Feathery Ears (Nintendo Switch) Review

Feathery Ears is kind of like Wings of Glass. It doesn't explain much about what needs to done, or how to control the cute lass that is the protagonist. The controls are a bit simpler this time around, and it's easy to understand that the goal is to collect a bunch of stars, but like Sayuri Artsy's previous creation, this is purposely vague, and leaves everything for the player to discover, which, once again is part of the fun, although this ditches the puzzle aspect altogether, focusing instead on platforming - or, to put it differently, the platforming is now the puzzles.

In conclusion, while similar, this is a different experience, and, thankfully, a more polished one, with the controls and the camera being noticeably better than before. This also has a non-linear level structure. Instead of the on-rails adventure that Wings of Glass was, this offers open, sandbox stages were the heroine must find the exit, usually by collecting a certain amount of - very Super Mario-esque - stars. There are also a bunch of levels where you simply need to go from A to B in typical platforming fashion, with the only challenge being the process of doing so, with no items to pick up or anything.

Sadly, and like with Wings of Glass this feels more like a test than a complete product, evident at how quickly it runs out of steam, how small in duration it is, or how some mechanics don't really get a chance to shine, like for example the simplistic battle system, where you lock on a foe, and swing a sword-beam at it… if you feel like it, as these rarely pose a threat, and the main character can't die. Therefore, while this controls much better from what came before, that's still not enough. Even worse? This sort of lacks the charm of Wings of Glass, despite it being similar in a variety of ways.

Presentation-wise it's still very pretty, with its minimalist, early '90s dream lands and all, plus the protagonist is very cute, and has very good animation. Trouble is, this doesn't have the dark, mysterious atmosphere of Wings of Glass, and, as a result, its immersive power. The world feels a bit more… "fake;" lacks cohesion, as stages are just a handful of loosely connected sets, than areas that feel like a natural continuation of what came before - although maybe that's because of the "it's all a dream" vibe of it all. The soothing (and strangely fitting) OST of Wings of Glass remains the better one as well, as the one on offer is largely forgettable. Long story short. This is a slightly better game… but a somewhat weaker experience.