BIRDCAGE
Release date: Nov 18, 2025
Developers: POLYGON BIRD
Publishers: POLYGON BIRD
Genres: Action, Indie
Categories: Single-player, Steam Achievements, Full controller support, Custom Volume Controls, Adjustable Difficulty, Playable without Timed Input, Stereo Sound, Steam Cloud, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English

Warning: This game contains flashing images. BIRDCAGE is a fast-paced, vertical scrolling shoot ‘em up that blends the explosive action of 90s arcade classics, with modern gameplay and storytelling. What is the value of a bullet, when you wield a sword?                    In BIRDCAGE , the player controls the experimental RADON gunship HALCYON. The HALCYON is equipped with a wide shot, focus shot, and its main offensive and defensive weapon, The SWORD.                     BIRDCAGE features an engaging sci-fi story, set in a divergent human future. Inspired by games like Metal Gear Solid, BIRDCAGE touches on futuristic science and technology, political and military power struggles and the nature of the human unconscious mind. Story Mode , the game’s main mode is set across six stages featuring mid-bosses, stage bosses and narrative interludes.                                     Arcade Mode is Story Mode without the narrative, aimed at letting players go after score in a quicker, more convenient way. Score Attack is a race against the clock to chase the highest score, while honing your skills at the game. Enemies spawn endlessly within a set time limit. Inspired by 90s video games and anime, BIRDCAGE makes use of techniques such as sprite scaling, pre-rendered backgrounds and limited textures to mimic the look of early 3D games. The game's soundtrack combines the sounds of 90s music hardware with modern synthesis and samples to create something authentic and exciting. BIRDCAGE features over an hour of dynamic music, hundreds of bespoke sound effects and retro-styled voice acting for stage bosses. Mankind has branched into space and two opposing factions have emerged. On one side, SELENE, in control of the Moon and what remains of Earth, on the other, RADON, in control of the space colony CAGE. Led by Mother ROENTGEN, the RADON Daughters have ordered GENOME Control to create a new breed of weapon. A weapon to end Earth’s reign and birth a new universe, the WORLD-EGG. Deep inside the CAGE, a pilot awakens in the cockpit of the HALCYON - an experimental RADON gunship. Inside the newly-hatched Pilot’s mind, a Voice echoes: Destroy the WORLD-EGG. 

Press reviews: “BIRDCAGE transcends its bullet hell trappings and delivers some absolutely sublime gameplay...” 4/5 – SoManyGames “Everything about the game oozes its influences, using them as a launchpad to add to the pantheon...” 4/5 – GamesHub “...one of the best-looking, best-sounding games I’ve played this year...” Recommended – INVERSE