I first learned about Birth shortly after playing Landlord of the Woods, when I was looking up Madison Karrh’s info, and found out that not only would it be coming to Steam Next Fest soon, but that it would also be released in a matter of months.

So I've been waiting for Birth since October (2023) and when the opportunity to ask for a game key came up, I can swear my fingers barely touched the keyboard because of the speed I was running them at.
I was so curious about what it would be like, if it would really keep the vibe of Landlord of the Woods or if it would be completely different, beyond the aesthetics and graphics.

Landlord of the Woods was a delightful shock I completely fell in love with at the first sight and I was wondering if with Birth this sentiment would continue or something would change too much (for my tastes, not because it would be a bad game or a bad thing!).

Now that it's out, I can say that not only is it a wonderful game for me, but it also didn't disappoint my expectations at all!

Thank you so much Madison Karrh for the opportunity!

Birth tells us a very contemporary story about feeling lonely where people crowd together the most: big cities.

“Living in crowded cities make me feel lonely”
(Vivere in città affollate mi fa sentire solo)

These are the very first words we see, after putting on some good music, pouring a cup of tea and toasting a slice of bread.
How often do we hear people say something like that, nowadays?
What a bad thing it's to be alone in big cities, especially if you are there for work, grinding out your life day after day without having time to make friends or even just relax a little outside of the work environment, let alone find someone similar enough to share hobbies, passions or even feelings with?

"Being alone" and "feeling alone" are also two completely different concepts: you can be alone and not feel alone, and you can not be alone (or even be surrounded by people) but feel it deeply.

It seems and is an oxymoron but unfortunately this is the paraphrase of one of the problems of modern times.

So what could possibly be the right solution to such an existential problem? Collecting body parts and creating your own companion, of course!
All you need is a handful of bones, a few organs, a bit of biomedical magic and voila!

In Birth we can find Madison Karrh's distinctive personal style again.

As I said in my review of Landlord of the Woods, the visuals really won me over when I saw the game, among many others in a large Itch bundle I had bought.

If you haven't played any of his games and therefore don't know what his personal style is, let me say that Birth, as the latest game released at the moment, embodies his aesthetic at full power. An aesthetic shared with the previous game, Landlord of the Woods, at a more embryonic and decidedly less refined level.

I won't go into too much depth, because I would like to write an in-depth article about his games and style sooner or later, but let me say that the main features are a very neutral palette/light and almost pastel earth colors, a magical-witchy atmosphere, surreal elements and the "skull-people" as I call them (even if "skull-people" in English sounds much better!), the main inhabitants of his world.

All the graphics are hand drawn with a very "iPad-y" vibe. I don't know if they were actually drawn on iPad/Procreate or through a different device/software, I'm mainly referring to the features and all the little imperfections typical of hand drawing/illustration.

And the imperfections of the "hand-drawn" are the main support of the coziness that the game transmits, helping the player to fully immerse himself in the game and at the same time relax while solving the puzzles.

On the other hand, if you've already played Landlord of the Woods and really liked the visuals, then you'll find the same aesthetic, only improved and more refined, with many more small details instead of the more bare areas of the previous game (and I don't mean that in a bad way!).

If you liked Landlord of the Woods, you'll love Birth.

I really love his style and aesthetics, I can't help but say that. It's something I can't fully explain with just words because it's something I feel in my skin. Or in my gut, to be consistent with the game!

Ah, puzzles are the greatest pleasure of the game.

For a game that is supposed to entertain for just a few hours, there are a lot of them, and they are all well thought out!

Speaking of physics-based puzzles, Birth enters a whole new dimension. There are many of them and they're, in my opinion, beautiful when seen in the context and atmosphere of the game. In its simplicity, throwing bottles around, with the sounds of all the little pieces of glass/ceramic, has something that lifts you from the toils of the day. Something that reminds you of those scenes in couples therapy or anger and trauma management where you're given a sponge baseball bat with which you're free to hit everything and everyone with a series of angry "squeak!" as a soundtrack.

From pushing pebbles around, to dropping them into bowls. From moving tiles, to moving products on the counter. From completing puzzles, to spinning wheels. In Birth we find several puzzles we've already seen in Whimsy and Landlord of the Woods but somehow revisited and many completely new.

Note: In the demo review I said that a couple of puzzles were difficult to solve because of the overly sensitive physics. The pebbles involved, in fact, flew everywhere barely touching the container they were supposed to end up in.
Now they seem slightly less sensitive but STILL sensitive, so we can say that it is a type of dynamic intended and that it is part of this type of puzzle in itself, not having any other type of dynamic.

While physics-based puzzles make up the bulk of the game, there are also logic-based and object-hunting ones, as well as a couple of really cute Easter eggs.

One thing to keep in mind is that, in my opinion, Madison Karrh's games aren't made - nor intended - to be extremely difficult or challenging, so if you're looking for a tough nut to crack, longing to squeeze every last drop of brain juice out of your system... this is probably not the game for you.

As always, although the perceived speed and complexity of the puzzle depends on the player's skills and habit of solving them, most of them do not require just a few skills, nor even always to be used all together: patience, observation, a little logic and a steady hand.

A game suitable for everyone, no matter if you're a passionate fan of puzzle games or someone who occasionally likes to test yourself with one of these.

The essence of the game is the game itself, the experience of playing it exactly as it's presented to us: some good music (and the soundtrack is perfect), something to eat, something to drink and some time to spend relaxing with good puzzles outlining a very interesting story that seems like a different, shortened and surreal version of Frankenstein.

And for the game itself, the gameplay revolves around a "neighborhood", which is divided into three different sections. The only exception is two more sections at the end, which are only unlocked after completing all the others, for the epilogue.

In each section there are a number of places, both public and private, that you have to enter to explore them and where you will find the various puzzles. Each location is independent, so you do not need to go outside to try to progress or to find the various solutions. There are, again, only a couple of exceptions.

You can go wherever you want, in whatever order you want, as the game is non-linear and does not require you to solve the areas in the exact order they appear.
At the end of each section is a gate, which will only open once all the puzzles in that area have been completed, allowing you to automatically access the next area.

The game also has a "hidden object" minigame, where you have to search for hidden tokens to access bonus items and collect them.

There are numerous tracks in the game, each of which is -in my exquisite opinion- as beautiful as all the others.
There is something special in these musics, able to create the perfect atmosphere not only for the scene in which it is located at that moment, but for the entire game.

I like to point out how the soundtrack is always a quiet and calming background but never a distraction.

You can go back and forth throughout the game and never feel the need to turn it down or mute it because it ties up your thoughts, as has unfortunately happened to me in the past with other games, even more difficult and complex ones where the concentration needed to play them is supposed to be taken into account in the development phase. Not necessarily a real annoyance, but certainly a distraction that I would have done without.
In this case, it doesn't mean that you don't want to turn it up to enjoy it better!

I hope one day not too far away to see the soundtrack purchasable on Steam. I would be the first to listen to it more than willingly as a relaxing background 😀

What do you get when you mix a little Frankenstein, a little witchcraft and surrealism, a dash of dark academia aesthetics, a few spoonfuls of neutrals, two leaves of four-season comfort and a lot of good puzzles?
A modern horror story about the oxymoron of feeling alone where people crowd together.
A feeling dramatically more common than we might think.

Birth is a beautiful experience, to be experienced exactly as its developer intended, whether you play it as a simple indie game or as a spark of philosophy to think and understand the modern world better.
A game for everyone, whether you are an expert puzzle solver or someone who simply wants to try one for the first time. You can play it alone, with your partners, with your family or friends.