Birbs! They chirp, they cute, they everywhere! They also have a great following in the world of wholesome gaming. Birds Organized Neatly is the third in the series which takes cute hand-drawn animals of different shapes and sizes and asks the player to make them fit together within a level’s layout. It is a simple, well-crafted series that has plenty of fans and this new iteration delivers more of the same.
Birds Organized Neatly starts out simple. It introduces you to a bird type, names it and gives you a short personality paragraph about it. Before you is a grid to place the bird into and each bird can be rotated at 90-degree angles to fit inside the grid. Every bird must be placed into the grid and there must be no empty space in the level to win and proceed. Throughout 80 levels, 30 different birds are introduced. Some are long and thin, others wide, some T-shaped or with a bend in due to their beaks. With new birds come more opportunities to arrange them and the grid layouts start to become more complex too. Sometimes levels become easier to solve because there are only a few places where giant birds can be placed but most of the time you’ll need to shimmy and shift birds around to get everything in.
Making this task engrossing is the overarching vibe of the game. The hand-drawn artwork is cute and the birds squawk when you rotate them or mouse-click on them multiple times. They even close their eyes when you drag them onto the grid. A relaxed soundtrack plays out in the background and the muted colour palettes keep the players calm. There are no in-game hints either so unless you use a guide, it’s up to the player to work everything out. Thankfully, some levels have multiple solutions so you don’t always need to find the “only” way to complete every level. Once you complete the 80 levels a daily puzzle option unlocks, allowing you to take on a new challenge every day and thus increasing the longevity of the game.
I only have one criticism of Birds Organized Neatly and it is the same one I placed at Dogs Organized Neatly when that launched. Aside from the unique level layouts and the fact that it is birds and not dogs or cats being organised – there has been no gameplay mechanic change or innovation across the series. It does worry me that if the next animal does exactly the same thing again, the series may start to grow stale. It doesn’t need much innovation or new idea injection – just something to make each animal have a unique gameplay mechanic to stand out from the rest of this series is to continue. For birds, it could have been removing two birds from the mix by placing them in a nest which turns the birds back into eggs or something. That uniqueness would elevate these games from great to must-haves.
What is here is organised neatly though and I am picking around the edges of a well-designed game. Fans of wholesome puzzle games where you have no timer, no distractions and just pure logic to solve will find a few hours of enjoyment here. Spread your wings and enjoy some of the calmest puzzling of 2024.
Review code provided by the developer. Out now on Steam.
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