The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale

About

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale is a single player tactical role playing game. It was developed by Markus with friends and was released on September 22, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Join Kristal as she sets out on her journey to better understand herself and the world around her in a point and click adventure game, featuring turn-based combat and hand-painted environments.

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Single-Player

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale screenshot

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67%

Audience ScoreBased on 51 reviews

story26 positive mentions

grinding10 negative mentions

The game features gorgeous hand-drawn art and beautiful animations, with visuals often compared to Studio Ghibli films and children's storybooks.
The story is moving, deep, and thought-provoking with memorable characters and strong themes of self-discovery, friendship, and personal growth.
The blend of point-and-click adventure, visual novel elements, and turn-based combat is unique and experimental, with the gameplay complementing the narrative well for players who enjoy mixture genres.

The turn-based combat is widely criticized as tedious, frustrating, slow, overly complex without clear explanation, and disrupts pacing with frequent unskippable dialogue and monologues, causing some players to abandon the game.
The story and tone are uneven and convoluted, mixing childlike fantasy with heavy political and philosophical themes, often feeling disjointed, cheesy, or confusing with many unanswered questions.
Point-and-click puzzles are generally easy, repetitive, and sometimes suffer from pixel-hunting or illogical design, which combined with the combat sections makes for inconsistent gameplay that may not satisfy fans of either genre.

story
92 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
69%
3%
The story is praised for its emotional depth, complex characters, and unique blend of light-hearted and mature themes, often described as moving and thought-provoking. However, it suffers from a convoluted plot, inconsistent tone, and frequent shifts between childish whimsy and heavy topics, leading to confusion and reduced emotional impact. While some find the narrative engaging and layered with meaningful metaphors, others criticize its pacing, dialogue, and integration with gameplay, especially the combat segments that disrupt the story flow.
- “It has a beautiful story, likable characters whose fates are in your hands, and 3 different endings.”
- “She undergoes a large character arc and transforms throughout the chapters, allowing players to follow her personal story and growth, alongside the other circus characters.”
- “Everything in the game fits with and adds to the story beautifully, and I recommend this game to everyone who enjoys a good story.”
- “The first chapter was promising as it reminded me of old quest games mixing point-and-click adventure and turn-based combat, but as it progresses, it breaks down into a confused mess of dialogues, absurd events, and tedious, RNG-heavy combat.”
- “The dialogues are often boring and don't advance the story; they feel like unnecessary filler, especially when they interrupt battles without adding anything meaningful.”
- “The story loses much of its emotional impact due to being a convoluted mess filled with plot holes, making it a chore to follow.”
gameplay
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
79%
9%
The gameplay blends light-hearted point-and-click adventure with turn-based combat, creating a unique but sometimes disjointed experience due to abrupt tone shifts and pacing issues. While the puzzle sections are generally praised for simplicity and charm, the combat can feel repetitive, overly guided, and unbalanced, which detracts from overall engagement. Despite these flaws, the gameplay evolution and integration with the story maintain interest for many players.
- “The two gameplay styles—light-hearted point-and-click puzzle solving and aggressive fantasy combat—don't always mesh perfectly, but for this story, at least, they make sense together.”
- “The very first chapter of the game combines point-and-click adventure gameplay with visual novel narration and turn-based combat. This actually works remarkably well and the three gameplay systems are well-balanced.”
- “The combat is surprisingly varied – new mechanics are introduced in almost each battle up until the final battle.”
- “Now to the nitty gritty, the turn-based battle system has a few issues, firstly being not new-player friendly. Even though it does a decent job explaining its mechanics, as soon as elemental strengths, weaknesses, and field abilities get more complex, it becomes confusing.”
- “All these problems occur after the tone shifts from a sweet, circus fantasy land into an edgy apocalypse alternate world. While I applaud the idea, poor execution of pacing, dialogue, and RPG mechanic balance hold this game back.”
- “I finished the demo and really looked forward to getting it, but playing the full game has been slow and boring—story and gameplay-wise.”
graphics
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
44%
12%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their gorgeous, hand-painted, and highly polished art style reminiscent of Studio Ghibli films, blending 2D and 3D elements beautifully. The visuals complement the storytelling and music, creating an engaging and artistic experience that stands out in the indie scene. Some minor critiques mention repetitive combat visuals and occasional underused graphical elements, but overall, the artwork is considered the standout and most beloved aspect of the game.
- “The hand-painted art style reminds me of Studio Ghibli films!”
- “This game's visuals are highly professional and polished and punch far above the game's indie weight class.”
- “The art style is amazing and the hand drawn pieces are very well put together as it makes for a very beautiful game.”
- “But after a week of not having touched the game and having the memories of drudgery for the last few hours I played, it seems this might be the first point and click graphic adventure since the 16-bit era that I have spent money on and did not finish.”
- “Settings: the settings were simple and user-friendly with two graphical qualities.”
- “I find it strange that the game often introduced character skills that became obsolete 30 minutes later, it's kinda like they added JRPG gameplay just for aesthetics.”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
33%
20%
The music in the game is consistently praised as beautiful, moving, and perfectly complementing the artwork and story, with standout moments including poignant songs during cinematic sequences and a memorable credits song. Players find the soundtrack enhances the emotional impact and overall atmosphere, making the experience richer and more immersive.
- “The soundtrack is beautiful; the story is moving and the characters, especially Kristal, are memorable.”
- “The soundtrack is gorgeous and there are a handful of areas where a movie-like sequence will play with a poignant song in the background.”
- “I also want to shout out the soundtrack, which was also phenomenal – especially in the final chapters!”
- “Despite the different art style, the game features a cheesy ending with some corny music.”
- “There's music volume, SFX volume, narrator volume settings, but no options to customize or change tracks.”
- “While the soundtrack is moving, some players might find the music overly repetitive or not fitting certain scenes.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is widely described as tedious, slow, and repetitive, especially in the turn-based combat segments. This aspect often detracts from the promising narrative and adventure elements, with some players finding the combat overly RNG-dependent, difficult to skip, and a hindrance to overall enjoyment.
- “The turn-based RPG part of the game was tedious and a pain.”
- “The combat system is achingly slow and tedious with the worst repetitive dialogue.”
- “On easier difficulties and during some tutorial battles, combat can feel long and tedious.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers a core emotional story centered on self-discovery that some find touching, wholesome, and thought-provoking. However, its impact is diminished for some players due to confusing side plots and unexpected mature themes, which can make the narrative feel convoluted and less heartfelt.
- “A touching little game that reminded me a lot of the game 'The Whispered World'.”
- “At its core, the story is emotional and filled with self-discovery, but it is sadly let down by its confusing side plots.”
- “The story was cute and wholesome yet deep and mature, and I found it moving and thoughtful to think about even after playing the game.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is praised for its witty jokes, charming dialogue, and topical, sometimes controversial remarks, creating an entertaining and engaging atmosphere. Players appreciate the well-written, clever interactions, especially if they enjoy reading the dialogue, which is not fully voiced but enhanced by an excellent narrator. Overall, the humor significantly contributes to the game's charm and compelling story.
- “They include a lot of funny remarks, but also touch on many controversial but topical subjects, which I found great.”
- “I liked the atmosphere and the dialogue with its funny jokes and references.”
- “Tip: don't skip the dialogues, they are very entertaining and I found them funny due to their wittiness.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game features well-paced character development that allows the protagonist to express herself gradually, complemented by inventive and diverse character designs that enhance the combat experience.
- “Still, the game's inventive character design really shines during the combat sections, with a whole array of fantastical creatures from golems to elementals to floating eyeballs alternately opposing and aiding Kristal in each battle.”
- “The character development was not rushed and took its time to build up her character and let her express herself at a good pace.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is praised for its engaging and humorous dialogue, featuring clever jokes and references that enhance the overall experience.
- “I liked the atmosphere and the dialogue with its funny jokes and references.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users appreciate the game's branching dialogue that changes based on player choices, enhancing its replayability by encouraging multiple playthroughs to experience different outcomes.
- “Also liked the fact that the dialogue changes based on some choices, which to me adds a certain degree of replayability.”

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale is a tactical role playing game.

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale is available on PC and Windows.

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale was released on September 22, 2020.

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale was developed by Markus with friends.

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

The Girl of Glass: A Summer Bird's Tale is a single player game.

Similar games include Silence, UNREAL LIFE, Call of the Sea, BROK the InvestiGator, Sunday Gold and others.

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