#THE FALCONEER RACES PLUS#

Sooner or later though, you’ll want to get stuck into the story. Why would anyone explain it to you? Do you talk to the postman about what trees are? It’s part of the world! It’s clearly THE local feature. 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. There are aerial races to unlock alternative birds, package delivery side jobs, and a brilliant geographical feature called The Maw. The friendly merchant boats you target sometimes offer escort jobs, which paid surprisingly well for often no 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). There’s something exciting here, and I want to see more of it.

#THE FALCONEER RACES PLUS#

Plus it does make combat a bit less hectic.

You’ll be needlessly spinning as well, just because it feels like the right thing to do. 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. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. 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. Even seen entirely from the air, its ocean is easily the most gorgeous I’ve seen outside of Sea Of Thieves. It’s an endlessly pretty game, for one thing. What it loses in capital-F features it gains in originality and atmosphere. It’s just now occurred to me that there isn’t any trading in it, for one thing. Its world is so fresh that I’ve found myself rating it above games that, on reflection, have a lot more in them. Instead of lasers, you fly into storms to charge up your lightning guns. 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 space, you fly over a vast ocean. The Falconeer is, broadly speaking, one of those games, but in a much more novel and colourful setting. There are only so many laser cannons and thrusters and made-up space minerals I can keep track of, y’know? 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. A beautifully realised world housing an enjoyable and original, but limited 3D aerial combat game.Ī bit of imagination can go a long way.

The falconeer races