Birdcage Is An Impossibly Cool Space Shooter I’m Happy To Fail At
Step out of the Cage.
I couldn’t really tell you what the World-Egg is, but I do know it needs to be destroyed. There’s a lot I don’t know about the world of Birdcage actually. What I do know is that it’s one of the best-looking, best-sounding games I’ve played this year, and that despite being pretty terrible at it, I can’t get enough of its intense sci-fi action.
Birdcage is a bullet hell shooter that somehow manages to feel like a lost PlayStation classic and like something brand-new at the same time. Bullet hell games, for the unfamiliar, can seem extremely unapproachable. A subgenre of space shooter that includes games like the classic Ikaruga, bull hell games fill the screen with projectiles to dodge, forcing you into a near-trance to avoid them all while firing back at your enemies. I’ve historically had a tough time getting too into bullet hell games, where missing one dodge out of a thousand can mean game over, but Birdcage has me totally captivated.
Birdcage is a blazing fast bullet hell shooter with impeccable style.
A big part of that is just how good your ship feels to control. Dubbed the Halcyon, the ship zips around the screen with supremely graceful movements, responding so well it almost seems to anticipate your inputs. It can fire in a spread the width of the screen without sacrificing any speed, or switch to shooting a targeted column of bullets straight ahead, doing significantly more damage at the cost of slowing way down. Then there’s Birdcage’s signature weapon, a laser sword you can either fire from your ship like a homing missile or use it to swat enemies and projectiles that get too close to you.
An unlockable ship you first encounter midway through the campaign flips that on its head. Where the Halcyon is a precise machine built for maneuverability, the Ceyx is more sluggish, but replaces the sword with a swarm of heat-seeking missiles, plus the ability to fire off a salvo whenever you get close enough to an enemy projectile.
Yes, it’s usually this overwhelming, but it’s worth it.
The two ships feel very different from each other, but both converge on one idea: Birdcage wants you to put yourself on the cusp of failure at all times. Grazing enemy bullets lets you retaliate for free with the Ceyx, while the Halcyon’s powerful sword is best used in melee range. If you’re anything like me, your instinct is probably to move away from the glowing laser blasts that can turn you into dust in an instant, but that simply won’t fly here. Instead, you need to stay an inch from total disaster, leaning into the chaos that defines bullet hell games.
That alone makes Birdcage thrilling, but everything surrounding the action has been just as crucial in keeping me playing round after round. Birdcage is set in a world where the Earth and lunar colonies are locked in battle with the rulers of a space colony called Cage. Its story feels like something out of a forgotten, ultra-stylish sci-fi anime, centered on a lab-grown pilot from the Cage receiving mysterious orders to turn on her side by destroying a super-weapon called the World-Egg. The game is light on plot, mostly running on impeccable vibes as rival pilots and your mysterious allies speaking to you in Metal Gear Solid-style radio calls. As thin as the narrative may be, it’s still gripping, thanks to its evocative writing.
Birdcage matches its action with an incredibly atmospheric story.
Just as important to the atmosphere are Birdcage’s art and music. While the sheer amount of things happening on screen at any given time can be overwhelming, it’s gorgeous at the same time, all rendered in bold colors with gorgeous animated backgrounds flying past almost too quickly to notice just how incredible they are. Its soundtrack in particular carries a lot of weight, with soaring guitars, skittering breakbeats, and synths setting the tone for Birdcage’s impossibly cool vibes.
Birdcage’s difficulty is a major hurdle, especially to bullet hell newcomers, but it’s well worth pushing through. Its brain-melting pace and pitch-perfect atmosphere make it one of this year’s must-play hidden gems, even if you end up getting crushed as hard as I have by its uncompromising challenge.
