DISCLAIMER: I have yet to play Songbirds 3E. This is the perspective of an indie game dev who's read the game, is familiar with Snow's former works, and is critiquing the game based on first reading. I do intend to play this soon! I hope to return with some thoughts on the game as it functions in play. If you like OSR, this game functions like an OSR game, but make no mistake. This is a SWORDDREAM. Look it up, nerd.

I've been following Snow for a good while now, and it seems her works only get more imaginative as she releases new projects. From the Endsville and Nerves days to My Body as a Cage,  .dungeon and beyond, Snow really shows promise in creating games that not only buck the trends set by the much larger institutions of the TTRPG scene, but make waves on their own as well! Songbirds 3E only takes this further. 

A surface look at the mechanics may lead the Reader/GM/Player to conclude that this game is a simple OSR clone. I'd challenge anyone with that drab opinion to dive further into the language being used to create this game's mechanics. It reads like a Chrono Cross between China Mievile and Final Fantasy 6. Allusions to capital L Literature as well as loose threads tying into Snow's past works flutter through this book. The disperate pieces combine into a magnificent tapestry seeking to dive headlong into the psyche and face the anxieties there by summoning Ultima herself. The best way to put it is Lesbian Science Fantasy with a *chef's kiss*.

What you really need to understand about Songbirds 3E is this: it is aware that game manuals aren't actually the game. What happens at the table is the game. Snow demonstrates mastery over this by creating a framework that is at once, JRPG adventure, Postmodern Fiction, and Queer Theory rolled into one. If you're down with exploring what the "rules" of a text can be bent and shaped into, you'll find a wealth of tools within this text to construct a found-objects behemoth of witty game design. 

Also it's just gut-bustingly hilarious that Songbirds is willing to put game rules (however light!) to your adventurer going to bust a nut at an orgy and coming away embarrassed with less HP after being called an old nickname by a former classmate who also went to that orgy!

Stoked to dive into the differences between the versions. I feel like I'm holding an old Gameboy in my eight year old hands, ready to dive into another adventure of pixels and majesty!