Project Songbird review – Firewatch meets Silent Hill

Self doubt is likely the bane of many of those who are creative in any way. Is what you’re doing actually any good? Is there any point to it? And if something isn’t well received, should you invest any more time and money into it? Of course, all that really matters is that you enjoy doing what you’re doing, but there’s always that desire to seek adoration and acceptance – if other people don’t appreciate what you work so hard to create, it can be crushing.

This is the dilemma faced by the protagonist of Project Songbird, a first-person narrative-driven horror experience by small independent studio FYRE Games, headed up by Conner Rush. It’s primarily the work of the latter, in fact, with Conner stating it’s his most personal project yet. You can tell, too; this is a game with some serious heart and, considering it’s mostly the work of such a small studio, it’s undoubtedly impressive. But there are some aspects of the experience that bring it down a little.

Take a chance on Project Songbird and you’ll find yourself in control of Dakota, a musician who’s having a hard time making her latest record. The music she wants to make right now doesn’t really resonate with her fan base, and so under a little pressure from her manager, she agrees to stay in a remote cabin for a little while to find some inspiration. She still has trouble focusing when she’s there, however, but when strange lights start leading her to mysterious doors, forcing her to face her fears, she starts producing some of the best music she’s done in her career.

Being a short, narrative-driven horror experience, Project Songbird feels a little like Firewatch mixed with Silent Hill. You’re able to explore the immediate area surrounding the cabin you’re staying in, but it’s not exactly vast. And as you progress the story you’ll need to complete the odd puzzle typical of the survival horror genre. You’ll need to replace a water filter, for example, using some notes found nearby to manipulate a number of valves in the correct order.

The gameplay really steps up a gear when you venture through one of numerous mysterious doors and enter the unknown, however. Inexplicably you’ll find yourself in locations far from the cabin, where the puzzles are ramped up and horrifying creatures frequently stand in your path. Stealth is an option here, but it’s not always viable due to the tight rooms and corridors you frequently find yourself in. But worry not, as you also have a small range of weapons to make use of, from an axe, to a powerful rifle.

Ultimately, there’s a good balance of the more laid-back sequences back at your cabin where you feel relatively safe, and the more horrifying forays into the unknown. And while there are only two enemy types, the game’s measured use of them and its short running time of around five hours or so means you don’t get tired of your encounters. One of those enemies is quite terrifying as well, only pursuing you when you have your back turned to them.

Add in the emotional story that genuinely grips you from the off, bolstered by solid voice acting and an effective soundtrack, and Project Songbird is a captivating experience at its core. But there are some minor issues and underbaked elements that bring it down a little. While you have an in-game journal, there’s no place to review the notes or other bits of information you’ve discovered, for example, often required at a later point to solve a puzzle. That means unless you’ve committed them to memory or made a note of them yourself, you’ve got some backtracking to do, which is never really fun.

Then there’s the issue of resources: depending on how you play, you could find yourself defenceless or unable to open certain locked doors due to the scarcity of ammo and the fact that your axe can be broken, with scrap required to repair it.

When it comes to the elements of Project Songbird that feel underbaked or underused, you have a recording device that can be used to collect interesting sounds you encounter that might be useful for your work, but doing so ends up being a completely optional and superfluous endeavour. The same can be said of your camera; you get to take 20 shots and then that’s it, and there’s no real point to them. It would have been nice if both of these gameplay elements had been woven into the experience in a more meaningful manner.

Still, while these issues can be troublesome and/or a little disappointing, they don’t stop Project Songbird from being a thoroughly engaging experience overall. It may not have have the biggest variety of weapons or enemies, and one or two puzzles might leave you scratching your head until you backtrack or have a sudden brainwave, but there’s a solid narrative-driven horror experience to be found here with a pretty important message.