Birdwatching is one of the only hobbies I recommend absolutely everyone gets into, but if you’re yet to pick up a pair of binoculars and see what the great outdoors has to offer, I’ve found a handful of upcoming birdwatching games that may appeal slightly more than getting your boots on and heading outside. While you won’t be able to tick any of these birds off your life list, you’ve got to start somewhere.
A lot of the time these games will send you wandering around different biomes and taking pictures of whatever you spot, but on the odd occasion, you can just sit back and see what comes to you instead. Either way, you might find a new love for birding here, and that’s certainly not something to complain about. Here are four upcoming birdwatching games to keep tabs on if you want to see what birds you can find from the comfort of your own home.
Flock Around
Release date: To Be Announced | Demo?: Yes | Steam
Flock Around doesn’t look like the most accurate birding simulator straight off the bat, but when you look past its cartoonish characters and super-colourful appearance, it’s actually a fairly accurate birding simulator. You and your friends get unleashed upon a park, where you’re given a guidebook filled with different species and essentially just told to find and photograph them. The one catch though is that you’re not really given any hints about these species locations or even their appearance, so if you’re not super familiar with birds already, it’s certainly a challenge.
I spent a decent few hours in the demo, running around snapping photos of the 20 allocated birds your guidebook gives you. Get too close too quickly and the birds will fly away, or run around screaming, and they might hide for a while, much like real life. It’s not exactly the laughter-inducing high-stakes experience a lot of co-op games offer, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. There’s a possibility that shiny versions of the birds will spawn too, which makes tracking them down even more thrilling. Having completed my guidebook in the demo, I’m ready for the full release now though—even though we don’t have a date for that yet.
Birdwatching Notebook
Release date: 2026 | Demo?: Yes | Steam
If you’re considering dipping your toes into virtual birding but you’re not ready to sink your time into a photorealistic birdwatching simulator, then Birdwatching Notebook looks like a good middle ground. This idle game lets you build your perfect setup, such as filling your balcony with plants or feeders, and then forces you to wait until you see your first sign of life, just like you would do from the comfort of your own home. You can also resize the window and keep it in the corner of your screen to watch over incessantly.
Over time, different species of birds will visit your garden, such as hoopoes, warbling white-eyes, and house sparrows, all of which bring you different treasures to exchange for coins and more decorations for your setup. As far as idle games go, it’s certainly the type of one you could easily sink hours and hours into without realising. The demo alone consumed more of my time than I like to admit, so when it eventually releases this year, according to Steam, I look forward to continuing my obsession of watching over my virtual windowsill like a hawk.
Look to the Birds
Release date: Q3 2026 | Demo?: No | Steam
Look to the Birds is a much more realistic birdwatching simulator, in the sense that it takes you out of the house and puts you into a variety of biomes to walk around and see what you can spot. Fortunately, it seems as if the birds are almost guaranteed in these locations rather than sending you aimlessly wandering and hoping you find something. As you make your way through each place, you’ll be able to snap photos of any species and log them in your journal alongside sketches and notes about their behaviours. As you fill out your pages, you’ll unlock more areas and in turn more birds too.
It looks like Look to the Birds aims to offer a more meditative adventure rather than a frantic race to spot as many birds as possible. With no demo, no specific release date on Steam, and only a vague window of “Q3 2026” it could be a while before we can really experience what this means, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.
Birding Simulator: Bird Photographer
Release date: Coming Soon | Demo?: No | Steam
This first-person photography sim could be a birder’s best friend when it eventually releases, tasking you to visit all sorts of biomes filled with a huge variety of species to sit back and snap pictures of. What’s particularly appealing about this game is the fact it offers the opportunity to “meet the rarest birds worldwide”, which frankly is closer than I’ll ever get to some birds on my life list so I’ll take what I can.
I’ve been waiting for this game to release for years, so including it on this list is definitely a bit optimistic. But, I’m still hopeful that one day we’ll get to play T-Bull’s Birding Simulator: Bird Photographer, even if its release window is still “coming soon” on Steam. Mostly because camera gear is incredibly expensive and sometimes difficult to master, so I’d much rather try it virtually in a game that boasts a realistic photography system before investing my life savings. Plus, with a game like this, at least you’re going to see something worth photographing.
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