The Falconeer: Warrior Edition Review – A Turbulent Flight

Thank you to publisher Wired Productions for providing a review code.

And thanks to Cart Boy for the editorial help.

A new take on a retro experience
In this medium, “open world”, “stylized design”, “mission based”, and “arcade flight combat” are phrases that might sound a bit generic or even antiquated by this point. However, within the indie scene – which is an endless sea of 2D side-scrollers and quirky RPGs – they actually feel like a breath of fresh air. The Falconeer: Warrior Edition embodies those qualities, bringing back memories of Star Fox 64’s All Range Mode missions, but set above a literal endless sea.

So, does it pass the test with flying colors?

Debriefing
Originally released in 2020 for the Xbox One and Series X/S consoles, The Falconeer is the brainchild of a sole developer, Tomas Sala. Now, the game has spread its wings beyond Microsoft’s machines via its Warrior Edition. Containing all of the original game’s downloadable content, Warrior Edition is the definitive realization of Sala’s vision.

The Falconeer explores a remarkably deep, complex political intrigue from the perspective of different rival factions, in which you play the part of a silent WarBird pilot who gets increasingly harder and shadier missions. The story is separated for each of the factions. Upon starting, you can start the “story missions” right away, or warm up with basic missions that also help you gain currency to buy upgrades and level up.

You can choose your ride from an expanding array of falcons. They all have different stats, meaning you can experiment until you land on one that fits your playstyle. Additionally, you can choose from a set list of looks, giving some stylistic flair to your character and feathered companion.

I, for example, went for faster rides, but found myself in hard situations due to their poor health.

The roaring skies of an endless sea
The story is set above the great Ursee, an expansive sea sprinkled with small islands that serve as settlements for small city-states of divergent factions. Unfortunately, conflict frequently arises between these groups, which may involve managing natural resources, coercion of the smaller civilian outpost, conquest of enemy forts and the defense against pirates. After a short prologue, every chapter slowly advances the plot, eventually revealing each factions’ secret plans. In total, there are three factions, with players initially working under the Civilians, a ragtag group barely scrapping by on this hostile world. Afterwards, the perspective shifts over to the Northern Imperium, who are trying to harness the secrets of the hidden temples. Finally, players are acquainted with the Mancers, a team working to prevent the world from falling apart.

Maverick Pilot
Your part in the story is to be a reliable WarBird rider, which entails getting assigned on various missions, like delivering information or items across islands, escorting warships into dangerous waters, attacking enemy settlements and defending your base from incoming attacks. Completing these missions will earn you experience, so you can level up and get access to better rewards and harder assignments.

In order to fly you have the help of a turbojet sized falcon, which are ferocious but devoted companions. Each one has a different statistical distribution: Agility, Speed, Energy, Health and Regeneration. Choosing a companion suited to your tastes, both aesthetically and mechanically, is part of the fun. And the latter is profoundly important, since completing each mission will require a blend of maneuverability and durability. Your falcon can be upgraded with numerous mutagens and chants that can enhance their performance. Hidden rides with better stats can be unlocked by completing secret racing missions.

On the other hand, numerous guns and ammunition types can be bought and upgraded, giving you a wealth of ways to deliver pain and justice to your foes. I highly recommend experimenting with these tools until you find a combination that suits your playstyle. There is only one sub weapon, Pyro pots, which behave like a mix of flares and homing missiles. These can be life-saving if used during an opportune moment, though they have a limited use, so use them wisely.

Flying high
One can’t overlook the achievements of this game, especially when talking about the presentation. The stylized graphics makes the jump down to the Switch feel softer than if it had an overly realistic style, and helps make the world consistent and easy to navigate. Additionally, the world itself features striking locals and geographic formations, giving a great sense of scale and place.

You can hide the HUD if you want to play in a more immersive way and take pictures with the photo mode. As for the soundtrack, it’s short but nicely sets the mood for the gameplay. Oscillating from relaxing, ambient pieces to frantic ones, Falconeer’s score compliments its scenarios.

Turbulences
In simple terms, the game has an admittedly rough beginning, doing a pretty lousy job at explaining the controls. This is exacerbated by the lack of useful indicators in the HUD; for example, you have to manage your ammunition, something that appears as four brightly colored canisters on the back of your falcon. This is crucial information, but it’s easy to lose sight of during a hectic fight; simply displaying your ammo on the HUD would’ve averted this issue. Secondly, the text is made unnecessarily hard to read because of the lack of a contrasting text box behind the white text. This, consequently, can pose problems while playing in handheld mode and, at times, even when the Switch is docked.

On the other hand, the controls are simple and easy to manage, but sometimes they feel shallow, not giving you the chance to perform more varied evasive maneuvers. Also, you can’t have more than one weapon at a time, making your offensive output repetitive. Sometimes, you’ll buy an expensive weapon only to realize you dislike it, meaning you have to get back to grinding through repetitive missions for money to get your old one back. And finally, the mission rewards are not well balanced, funneling you to the small ones that pay better and give sufficient experience instead of the plot related ones.

It missed the chance to give you the ability to hit enemies with a high speed drop, just like some falcons hunt in real life.

Tips:
– Adjust the brightness of your screen, the game can get quite dark in some night missions with heavy rain, to the point you might not see anything.
– Grind for money! You will feel that your weapons are less effective by the middle of the campaign, so I recommend you grind a bit to buy better ones, get more ammo for them and mutagens for your falcon. Trust me, this will give you an easier time in the long run.
– If you get in trouble and become a pirate by mistake, you can go to any pirate fort and buy a pardon. It might not sound legal, but the game lacks a “retry mission” button, so your only other options are to go all the way back to the menu screen or get killed, which gets harder when your falcon is fully upgraded.
– If you find yourself with a high difficulty peak, you can lower the difficulty. There is no shame in that, and you can retry every mission later to test your might.
– Give the game a try without the HUD on and experiment with the photo mode, you could get some really nice pictures.

Did I mention that you can fly on a Dragon?

Mission Accomplished?
Being a BAFTA Award nominee for best debut surely places this game on a high pedestal, a position I believe it deserves. It’s not perfect, suffering from a rocky beginning and grind heavy midpoint. But it accomplishes a good mixture of solid albeit simple mechanics, a challenging yet fun gameplay loop, a compelling story and an overall admirable presentation. It’s a game you can play for hours on end, with an expansive story that gives you more than one could expect from a game of this size.