The best bird games | Steam Birds of Play

From 10 to 16 October, Steam is hosting an event with the best bird games on Steam. I personally love this one, since I have a lovebird as a pet and I’ve adored birds for as long as I can remember.

I’ve gone through the selection and picked ten that I find gorgeous. There are brand-new demos, games you can already buy at a good price and a few that won’t arrive until 2027. Here’s my roundup of the Steam Birds of Play event.

Bad Magpie

• Title: Bad Magpie
• Developer: Milktooth
• Publisher: Milktooth
• Genre: Adventure
• Platforms: PC and Mac
• Release date: 2027
• Demo: Yes, available since 8 October
• Languages: English, Spanish and more

You’re a one-winged magpie who has lost your flock. On top of that, you have a very unhealthy obsession with a fallen star. Bad Magpie is all about exactly that, stealing shiny trinkets and causing chaos wherever you go. The demo drops you into a corner of one of the game’s three areas with a very magpie-like mission. You have to collect the meteorite shards scattered across the map, although only the truly obsessive will find them all. In the full version, the story will be told entirely through gameplay, with no text along the way.

Tyto

• Title: Tyto
• Developer: Dreamjob Games
• Publisher: Dreamjob Games
• Genre: Platformer and adventure
• Platforms: PC, Mac and Linux
• Release date: TBA
• Demo: Yes, available since 9 October
• Languages: English only

In Tyto you play as a lost baby owl searching for its family in a huge, dangerous forest. You can take flight and glide between the trees. Its visuals catch your eye from the very first image. The studio has been working on it for over three years and has just released a demo of about two hours. It includes two full non-linear levels, ten quests and a boss. For now it’s only available in English.

I recommend: The best indie games of 2026 (according to Metacritic)

RavenStar

• Title: RavenStar
• Developer: EGOGARDEN
• Publisher: EGOGARDEN
• Genre: Metroidvania and platformer
• Platforms: PC
• Release date: TBA
• Demo: Yes
• Languages: English only

In RavenStar you’re a raven born without wings. You’re cast out of your village. Your only way back is to reach the legendary Wishing Star. It’s a small metroidvania with precise platforming and lots of hidden secrets. What I like most is its core idea, because every friendship you make gives you a new ability to keep exploring. Along the way, the shadows of your past chase after you.

Hawthorn

• Title: Hawthorn
• Developer: NEARstudios
• Publisher: TBA
• Genre: RPG and life sim
• Platforms: PC
• Release date: TBA
• Demo: Yes, a proof of concept
• Players: Single-player or co-op

Hawthorn is the odd one out on this list, because it isn’t only about birds. It’s a world of anthropomorphic animals and fairy creatures, with a forest full of wildlife to befriend. Long ago, the woodland creatures built a trading post in Windermere Valley, which now lies abandoned and full of rumors. It’s up to you to rebuild the village by recruiting villagers, farming and celebrating each season’s festivities. Behind it are former developers from Bethesda, BioWare and Naughty Dog.

VORON: Raven’s Story

• Title: VORON: Raven’s Story
• Developer: Merk Games
• Publisher: Merk Games
• Genre: Open-world narrative adventure
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S
• Release date: 10 November 2025
• Price: 8.74€
• Languages: English, Spanish and more

VORON puts you in the feathers of a raven straight out of Norse legend. The story follows its life from its very first flight to the end. Ravens guide the souls that can’t reach the World of Gods, but an ancient force attacks your family and tears you apart. You’ll help each soul, solve puzzles and explore an open world full of secrets. There are no health bars, so every crash ends in a funny tumble. In September it also arrived on consoles.

Alight

• Title: Alight
• Developer: Without Fail
• Publisher: Without Fail
• Genre: Cozy adventure
• Platforms: PC
• Release date: 2027
• Languages: English, Spanish and more

Another of the upcoming bird games on Steam is Alight, the coziest on the list and also one of the most heartfelt. You play as Gillian Pomefroy, a former mariner whose memory is starting to fail her. She inherits her late partner’s lighthouse on Rusticola Island and decides to leave life at sea behind. Between errands for her neighbors, you can photograph rare birds, build birdhouses and decorate the lighthouse. You can also pet a rather skeptical cat. It’s an adventure about growing old and about absence.

Flock

• Title: Flock
• Developer: Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg
• Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
• Genre: Co-op adventure
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
• Release date: 16 July 2024
• Price: 18.49€ (now 9.24€)
• Players: Single-player or online co-op

Flock is a co-op game about the joy of flying with friends. You travel through gorgeous landscapes looking for rare, elusive flying creatures to add to your flock. It’s one of those unhurried games where the journey is what matters. Annapurna published it in 2024 and right now it’s half price on Steam.

Flock Around

• Title: Flock Around
• Developer: Friend Shaped Games
• Publisher: Friend Shaped Games and Outersloth
• Genre: Casual birdwatching
• Platforms: PC, Mac and Linux
• Release date: 24 April 2026
• Price: 4.59€ (now 3.67€)
• Players: Multiplayer

If you love birdwatching, Flock Around is for you. You explore a nature sanctuary with your friends to photograph birds and complete the field guide. It has already received several expansions, such as Cardinal Cove or an emu island set in Australia. It also recently added mod support through Steam Workshop. It costs less than five euros, so it’s perfect for playing as a group.

Elmin

• Title: Elmin
• Developer: Dejima
• Publisher: Dejima
• Genre: First-person exploration
• Platforms: PC
• Release date: TBA
• Languages: English, Spanish and more

Elmin asks you to bring the winds back to an archipelago of forgotten islands. It’s a first-person exploration game that blends platforming and flight. Every time you touch a gust of wind, Elmin appears. He’s a giant, mysterious bird who guards the islands. Riding on his back, you can fly from island to island across an open world. Between flights you do parkour through the ruins of an ancient civilization to unlock new wind routes.

In case you’re interested: HORROR MADE IN sPAIN, the Steam event with 15 Spanish horror games

Migration

• Title: Migration
• Developer: Define Human
• Publisher: Slug Disco
• Genre: Survival and simulation
• Platforms: PC
• Release date: TBA
• Languages: English, Spanish and more

I’ll close this list of the best bird games on Steam with Migration, a survival game where you play as a crow. The world is trapped in cycles of heat and frost. Each one is shorter than the last. You have to manage hunger, thirst and fatigue while dodging predators. You can build your nest wherever you like and make allies among other animals to share resources. The big decision is when to migrate before survival becomes impossible. It’s currently running a Kickstarter campaign.

Which one are you most excited about? I’ve got the Bad Magpie and Tyto demos lined up for this weekend.

Find more on the event page.