Wingspan's digital adaptation flocks to Steam today
Bird and Board.
I am, sadly, no closer to my life's goal of befriending a flock of crows. But thanks to Wingspan, I can at least pretend to be mates will all manner of feathered friends without fear of being pecked to death. Following last year's stellar tabletop edition, Wingspan's aviary collect-a-thon comes to roost on Steam with a digital adaptation, out now.
As any good nature conservationist will know, creating bird sanctuaries is a highly competitive business. Here, go and watch vidbud Matthew run the game through before you even consider setting up sanctuary in this neck of the woods again.
Wingspan, in short, is a game about gathering the best and brightest birds under your enclosures. Each bird you gather earns victory points, but also plays its own abilities, each a nice nod to the animal's real-world behaviours - Geese will form flocks, owls will hunt mice, pelicans will swoop up fish and so on.
Habitats, too, favour particular kinds of feathered friends, and you'll want a nice spread to attract a good variety, turning your santuaries into efficient, bird-generating powerhouses. Wingspan was a hoot (cool owl joke) when it launched in cardboard form last year - and from the looks of it, Monster Couch's digital adaptation looks to keep a good deal of that magic.
Vidbud Matthew wasn't the only RPS'er (or even the only Matt) to take a shot at Wingspan for us. Former young'un, staff writer Matt Cox reckoned it was one of the best strategy demos at this summer's Steam Festival, a wonderful adaptation of a top-notch board game that's best played "sitting back and tinkering with your nests, while sipping a cup of tea and listening to the nice music".
Wingspan is out now on Steam for £15.29/€17.99/$17.99 . If you're reading this as it's posted, you'll have just missed the vidbuts revisiting Wingspan over on our PAX X EGX Indies Uncovered stream. Oops.