HomeReviewsThe Falconeer
The Falconeer reviewI’m an avianator!
I’m an avianator!
Developer:Tomas SalaPublisher:Wired ProductionsRelease:Out nowOn:Windows 10From:Steam,GOGPrice:£25/$30/€30
A bit of imagination can go a long way. Shooty games about wandering a somewhat living area of outer space doing odd jobs in between a chain of story missions are their own subgenre, to the point where even the good ones can blur together. There are only so many laser cannons and thrusters and made-up space minerals I can keep track of, y’know?
The Falconeeris, broadly speaking, one of those games, but in a much more novel and colourful setting. Instead of space, you fly over a vast ocean. Instead of ships, you ride a giant falcon, and fight flying dinosaurs, semi-mechanical (I think?) insects, and huge undulating serpents covered with gun banks. Instead of lasers, you fly into storms to charge up your lightning guns. Its world is so fresh that I’ve found myself rating it above games that, on reflection, have a lot more in them. It’s just now occurred to me that there isn’t any trading in it, for one thing.
What it loses in capital-F features it gains in originality and atmosphere. Whether that’s enough for you will vary.
It’s an endlessly pretty game, for one thing. Even seen entirely from the air, its ocean is easily the most gorgeous I’ve seen outside of Sea Of Thieves. The range of colour and light you’ll see played out across its vast sky is wonderful, and I can think of no other game that’s had me periodically fly directly up, away from my troubles, just to break out above the clouds and hear the music gradually drop to a gentle windchime to accompany the starlight.
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings
There’s some tactical value to this too, as it zooms out your minimap, and diving naturally drives your speed and replenishes your stamina, and, well, of course you’ll be divebombing your enemies. You’ll be needlessly spinning as well, just because it feels like the right thing to do. Plus it does make combat a bit less hectic.
The Falconeer has a lot of combat. There was a honeymoon period where I just flew around exploring, flying for its own sake, landing at ports and occasional shrines (which bring up fully voiced flavour text and unlock some side trinkets). The friendly merchant boats you target sometimes offer escort jobs, which paid surprisingly well for often no combat. There are aerial races to unlock alternative birds, package delivery side jobs, and a brilliant geographical feature calledThe Maw. It’s a huge chasm gouged out of the ocean, with a weird little watery bridge, and for the longest time the game absolutely refuses to explain what it is or how it’s possible. I respect that immensely. It’s part of the world! It’s clearly THE local feature. Why would anyone explain it to you? Do you talk to the postman about what trees are?
Controls are a problem in general. Although the game itself recommends a controller, I found the mouse and keyboard option was fine in itself. But the way the camera works caused lots of frustration. General flying is no problem, with the camera following your bird, which you control using the mouse, plus a couple of keyboard buttons for controlling speed. But when a fight starts and you want to look in any other direction, there’s a strong chance that doing so will interfere with whatever you’re trying to do. The WASD keys tilt the camera in a corresponding direction, in classic flight sim style, and there’s a ‘track target’ button, but for some unknown reason, both also cause your control of the bird to go out of the window, making them a liability for any more than the briefest glance.
Less frequent but more frustrating are the moments where your control of the camera is wrested away completely so it can focus on introducing an enemy, or sometimes an ally. In the bigger fights I genuinely lost track of which was which more than once, making the sudden pan to an unknown NPC appearing on the edge of an already hectic fight about as welcome as a fighter pilot’s entire windscreen unexpectedly cutting to Wrestlemania highlights.
It’s just in need of a little tweaking, is the thing. Some annoying but niche bugs, a few checkpoint issues, a maddening habit of the camera that I imagine could be patched or made optional with relative ease. These things irritated me precisely because they took me away from the good time I was having.
Since my first few hours with The Falconeer, I’ve been tempted to express the sentiment that it has tremendous sequel potential. The only reason I hesitated to lead with that is the worry that it could be taken the wrong way; it could come across as damningly faint praise, or a recommendation that people give it a miss, ironically making a sequel far less likely. I mean it in a positive sense, though. There’s something exciting here, and I want to see more of it. I want to see its ideas developed, its possibilities expanded. I’d like to have more to do outside the story, more interaction with NPCs, more weapons and equipment and tactical options. Specific interactions with the falcons you ride, or other riders even. But then gosh, it’s hardly fair to give its creator Tomas Sala a hard time for, y’know, being mortal. And it’s definitely unfair to knock a solid game because I want more of it.
Does that mean that I can recommend it without reservation, though? Ach. That wouldn’t be fair on you. Fixable minor issues aside, The Falconeer’s limitations kept it from fully winning me over. But it’s bloody impressive when its stars align.
