The Falconeer Reviews
The Falconeer is a small but surprisingly ambitious game that will impress those that are curious with its artistry, and if you are willing to pack a little extra patience and tolerance of its more glaring flaws, you're likely to have a good time. Fans of old-school air-combat games such as Ace Combat and Crimson Skies in particular should consider giving it a shot.
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!
Overall Falconeer has plenty to offer the player whilst formalic in mission variety the overall beauty of the world should be enough to offer the player plenty of incentive to carry on.
And while it's easy to recommend you pick up and enjoy The Falconeer, its real magic lies in waiting. As hopefully it's the start of a new series, where we eventually see The Falconeer Black Flag, or whatever Tomas decides to call it. And that is really where it starts to fill my flight chaps with excitement juice.
It’s a lovely looking game, but The Falconeer just doesn’t entertain like it should. From its repetitive missions to its story that you’ll quickly stop caring about, it fails to capture your attention in the long term, while occasional frustration in combat puts a bit of a downer on the gameplay.
The Falconeer is a gorgeous game that once again shows that there is no limitation to what a single person can achieve if they set their mind to something. Exploring the Ursee is a blissful experience, offset only by the repetitive nature of the combat encounters and the slightly grindy progression.
The Falconeer has grand world building ambitions that never come to pass. Its narrative lacks a proper set-up, or a satisfying payoff, as the gameplay seems entirely disconnected. The poor control scheme, occasionally frustrating difficulty, and repetitive missions make for a forgettable launch game on Xbox Series X.
While the world of the Ursee grabs the attention and tells some interesting stories, the gameplay aspect lacks variety as the majority of missions are almost identical.
Review in Arabic | 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
Water world with giant falcons is visualy charming, but almost empty and missions are stereotypical .
Review in Slovak | Read full review
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.
The Falconeer absolutely excels in story and presentation. Sure, its aerial combat gameplay might lack impact or variety, but with such an interesting and visually stunning world, it's easy to overlook such shortcomings.
Despite being a one-person game, The Falconeer outperforms many other, more famous titles in some ways thanks mainly to an interesting narrative component that puts the game world at the center, rather than a single character. There are some ities in terms of inventory management and three-dimensional movement, but this does not seriously penalise an experience that should be experienced as soon as possible.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Even as someone who plays a lot of games that are theoretically in the same genre as The Falconeer, I have to say that I've never played anything quite like it. On top of all of that the Switch version itself is among the best Switch ports we've ever seen. This is a rare instance of a game that feels perfect on the go but also looks great on a big screen TV. Yes, the core gameplay loop is fairly simple, but The Falconeer never really pretends to be anything other than what it is and it excels wildly at it. If you're a fan of aerial combat games and want to try something outside the usual realm of fighter jets and spaceships, I can strongly recommend trying out The Falconeer. While it may get repetitive for some, the core combat loop and lore filled world drew me in and I'll likely be returning for more very soon.
Fun combat doesn't save The Falconeer: Warrior Edition from being a mediocre game. Problems with mission design and lack of exploration of its world create a game that only promises and fails to reach its potential.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Review code provided by the publisher.
The Falconeer is a must for fans of Crimson Skies or frankly, the air combat genre. While it sometimes may show the limitations of its indie roots, this isn’t enough to detract from what’s on offer. Even as someone who isn’t normally a fan of the genre, I found myself enjoying simply flying around getting to missions.
The Falconeer lacks an actual Falconeer protagonist to hang its adventure from and ends up impersonal and fragmented. Odd dis-incentivizing design choices seek to undermine what is an otherwise wonderful lore-filled world and some of the most fun and frenetic aerial combat this generation.
The Falconeer delivers a solid and gratifying aerial combat experience withing an intriguing and mysterious world. While its RPG component feels underdeveloped and characters end up being too anonymous, it's definitely a game to try for lovers of the genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I'm disappointed how the package for The Falconeer came together, as technically, it's an excellent game. There's bound to be an audience for The Falconeer, and those that will adore the mechanics of the game. In that regard, I wish it had of been on Xbox Game Pass to allow more discovery.