The Falconeer
Developed by one man, Tomas Sala, and published by Wired Productions, The Falconeer is an aerial combat game set in a mysterious open-world known as The Great Ursee. You can choose from a variety of characters; Falconeers who will traverse the world atop a giant Warbird, completing quests and bounties. Playable on Steam, as well as Xbox - with the Series X|S versions being Optimised - it’s an intriguing launch title for the new generation.
The game is split into a Prologue, four chapters and an Epilogue, with each being able to be selected and played from the main menu. As you start each chapter, you will choose a character as your Falconeer - with loads of options available, this ultimately has no bearing on the story. Each Falconeer is totally random, which feels like a bit of a missed opportunity for a game literally titled ‘The Falconeer’. It would have been cool to dive into the specific Falconeer’s story - or at least have something more that tethers them to the events. The story itself, filled with power-struggles and war, is interesting but changing throughout each chapter loses a little bit of the bond you’d normally have with your character as you play through a game like this.
The art style of The Falconeer is one of the best parts - everything looks absolutely beautiful on Xbox Series X. The Great Ursee has a bunch of locations you’ll have to fly to, and you can even spot whales and other creatures in the ocean on your journey. An impressive photo mode option is available too, that allows you to take all manner of stunning images. Amazingly, you can pan the camera out to an extreme range, moving high above the clouds - and you can even change the time of day to get the perfect colour of sky for your shots.
Sound wise, the game is very atmospheric - which really puts you in the midst of it all. The voice acting has a very Fable vibe to it, with a bunch of different British accents. These are actually very well done, but sadly most of the narration takes place in the form of cutscenes looking over the map locations, which is unfortunately quite tedious and takes away some of the oomph from the story.
Piloting your Warbird feels great, and just losing yourself whilst flying around is very relaxing and fun. There’s plenty to be found throughout each chapter, and just taking the time to fly around looking for secrets adds a serene quality. You can find shrines and temples, as well as traders and Seachantresses that you can purchase charms from. The combat feels fantastic, as does the racing - which will allow you to purchase upgraded Warbirds to take on more challenging fortresses and do more damage in battle. Sadly, these purchases don’t carry over from chapter to chapter, so you’ll need to save up for the upgrades each time around. Thankfully, in-game currency that is earned through completing missions is carried over from chapter to chapter, as well as after any deaths (at a slight loss) - but prioritising when to purchase a Warbird typically only becomes something you realise you should have thought about after you’ve just bought one before quickly moving on to the next chapter.
The loose chapter based style, where you can select any chapter at any point, allows for plenty of treasure hunting and searching for secrets regardless of where you are in the game. And with each chapter taking place in the same map, just with a new base location, you can do all of the exploring you need at any point, without worrying about anything (aside from the Warbirds, annoyingly enough) not carrying over between levels. Priced at £24.99 on the Xbox Store, it’s a mid-level price which feels about right, as there’s enough enjoyment here with flying around in the gorgeous skies.
In the end, we decided to give The Falconeer the Collecting Asylum rating of 7/10.
Have you played The Falconeer yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Wired Productions for The Falconeer Xbox review code!
