Fledgling Heroes - Review

I never thought I’d find myself discussing or even thinking about the infamous mobile game Flappy Birds in 2020. Nor did I think I would find myself reminiscing about all my time with Tiny Wings on iOS, but Fledgling Heroes has gotten me thinking of both in a good way. Australian studio Subtle Boom released Fledgling Heroes on Apple Arcade last year, which is great if you have a subscription and an apple device, but for a reasonable price it is now available to play on the Switch!

Fledgling Heroes introduces you to Biscuit the brave Macaw. There isn’t much of a story per se, from what can be gathered there are Lizards causing trouble and Biscuit is going to do their part. Along the way you’ll meet new birds who join you for the adventure as you explore new environments and fly, swim and run your way to your goal.

Fledgling takes form as a side-scrolling bird adventure. You tap to flap your wings and hold down to glide, navigating obstacles and lizards as you collect golden feathers and coins. Tapping and avoiding hitting the environmental obstacles above and below conjures up memories of Flappy Bird, only this time I’m enjoying it much more. Flying is a precise act as you have to time your flaps or jumps, and even your bouncing along the ground to get you high or low enough to reach the collectibles dotted around the levels. It’s the precision with momentum that reminds me of Tiny Wings, as well as the relaxing joyful art styles. While the colourful visuals and upbeat music might give you the impression it is a more relaxed side scroller, you’d be mistaken. There are plenty of levels that can be completed without much resistance if you just avoid everything and stay on the straight and narrow, but to collect everything is much more of a challenge.

Biscuit the Macaw And Penny the Penguin are the first two birds you encounter in the pirate/ocean themed world. Biscuit is skyward bound and can fly through the levels, while Penny excels underwater. Across the three worlds you’ll be bouncing off of enemy lizards (including lizard wizards) while flapping your way through the three different worlds. Along the way you’ll also gain a growing aviary of chums, such as a Pheasant, Owl and Toucan. The Pheasant is generally confined to running along the ground while the others can take to the sky. Once you get past the pirate world, Fledgling asks more of you. The newer birds introduce new elements as well as new enemies. Especially frustrating was the Wizard Lizards who hit you with freezing spells, they definitely tried my patience! The biggest obstacle I found with the game was how close up to the action you always felt, repeating the levels often happened from having to work out where the just-out-of-sight collectables were hidden. Some obstacles can feel too sudden and a little unfair, as they seem to require memorisation and repetition.

It’s not just enough to get through the level, each has a bonus objective or two to get a golden feather. There is also the extra task of freeing animals to free from cages to add to the collectibles. Golden feathers can also be found by opening treasure chests. The gold feathers are used to open up more levels, which will also open up the way to get to the next world. You don’t need to obsessively collect them all to open up all the main paths, but they do give you something to aim for as you open up the map.

Having six different birds keeps levels varied. You can also focus more on the birds you enjoy using. With either bird for that world you can get to the end portal, your only limitation is having enough golden feathers to open doors. There are a lot of levels to conquer, and if the 90+ levels aren’t enough then you can make your own. Throughout your travels you’ll also have the opportunity to pick up items that can be used for your levels. This means you won’t be putting the most fully featured levels together until you unlock all the pieces. If building levels isn’t your thing then you can always play levels that others have built. At this point, that will really be dependent on how much of a community builds up around the game or if the levels included are enough. You can also edit your feathery friends too. Along with the level building item blueprints, you also come across colour schemes for your birds and you can make your own colour designs. If the Joy cons aren’t the ideal way to make your own level, the touch screen also works. In fact it works throughout the whole game if you want to tap on the screen instead of buttons.

Being a man in my mid 30s, it feels like the game might not be targeted towards myself and that’s okay. I can imagine that Fledgling Heroes would be very much for kids, with parents helping them out. I would definitely recommend it for a younger audience, although some of the less forgiving levels could give them a hard time. This is where the two player co-op might come in handy, you can both grab a joycon and tackle the levels together. Because of the constant forward momentum you’re both always within the same screen. It does take a little getting used to when you’re both in very busy areas to not get confused. It’s great that it’s offered, especially when younger players could need a little assistance to beat a level every now and then.

What stands out straight away with Fledgling is the lovely art style. It really grabs your attention and feels like it came out of a colourful picture book. The dialogue/story also has that same story book feel, with its clever rhyming to further the story or just introducing the theme of the level. It’s all very cute and charming. I think these characters coupled with the art style and writing could make quite a nice story book outside of the game.

Fledgling Heroes is a fun game that looks great and goes above what I would expect from games in this genre. Perfectly suited for short bursts and on the go gaming, Fledgling is great if you have a few minutes to kill on the Switch. Despite the large number of levels fatigue can set in, especially when the greatest obstacle can be trying to find what is obscured by the field of vision. The level creator and the bird customisation are nice additions that give a little more value out for younger audiences, although the created levels available will depend on the size of the community. While it’s not perfect (honestly what game is?) Subtle Boom has made a beautiful game that is a few hours of fun. I look forward to seeing what else they have in store.