WithZelda: Tears of the Kingdomout now and garnering instant critical acclaim and commercial success, many a developer and publisher are likely gun-shy to release much in the next week or so. There are other games releasing in the coming days, such asHumanity, The Outlast Trialson PC, andLEGO 2K Drive,but there’s a notable four-day difference betweenHumanityandZelda: Tears of the Kingdom. However, one freeindie gamehas apparently decided to go toe-to-toe with Link, asFlappy Soulsreleased on May 11 as a free-to-play game on Steam.
As its name implies, Flappy Soulsis a crossover, of sorts, betweenFlappy BirdandDark Souls.The gameplay is nearly identical toFlappy Bird, with the exception that players can gather Souls, while the general art style and aesthetic can be attributed toDark Souls. It’s obviously not 1:1, but there’s clearly some homage and reverence forFromSoftware’sDark Soulseriesin the name and art. And instead of a general pixelated bird, players are a duck wearing a ball cap.
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Flappy Souls - A Mix Between Flappy Bird and Dark Souls
That’s it–a mix between the two is allFlappy Soulsis, with a little flavor of its own. It was developed and released by Medivelion and is currently free to claim on Steam. It has largely been overshadowed or, at least, it hasn’t caught on yet. However, it has garnered 23 positive reviews with one claiming thatit’s better thanZelda: Tears of the Kingdomand another stating: “I hate this game but yet i am compelled to keep playing.” The last echoes a sentiment shared byFlappy BirdandDark Soulsplayers, as both games have addicting gameplay loops with high levels of difficulty. Perhaps cheekily, it should also be noted thatFlappy Soulsis tagged as a “Souls-like” and “casual,” which seems like an oxymoron.
Remembering the Flappy Bird Craze
Sometime after, Nguyen confirmed that its seemingly addictive gameplay loop led to the cancelation, claiming it was designed to be played for a few minutes, and he removed it when players would spend hours upon hours with this bird. The fallout saw three major things happen: first, the mobile app stores were flooded withclones ofFlappy Bird.
Secondly,any phone that hadFlappy Birdinstalledbefore its removal was sold at retailers like eBay at exorbitant prices. And finally, the craze around the game died down rather swiftly. A few sought these phones in the months after, many still enjoyed the game as they could, but theFlappy Birdcraze died down. No mobile game since, whether similar in gameplay, aesthetic, or design, has reached the same level of success or popularity.
As a result, it seems unlikely thatFloppy Soulswill hit those same highs, even with its approach to the same gameplay style. Stranger things have happened though, but either way, fans can enjoy thisFlappy Bird-style gameplaythrough aDark Souls-esque environment as a duck on Steam, for absolutely free.
