The Falconeer Review

Developed by solo indie developer Tomas Sala, The Falconeer is a third-person arcade-style flight simulator with lite RPG elements. Set in a vast, oceanic open world called the Great Ursee, the game blends fantasy, steampunk, and sci-fi elements. Players take on the role of a “Falconeer,” piloting massive warbirds to engage in fast-paced dogfights, explore sunken ruins and stormy skies, and navigate faction conflicts driven by themes of treason and ancient secrets. Can this be the Panzer Dragoon successor that gamers have been waiting for? Find out in The Falconeer review!

Ursee is a waterlogged expanse dotted with jagged islands, ancient ruins, and volatile skies. Its inhabitants are divided into rival factions, including the imperial Mancer Order, the rebellious Northern Imperium, coastal traders, and other clans, all vying for control over resources and secrets buried in the depths. The narrative unfolds through a series of non-linear chapters, each focusing on a different pilot and faction, offering varied perspectives on the Ursee’s conflicts. The plot is less about a single hero’s journey and more about piecing together the world’s history through exploration, dialogue, and environmental cues.

The Falconeer uncovers the story via missions, audio logs, and exploration rather than a single, cohesive narrative. The experience feels detached due to its lack of a central protagonist and reliance on passive storytelling. There is no driving question or anything to latch onto emotionally. The text is written in a dry, long-winded manner, to the point that most players will likely skip through it. Jumping to different perspectives frequently gives unbearable whiplash in this fragmented experience and comes off as a haphazard attempt at including a story for a generic war that players have no stake in.

The setting and story may not be compelling, but The Falconeer does have a distinct look and feel. It has a flat-shaded impressionistic style with fluid animations. Real-time water physics, with waves reacting to wind and player movement, and volumetric clouds, shift with weather patterns convincingly. These elements make the world feel alive, especially when diving through thermals or battling in storms. The fusion of ocean and steampunk is an inspired artistic flourish, but it is too bad that most of the concepts depicted aren’t fully explained.

The Falconeer emphasizes fluid aerial manoeuvres like diving on ocean thermals, barrel-rolling to evade fire, and unleashing devastating attacks with customizable weapons. Missions involve shooting down enemies, escorting allies, or uncovering lore, often completed in non-linear chapters where you switch between different pilots and warbirds from rival factions. Shooting has satisfying kinaesthetic feedback and feels natural, but where the game flies too close to the sun is its sloppy flight controls.

The Falconeer‘s aerial manoeuvrability controls for barrel rolls, dives, and thermal riding are challenging to master, and it’s mostly due to floaty, unresponsive inputs. The combination of pitch, roll and yaw requires precise coordination and is sensory overload when contending with sluggish movement. Most victories won during the course of the campaign were due to trial-and-error rather than legitimate skill.

Warbirds have limited stamina tied to actions like rolling, diving and thrusting, leading to stalls or vulnerability when it runs out mid-combat. The balance is very strict and does not leave much room for failure allowance. It feels bad when trying to establish some distance from a target, only to be left awkwardly hobbling in the air, tanking cheap shots. In crowded battles, locking onto targets is unreliable, with the game sometimes cycling to distant or irrelevant enemies instead of the closest threat. Perhaps this is accurate to real dogfights, but it’s hard to believe the real thing is so confusing and hopelessly chaotic.

Even after mastering the controls and getting a feel for the tacked-on stamina system, the mission loop is uninspired. Events unfold into a blur of escort this tub, strafe that outpost, and chase down pirates with little escalation. While it does not deliver its ambitious promises of being an open-world, dogfighting flight sim, The Falconeer remains impressive due to what a solo developer can accomplish. It’s visually striking, and it dares to dream big. The story probably should have gone for something more abstract and less geopolitical, with factions at each other’s throats. Something more surreal would have given more leeway for players to imagine something more interesting than what was delivered.