Star Birds is exactly the kind of game a Kurzgesagt viewer would enjoy
By Marco Wutz
The German YouTube channel Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell is a household name for anyone who enjoys educational content on the platform from time to time. From evaluations of the effects of climate change over exploring questions like the Dark Forest theory to overanalyzing fun what-if scenarios like nuking the oceans, the channel does it all.
Aside from doing thorough research on its topics, the channel’s hallmarks are its art style, which often features birds as protagonists of its videos, and its chill soundtracks in the background. In addition, everyone working there seems to be a geek of some kind and so the videos are full of game references, which often fuel comments that say something like “I’d pay good money for a strategy game in your artstyle.”
Well, that’s what Star Birds is. Toukana Interactive, the studio behind the highly successful and enjoyable Dorfromantik, has teamed up with Kurzgesagt to give fans of the channel exactly the kind of game they’d enjoy, featuring the iconic art style and soundtrack Kurzgesagt is known for.
Diving into the demo of the game, which is currently available as part of Steam Next Fest, really feels like becoming part of an episode on the channel. You take command over a space ship full of intelligent birds, who are exploring unknown sectors of the galaxy to gather resources. That’s going to be your job: You place buildings like extractors and launch pads on asteroids to send a variety of resources back to the space station. Naturally, things get more complex as time goes on: Quests will demand higher-quality resources that need to be produced from several different raw goods, necessitating a more complex logistics network. So build landing pads, reroute your transport ships, construct chemical labs and other production buildings, and then send the end products to the space station.
It’s all fairly simple on the surface, like any economy management game, but gets engaging very quickly as it opens up. You can even spawn a little rover on the asteroids to collect credits while you wait on production or research to finish, which is fun and feels a bit like an idle game. Star Birds also stays quite approachable — the controls are easy, there is a wiki that tells you what you need to know, and the visuals are just adorable.
The only thing differentiating the game from the channel’s videos is pretty much that there’s no narration, which is a bit sad — I need that iconic voice in the game, telling me about the deep, dark secrets of the universe that will trigger existential dread in me.
It’s hard to explain, but Star Birds is one of the most German games I’ve ever played, which is no surprise given its background and creators. There is simply something satisfying about the planning and execution of a working supply chain and seeing your star rating go up because your little space empire is so productive and efficient. In short: Yes, Star Birds is exactly what Kurzgesagt viewers would call a good time and I can’t wait for the full version of the game with power management, more buildings, more resources, and more star systems.
Star Birds is set to come to PC later in 2025 and very much stays on my wishlist following this demo.
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