The adventure genre has undergone a transition in recent years. What was once a genre of mind-bending puzzles, storytelling, and goofy themes has evolved. Gone are the days of near-impossible puzzles, unintuitive design, and bare-bones presentation. The adventure games of today are approachable, increasingly light in puzzle elements, and rich in story. Driven by companies like Telltale Games, adventure titles often resemble a visual novel more than a game, exploring branching narratives and character development rather than brainteasers. Some people may dislike that development, but every once in a while, you get an experience that does get it well. Mi'pu'mi Games' title, The Lion's Song, is one of these experiences, and it focuses on a distinct topic in a distinct environment and tells an impactful story.

At its core, The Lion's Song is a classic point-and-click adventure with a pixel-heavy presentation and a pointer to interact with the environment or engage in conversations. The content is divided into four episodes, and the tale follows three different people in Vienna in the early 20th century. There's an episode for each character, and a final episode ties them all together and establishes a historical backdrop after the fact. The game was originally released on the PC in 2016, a mobile version followed in 2017, and we're looking at the Switch port, which was released earlier this month (July 2018).

All three of our protagonists are part of a different side of Vienna's culture at the time. There is the musical prodigy Wilma, who is under severe pressure following her incredible debut to produce an even stronger follow-up composition. Franz, an artist, struggles to progress in his art and gain self-confidence, and he sees people's personality in layers. The last of the bunch is Emma, a female mathematician who sees the world in numbers and struggles to overcome the harsh prejudice her gender faces in the early days of the previous century.

The hidden main protagonist is the place and history. As told through the short glimpses from the stories of our protagonists, the Vienna of the early 20th century is the cultural capital of Europe. Each of the episodes is rather short and lasts about an hour at most, making this an experience that can be completed in less than four hours. It's a little collection of short stories that are distinctly different but share a similar style and theme that point to a larger picture. It's here where The Lion's Song is at its best. While all three characters don't necessarily connect on-screen, their stories are intertwined, and side characters will pop in and out of the story at any given time. Players may even recognize some of them, such as Sigmund Freud.

The Lion's Song is an interactive story that takes player decisions into account. There aren't any real puzzles to speak of, and the title seldom puts you on the spot to make a game-altering decision. There is no inventory, and dialogue options are usually straightforward. The game has a natural way of making sure you shape the course of action. It doesn't feel like you're making life-or-death decisions, but it lets you decide who to paint or what to listen to, and once you've completed an episode, it shows you where you could've taken another path. You can always jump back to any decision point in any completed episode and try out another path. We don't need to replay everything if we don't want to; we can just jump into the middle and test out every "what if?" scenario. It's a very welcome game mechanic.

As the stories of our protagonists play out at the same time in Vienna, there are touch points that you will inevitably uncover. The game even has a gallery dedicated to objects that link their stories. The Lion's Song is very dedicated to its concept, and it shows, especially with the last episode that provides more historical context and connections. The last episode is the best of them all, and we wonder why the history part wasn't introduced way sooner. The well-executed story does have some pacing issues. The first episode with Wilma takes place in one small cabin on a single chair, which can be very off-putting and slow, especially compared to the other episodes, which aren't exactly roller coaster rides, either. Couple that with the fact that there isn't much challenge to be found, and it can indeed be too slow at times. If you're into character-driven stories that explore culture and creativity, The Lion's Song is one for you. Otherwise, you might want to stay away because that's all that it is.

In addition to the story, the presentation seals the deal. The beautiful pixelated visuals look like the sepia Instagram story of an old-school adventure game. The music, sounds, and visual feedback create another valuable layer for the experience. Wilma can draw music out of everyday objects that will be represented with little notes flying about, and musical feedback correlates to the object. Emma sees number representations, and Franz gets brief glimpses of people's personality layers with equally fitting audio feedback. It's represented beautifully with shapes lingering in the air, vanishing, overlapping, and distorting to capture the feeling of creativity and inspiration. It creates a layer of empathy and enables the game to examine its core topics more thoroughly and translate them to the player. The beautiful vistas of Vienna are equally mesmerizing and create an overarching feeling of what it's like to be a part of the cultural capital of Europe leading up to World War I.

The Switch version of The Lion's Song runs perfectly well in both docked and handheld modes, though it missed the opportunity to incorporate touch or pointer controls. The whole game only accepts stick and button inputs, which isn't nearly as intuitive or comfortable to use. This could potentially be changed in future updates and doesn't necessarily ruin the game experience, but it is a missed opportunity.

All in all, The Lion's Song achieves what is intended at a very high level. It masterfully tells and blends three separate stories about culture, creativity, and social influence into a cohesive story to paint the picture of an early 20th century Vienna. It's a niche project that won't appeal to everyone, and it has a few pacing issues and an undesirable control method for an adventure, but it is a good game that knows its strengths and plays to them.

Score: 8.5/10