The Falconeer Reviews
There is an enjoyable aerial combat game here with a unique story and setting, but the grind and monotonous mission structures hamper it.
The Falconeer succeeds in its exploration which is wonderful, however its repetition and frustrating combat mechanics creates a whole new challenge for the gamer. Lastly, this new world will take most gamers around 10 to 12 hours to successfully complete and its creator Tomasa Sala should be commended on creating a brand new and engaging world with its own rich culture and dynamics. Interestingly to say the least!
The Falconeer's simplistic but captivating visuals are representative of the game as a whole. There's a simplicity to its gameplay and narrative, but there's something intriguing about the lore. The game doesn't stick the landing on its unique concepts, though. Clocking in at around 10 hours, the four chapters feel like the start of something really special - before the game abruptly ends. The first two chapters offer little in the way of diversity, and just as you come to grips with the game mechanics and start finding some engaging environments in the final hours, it ends. I wanted to learn more about the game world. I wanted to get in more exhilarating battles now that my falcon was competent enough to fly around without draining its energy meter, but the game wraps up just as I started getting into it. With a distinct art style, gorgeous animations, and intriguing lore, there's enough in The Falconeer to justify a playthrough, but most of its enjoyment doesn't shine through until the last couple of hours.
Bumpy design turbulence blunts The Falconeer's ambition.
The Falconeer is a fairly original title, fitting to accompany the Xbox Series X launch. Despite some bizarre design decisions, the atmospheric setting and beautiful visuals are worth experiencing.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Ultimately, The Falconeer is an interesting use of a few hours. The gameplay is mostly strong thanks to the engaging combat, albeit a challenging and frustrating experience. It’s just unfortunate that the game is full of repetitive tasks that suck the fun out of the game.
Overall though, The Falconeer kept me coming back for more as it has both a relaxing and an intenseness through its combat that just hits a sweet spot. While I wish there was more to do in the world than simply accept missions and find points of interest to update on a map, the flight combat was a lot of fun to get into even if it often meant that I was getting shot down by pirates as I both learned the world and got my bird better equipped for the battles ahead.
Water world with giant falcons is visualy charming, but almost empty and missions are stereotypical .
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Interesting indie game that’s not quite as good as it wants to be, but still aims for the sky and hits.
If you have the patience to spend a lot of time discovering the lore and upgrading your bird, you will eventually be rewarded, but otherwise you need not apply.
“The Falconeer provides a superb, almost meditative flight experience.”
This is in spite of how great the game looks, runs, and also how it sounds. The presentation package of The Falconeer is quite good, especially on XSX, but that alone couldn’t overcome the struggles I was having with the experience otherwise. I appreciate the effort that went into making this, especially seeing as it was practically done by a one-man studio — but neither the lore or the gameplay really grabbed me and held my interest for long. I could see where more adept and/or forgiving players in this genre would have a better time than I did, though, so if the game sounds interesting to you, it’s worth keeping an eye on, especially given it costs less than half of some of the other launch games.
The Falconeer may not nail the “perch” as well as one may hope but this unique air combat game offers enough unique combat and flying mechanics to make it worthwhile despite its story and mission variety issues.
Launching as a day one title alongside the Xbox Series X|S, The Falconeer has been an anticipated title for many. It’s been on my radar for a while, and I’d frequently seen beautiful shots of soaring birds above the ocean appearing on my Twitter feed. As a game optimized for next-gen, it would be silly not to take the chance to review it.
The Falconeer starts off as a fun, original take on aerial combat but quickly turns into a boring exercise in repetition that even a mysterious and interesting world can't save.
The Falconeer is a beautiful indie game, full of promising ideas, but gets too repetitive after a couple of hours. There´s a great story behind the aerial combat, but it feels underdeveloped.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Falconeer is a game with great ideas, but also with a mission system that ends up being repetitive and boring too soon. However, it is not a bad game. It offers a great quality in flight physique, and great visuals. In addition, it was made by a single person, which is undoubtedly a merit difficult to match, especially for the quality of many of its options. It is not a game for everyone, but for those who enjoy air combat games.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
With a forgettable story and a critical lack of gameplay depth, The Falconeer fails to realize its potential.
The Falconeer is one of those cases in which the positive aspects are much more numerous than the possible flaws, easily ignored if one has an appreciation for the concept. In real life, birds learn to fly by falling and trying again until the process soon becomes natural. Perhaps the learning curve here requires a comparable initial effort, but the good news is that this is an adventure that deserves to be experienced, even if it's in the easy mode.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Falconeer doesn't do anything glaringly wrong, and yet, the overall experience doesn't really click. The game looks lovely, controls well, and offers surprising depth considering it was created by a single developer, but an uninvolving world, repetitive missions, and combat that isn't as visceral as it should be grounds its potential. Like many flights, The Falconeer is kind of exciting when you first take off, but by landing time you just want the experience to be over.