fact, I could probably replace my kids’ touch typing homework with Keybirds and we’d all be a lot happier.

In the opening level, Blue tells her parents she’s been accepted into Birdsong Performance Academy. They were expecting her to study law. You’re then launched into typing repetitive, jazz lyrics like, “law, no thank you, law’s not for me, law’s not for Blue,” to music composed by Julian Sanchez; one of the abovementioned Consouls. You also have to press ‘enter’ on every fourth beat, to make a clap sound, so every word is emphasised, as if there’s a live, frustrated, clap emoji after every word.

Keybirds was an unexpected, final highlight of Play Fare for me. It was fun, innovative and polished.