The Lion's Song is presented like a point-and-click adventure but is more like a Visual Novel. There are 4 episodes, each with a different character. The stories cross over slightly in that some characters briefly meet.
The font looks the same as those used in the old ScummVM games like Monkey Island, although the graphics look more advanced pixel art. The colour scheme is sepia; a few shades of brown or greyscale. You are mainly reading dialogue but sometimes you need to click on certain objects in order to progress. The 2nd and 3rd episodes allow you to move between a few locations so take a bit longer to complete.
In the first episode, Arthur sends a violinist to his cabin in the Austrian alps to find inspiration to complete her newest composition, ready for her concert performance. She is called by a stranger named Leos on the phone. The noise from the storm makes it hard for her to concentrate but conversing with Leos gives her the motivation and inspiration to finish her composition.
In the second episode, a Painter chooses a model. He sees "layers" of people's personalities, like he can see into their soul. However, he cannot see his own layers which troubles him, and he suffers from blackouts.
In the third episode, a female mathematician struggles to complete her theory. She goes to the café where a group called The Radius are meeting but they reject her based on her gender. She then dresses as a man to get in.
The final chapter is a man on a train, sharing a carriage with 3 men. It turns out each one knew the characters from the previous episodes so they reminisce on their memories.
At the end of each episode, you see a summary of your choices just like in Telltale's adventure games.
I could imagine there will be a lot of people that play the first episode and stop but the 2nd and 3rd episodes are much more interesting.
The game took me about 3 hours 40 to complete. In some ways, I felt the stories ended just as they were getting interesting, and there's not really any interesting idea tying them together. It seems a massive coincidence that the 3 guys on the train happen to know the protagonists and the other guy was interested in all of them as a journalist of sorts. That idea just seemed like an excuse to make it seem like there was an overall plot/reveal.