Sparrow Country

Sparrow Country is a short story game with light RPG mechanics, focused on exploration, quests, challenges and racing. You play as a Sparrow, explore enchanted areas, meet characters and grow in size and capability by gaining experience. Collecting stars and completing quests, races and challenges earns XP and advances the story.

The world and story

In the Phorgle universe, Sparrows are small, nimble and fast, with an instinct for survival that lets them evade other species. Their rushing wings can startle nearby creatures, while bugs can slow them down. Other birds and characters may offer quests, interact with you or get in your way.

Story Freeform mode lets you wander and interact with story characters while following the primary storyline. Characters offer challenges and races, and some conversations may require reading to progress. The story has several chapters and about 10 minutes of cutscenes in total; its primary quests are required to finish the game, while most challenges and matches are optional. Completing the story requires building up to 10 skill levels, after which you can keep exploring and replaying quests at higher levels. A speedrun takes about an hour.

Grow and develop

Your Sparrow grows as it levels up. In single-player, you are randomly assigned a Sparrow; in co-op, you can choose from six Sparrows, whose base attributes are very similar and in several cases the same.

Stars collected during the story and earned through challenges and matches increase experience. You can also spend stars to boost energy, use certain abilities and interact with characters; in Story Freeform, they can pay for fast travel to discovered areas.

A skill tree lets you improve attributes and unlock abilities, including core, ground and air skills. Passive nodes increase attributes, while active nodes require a key press and have a cooldown. Star Burst provides a burst of energy and perks while active, until its stars run out or you end it to save the remaining stars. Super Jump and Stomp are other unlockable abilities that let you rise or descend quickly in place at the cost of stamina. Base attributes improve as you level up, and skill-tree nodes such as Stamina can increase them further.

Flight and stamina

The game uses arcade-style ground movement and flight. Young Sparrows have limited bursts of energy, so you need to monitor stamina to keep moving consistently. You can restore it by tumbling into certain bushes to catch berries or entering a plant aura, and speed up recovery by crouching or flying downward.

Story and co-op

You can play through the story alone or together online. Co-op uses peer-to-peer networking, and two players are recommended; the game allows more players. Arcade races can be played with bots or a friend, with two players recommended, and also use peer-to-peer networking. There is no dedicated server support.

Quests and races

The game currently includes the first level and some smaller supporting levels, as well as three Arcade tracks:

• GrassPlains Raceway: about 1 minute per lap with a level 5 Sparrow.
• Beach Aisles Raceway: about 3 minutes per lap with a level 5 Sparrow.
• Indaga Valley Raceway: about 2.5 minutes per lap with a level 5 Sparrow.

Smaller additional tracks also appear in the story. Challenges and matches can award badges or bronze, silver and gold medallions or trophies. The game has no lives or death system, though some challenges may limit how many times you can reset. Getting displaced can reset or teleport your character, and the action is named to reflect what caused it.

Navigating the world

The game provides utilities and instruments to help you find your way. If your Sparrow gets stuck or you need to get back on track, you can use the escape menu to reset to a safe location. Inventory support is limited.