I found this quite an interesting review. And you make some good points. I do wonder what version you played. It seems the one from after xmas but before Gamepass. As I cannot see any of the fast travel options being used or mentioned ? Did you never notice the travel ahead prompt in the bottom left corner? Similarly I didn't see you using the rolling manoeuvres in combat. Also the wreckdives from batis add a lot of varieties and come with their own cutscenes. Shame you missed those. That said I agree with some of your points that's why for Gamepass the game got guided rockets for instance to both change up combat and speed up the game (it cuts down the capital ships with a few shots ,) Similarly ammo had some bugs where the red and green pots didn't increase ammo amount. So a lot of work was and is being put into addressing some of the issues you mention. There is now multiple ways of fastravelling ( via the map and via prompts ). With regards to the slow pacing at the start. And the fact things start to run only after chapter 2 , I agree and the pacing is my biggest failure. Even tho quite a few people enjoy the upside down pacing , i am fully aware that is not universal. Hence most of the content updates (a new one adding pirate gameplay with more involved story missions next week) is aimed at speeding up the game and improving diversity.. I'd say with the guided rockets it does cut down the main campaign to 6 hours as you can load out your bird to quickly take down the capital ships. Anyways I do tend to take in all the critique, some of it's fair , some of it's taste , and some of it's me being bullish and not into making a highly accessible title. Anyways sorry you had some frustrating experiences. Quite interested to hear which version,/when you played. Because I've released so many updates to change just the critiques you are giving. With regards to xbox user reviews. I've quite given up.on those . We've had to remove a bunch of outright racists reviews and comments. To be honest I can' even read them its so toxic. There are definete fans on xbox as well my inbox is filled with gamers that do get lost in the world and so forth. But I never expected this to be a massively embraced game,but never expected it to become this disisive for sure (also didn't expect it to become a launch title ,just a quirky indie title that does things differently) If you want a fairer assessment from ideas check out the steam page. There is critique there,but on the whole there is a more favorable view of the game there for sure. The steam achievement stats are also a little more balanced., Still amount of people finishing chapters is not high, but i've spend 4 months asking players and most of the people that leave a positive review actually just fly around and explore/chill. And they say so in the user reviews. Kinda wondrous but certainly less destroys than how Gamepass has treated the stats.. On the whole a good video, found it worthwhile for sure. But yes some of your points are and have been addressed, I hope those might have tipped the scales into a place we're you'd have enjoyed them more. It could be you played the latest version, in that case I have more work to do. On a finishing note , you start of saying you felt sorry. That's appreciated,. But on the whole I'm doing fine, turns out I'm not super interested in making very accessible entertainment products :) and I've long since stopped giving a fuck about what most people think. It's just about the only way to make something original nowadays. Heck someday I might make something more people enjoy. Or maybe not. Who knows. Cheers and keep on making vids. You certainly deserve more followers based off the quality. :)
If I may add one critique the title of your video made me think it was just another trash clickbait vid. Trashing the game . But it's actually quite in depth and you also give praise. You do yourself a disservice that way. Distilling your in depth look down to "it's garbage" style title. But that's just me :) cheerio
Hi Tomas, wow thank you so much for taking the time to watch my review, that means a lot! The version I played was on Game Pass in late Feb/early March which did have the Fly Ahead option. I didn't discuss it as it wasn't always available when I needed it, so the long flying sections were constant throughout the game. For the combat I didn't discuss the barrel rolls, as sometimes they weren't effective. Enemy projectiles locked onto my warbird so much that it would home in even when I tried to roll. The wreckdives sound cool, sorry I missed that, was that in the open world exploration? My first experience of exploring the open world was the cartographer missions which I didn't like, so I tried to avoid it afterwards. I should have defiinitely spent more time with this part of the game for sure. It wasn't nescesarilly the upside down pacing, it was more that I didn't find the trade disputes that interesting (maybe I'm biased as we've been talking about Brexit Trade deals in the UK for the past 6 years!) I really enjoyed the portal to another dimension and the soul tree, they were really cool. This is more of a taste thing, as I would have enjoyed more missions with similar fantasy themes. I agree about the Xbox Store reviews. They're overly harsh, which I why I wanted to make this review. Sorry about that, people are strange. But I'm glad Steam is more representative and that does explain why the chapter completiions are low, if people are flying around relaxing. I did have that almost medititive like experience from flying around like you say, which is one of the best parts of the game. Hopefully you don't consider my review to be overly harsh as I always try to be balanced and fair. I was aware that you created this game solo, which I'm still in awe at. Glad to hear you're doing well and I't's good to see you're working on your own projects! Thanks for taking the time to watch my review and sorry I didn't enjoy it as much as we both hoped.
@Tomas Sala Oh really? That's not good. I was definitely not going for a clickbait/trash video Was it the title or thumbnail, or both? I'll bare that in mind for future videos. Thanks for the feedback :)
@@TwinSticksReviews I guess it's they you give away your conclusion in both the thumbnail and title. Taking away some of the need to even view the review. You see major sites always hide their conclusion. The falconeer does it soar or crash? Find out . That kinda stuff.
@@TwinSticksReviews Yeh the first games version had a few issues. But it did have the guided rockets. It should have given you 1 pyro pot at the start. That said that still needs a better introduction during the tutorial. I will however try and solve that major frustrating event where you flew off for ammo and came back to find the event reset. That is not intended, could be a bug or balancing issue. Based of this I'll also remove the penalty of losing your ammo pots on death. As the more expansive ones have double or triple the ammo capacity and should prevent you from ever having to use storms during a mission. I wonder what difficulty you played because at easy and normal you get a free ammo refill upon landing at your home. And in easy at any perch you land. That said I agree that the storms are fun once or twice only. Afters few story missions you should be able.to upgrade beyond the default pots That said those bigger pots , just like the better weapons. And ability upgrades that also prevent those frustrations are ok no lt available at trader locations in the open world . Which I guess you missed out on because of cartohom. Quite interesting that turned you off of the side content, as it's the only exploration mission hub in the world.
I have to say with all the negative views towards this game it's kinda sad as its one of my most favourite games to play. However I do agree with some points you make, I've come across a few bugs here and there for example during my tutorial when I had to refill the pots it wasn't filling and I was stuck on that tutorial so I had to close and re open the game. And the combat is quirky in some ways but i like the combat style even if others don't agree. The rolling didn't work so much in the dodging aspect but I found it to be easy to cut corners and to make quick efficient turns especially in combat. And the hit boxes I find are really jenky aswell. When flying around objects sometimes I would bounce of a wall despite me obviously not hitting. And as for side missions I like the long fly's around just to admire the view giving me the feeling of being like a bird and I could always skip it if I ever got bored. Sometimes you don't get that skip option like escorting a ship but again I like the visuals so it doesn't bother me. Overall it has its flaws but I enjoy the game and it is one of my most favourite games to play on Xbox.
The combat definitely had its moments - the bit with the giant crab and fighting near the portal near the end was great. I think more time improving the combat rather than developing lore etc, would have really helped. And more arenas where we could cut corners and dart behind cover would have been great. That's good to hear about the flying sections. From what I've read a lot of people enjoy that aspect of the game too. When the visuals, soundtrack and feeling of flight come together it does work well. Glad you're enjoying it overall and thanks for taking the time to watch the review.
Tried this on my laptop and desktop with a flight stick, two different controllers, no matter what I do I can't get past the tutorial because it won't let me do a barrel roll. So glad I got this for free on Epic games launcher.
Interesting to read the Devs response to this review. I just saw this on sale on PSN and thought it looked like it could fun. The flight controls are just awful. The racing is where you really see how bad they are. The ad nauseum repeating dialogue, really confusing campaign. No really direction as what optional missions to do or where. Was a neat idea, but the execution is just poor. So far after 3 hours of gameplay it’s been 70% frustration, 20% confusion, 10% fun.
I'd really like to keep playing it because I'm intrigued with the game and story and development of combat weapons and progression of birds and stuff but I have also had the exact same 70/20/10 split in the 3hrs I've played and trying to convince myself not to uninstall. I would like to convince myself the combat is skill based and any mission can be completed with any gear but the only combat utility you get seems to be a roll and dive that dont work for dodging incoming bullets, and even at max agility it feels so punishing to fly around in a group of more than 5 enemies that you cant kill fast enough before you just get shot down and full reset the mission, quite painful. Every aspect other than combat was great and I enjoyed playing, but every time there was combat it felt clunky and lacking in tools to skillfully avoid gunfire, as oppose to just praying that you can shoot enough enemies down before they overwhelm you with damage. With combat being the main progression system through quests, and also the most frustrating part of the game, I'm a bit disappointed that I don't want to keep playing.
@@bloodwolf2609 This game definitely was a grind in areas. If I remember correctly, there are some mounts that have much better stats later in the game. It made survival much easier once you can absorb more damage. I did manage to get through the game with 100% completion. Eventually. It will really test your patience though.
@@BlueTortieDad I kept playing and instead of forcing the story line, I just did a few extra hours in the first chapter fully exploring the map, grinded the seachantress 1k mission for an hour and got a 9/10 bird and max level gun and I will say, the gameplay is much more enjoyable having a bird that doesnt die in 3 hits, I think I'm gonna finish the rest of the game now that I've spent a few hours grinding out the items that let me do that, would recommend grinding it out for anyone that sees this in the future too because the gameplay is much more enjoyable now than it was with the default birds.
Just finished it on switch. It's a really good game, but it took a while to get used to. The perfect execution of dives, rolls and halts make the races particularly hard, but rewarding. Reminds me of souls in some weird way.
as someone who wanted to be a fighter pilot in the military but was told I had zero chance (bad eyesight and other factors) I keep trying to find fun aerial combat/exploration games. since getting my Xbox, I hadn't found one that was quite able to satisfy my itch. the falconeer took that itch out with a turbo gyroscopic vibrating back scratcher 3000. I absolutely get what you're saying about it's flaws though
That's great to hear, it's good that you enjoyed it. Did you play on PS5 by any chance? I've heard that version is better. Plus all the Dual Sense functionality.
Tried this game on Game pass. Boy am I happy I did that. I don't blame anyone for not completing it. As you said, music, world and art style (minus the NPCs) are well done. But the gameplay and missions are just really boring and not worth it.
Yeah it's a shame that the infuriating systems and mission design outweigh all the good stuff. I enjoyed flying around and listening to the soundtrack, but I really struggled to finish it. How long did you play for out of interest? Did you complete it? It seems like most people left before then. (I don't blame them either).
@@TwinSticksReviews I managed to complete the first 2 chapters after the prologue. When I found out that the missions and exploration was of a limited variety + grind, I stop playing. English is not my first language, so I hope my spelling and gramma is not too flawed 😅
Yeah the grind to level up was a killer! The last two chapters are pretty good though, there's some solid moments towards the end. Your English is very good by the way, I didn't even notice it wasn't your first language.
I am one of the people who refunded the game after 10 minutes, because I couldn't stand the controls. I had a brief exchange with Tomáš on Steam forums and unfortunately, in my eyes he ignored what the vast majority wants to use, and stubbornly pushed with his view of how the game should control. We aren't talking about accessibility, we are taking about common sense. Most people don't own joystick. I've tried multiple ways and gave up, because it's atrocious. Especially because I've played great games that handle flight controls well, like AER memories of old. I would've loved to play the game, but alas, this is just Tomáš's and Tomáš's only fault. I hope he didn't give up, stopped sulking and gets out to make game he can enjoy, but also others can. Because that's not mutually exclusive!
When I saw this game alone on the shelf at best buy as it had been for months I looked into it and had hope.Hope for intriguing story and moving characters and the freedom of flight. Bond between rider and bird as Jack and BT and Hiccup and toothless.But it wasn't meant to be.
Yeah, for the average FPS or sim gamer an open world RPG game with little to no introduction to the game mechanics quickly leads to frustration. I adore the immersive world and the sound design but some mechanics are hard to learn. Like in the beginning "catch fish and let your falcon eat it" - who in the world would have guessed that you have to press the left trigger shortly above the waves to catch a fish? It's those little things that quickly throws off new players... 🐶 But I'm glad Tomas could explain some stuff on what was going on - yes, I've read the pinned comment... ✌️
I really enjoyed parts of the game too. I loved flying around and taking in the world, but in the end it over stayed its welcome. It was all the other stuff that frustrated me, average combat, no checkpoint and the RPG scaling that made difficulty numbers based not skill based. It's all subjective of course and other people enjoy the game. As Tomas said in his comments a lot of people enjoy relaxing and flying around. I can see that. What did you think overall?
@@TwinSticksReviews wanna hear the crazy part? I'm not even a RPG guy. I come from mostly FPS & sim gaming on PC with the occasional sidestep on the PS3 (Uncharted 3). Even on the XBOX One X I did play mostly racing/sim games like Forza 7 or Snowrunner. It's just recently with my XBOX Series X that I started venturing more into the open world gaming, like Witcher 3 Wild Hunt or Assassin's Creed Origins... ✌️ Falconeer: I watched the other interview video where Tomas mentioned some influences in creating "The Falconeer". As soon as he said "Crimson Skies" I had to grin - because I just loved that air combat thing with crazy planes. And that is the thing about Falconeer: it feels unique in today's gaming environment. Basically "Ace Combat 1668" with pirate ships and falcons instead of airplanes... 😁 I'm only around 3 hours in and still in the first chapter. But I will continue and see where it takes me. Most helpful thing: googling some stuff, getting frustrated and then learn that there is an official wiki... 🤪 thefalconeer.fandom.com/wiki/The_Falconeer_Wiki
Well, Witcher 3 is a great open world/RPG game to start with. So good. I've noticed that a lot with Game Pass - not sure if you have that? - but I'm trying games I'd never buy outright, like loads of indie titles. Yeah those interviews were really interesting. Tomas is a cool guy and the Falcon idea is a great take on those old games. I kinda wish the control scheme had been modernised though, like the ability to rotate your bird fully so you can fly upside down like in Balltefront 2, Ace Combat, Just Cause etc. I prefer the freedom in those control schemes, and the easy to learn, but difficult to master elements. I'm glad you're enjoying it. It gets better towards the end too! Let me know your thoughts when you finish it :)
I agree and did encounter a lot of the same issues, especially the ammo. However I eventually came to enjoy it in a certain way, having to gas up before missions, and planning my routes to get more ammo. But I understand the frustration in “needing ammo to get ammo” so a small tip is investing in two or more pyro rockets, save them for emergencies and when you run out of ammo. Happy other people had the same difficulty issues as well.
That's good, I'm glad you enjoyed it in the end. There's definitely a lot of good there, but unfortunately the frustrating parts were too much for me. It seems like there are tips and tricks to get around some of that like you say, but I'd had enough before that point. You can't fault the visuals, soundtrack and the feeling of flying though! Which version did you play out of interest? The PS5 Edition releases tomorrow so I'd be interested to see what's changed.
@@TwinSticksReviews I played on pc, just picked up the dlc today, and thinking about getting it on switch. Loving this game personally, but I understand why it got a lot of bad reviews because the problems are pretty annoying, and while after many hours I have remedies for most, nothing redeems the terrible checkpoints. Not to mention I wish they would add more detail to characters and cutscenes/ dialogue, even something as simple as having a background you speak to them in, the inside of a tavern or something. Would definitely make the world more real and interesting after 40 hours. They could expand upon a lot of it really.
@@yungi5730 sadly it's not a they, when it's just one guy that made the game. It's not a simple as being able to add all kinds of stuff in a quick time frame
@@austinmull8515 I didnt say it was simple, and while it was developed and in this case was majorly creatively directed by one dude, there was still a team involved. I still am a huge fan of this game, I just wished more so than improvements some of these problems could be fixed so itd stop getting bashed a lot by people getting annoyed, and rightly so. But when its a small game like this you cant expect perfection, which shouldnt be expected from any game. Is the game being updated just out of the question? With the new DLC and all I dont think so.
Yeah I'm thinking of getting the PS5 version to fly around with dual sense, plus to see what's changed since my review. It seems like the game is constantly improving, so hopefully some of the issues we've discussed are addressed. The Warrior Edition reviews are looking good anyway, 7's and 8's from what I've seen.
The combat and specifically the aiming in this game made me rage so hard, that and how they spawn specific enemies so incredibly close to objectives. Maybe its specifically playing it on mouse and keyboard that was so odd feeling. I think the world would have been more interesting if there were active trade routes and pirate attacks etc/factions. It did feel really dead.
The combat was an odd one, sometimes the auto aim was insane and other times you'd be shooting an enemy and nothing would happen. The flying was good on console though, they nailed the feeling of gliding through the air. I just wish we had more freedom, to be able to rotate fully horizontally and vertically like in other flying games. Yeah the world was a bit barren, but I guess it makes sense as it would have taken ages for one person to fill it. I dunno, maybe it could have been smaller and more detailed rather than spaced out?
The controls made me uninstall the game instantly. I play games inverted and just couldn’t get the controls and navigate the word it felt like bizarro land. It’s sad too because I really wanted to like the game.
I think the Control point simultaneously proves and disproves your point because the auto reload is explained in the lore of Control because it's a living weapon lol but I see what you mean.
I think this is the proverbial indie dilemma: a bad game made with good intentions. We feel compelled to like it for being indie but we can only compromise so much in our critiques.
Thanks, you've basically highlighted how I felt with this review - I wanted to like it, but there was too much that ruined the experience. We of course can't expect the same kind of polish and accessibility as a triple-A game, but little things like a checkpoint system or a less repetitive mission structure would have helped.
Hopefully the creator of this game learns from the mistakes and comes back with a better game next time. Its not easy to make games, especially making them by yourself versus having an entire staff. I know you wanted the best for this game but in reality its just not a good game. Great review as usual!!
Yeah I mean making games sounds so tough! I have no idea how much work it takes, but I imagine it's a lot. I hope so too, there's a lot of good in here so I'm excited to see what he comes up with next. Thanks for watching :)
It's had a few updates since this review, including some new side content and a PS5 release. I've heard the PS5 version is good as the dual sense works well when flying around. It's probably better, but still not great.
@@TwinSticksReviews I came here out of frustration with the PS5 version I'm afraid - same as I'm reading a lot of: I really wanted to love it, I love all flight games, but this game makes some serious design misteps despite the gorgeous art style and world building Number one on my 'aww hell no' list is dual mapping key dogfighting controls for brake and accelerate, meaning I often dive into the sea or barrel roll instead of braking or accelerating. Plus those whirlwinds are hard to see so I often get launched into the air trying to fight ships... Great video though: pretty much exactly sums up how I feel about the game. At least the dev is willing to engage: he spent most of last night trying to alleviate my grievances on Reddit bless him
Huh! Was interested in buying it for the Switch. Last time I played a flying simulator, which I have always enjoyed, was Wing Arms for the Sega Saturn which was pretty shit in retrospect (before that it was F-22 Lighting II for the PC, that was awesome for its time but yeah... OLD games). Guess I should go to the high seas first to try this out then before a purchase... Ay tharrrrr she blows!
I found this quite an interesting review. And you make some good points. I do wonder what version you played. It seems the one from after xmas but before Gamepass.
As I cannot see any of the fast travel options being used or mentioned ? Did you never notice the travel ahead prompt in the bottom left corner?
Similarly I didn't see you using the rolling manoeuvres in combat.
Also the wreckdives from batis add a lot of varieties and come with their own cutscenes. Shame you missed those.
That said I agree with some of your points that's why for Gamepass the game got guided rockets for instance to both change up combat and speed up the game (it cuts down the capital ships with a few shots ,)
Similarly ammo had some bugs where the red and green pots didn't increase ammo amount.
So a lot of work was and is being put into addressing some of the issues you mention. There is now multiple ways of fastravelling ( via the map and via prompts ).
With regards to the slow pacing at the start. And the fact things start to run only after chapter 2 , I agree and the pacing is my biggest failure. Even tho quite a few people enjoy the upside down pacing , i am fully aware that is not universal.
Hence most of the content updates (a new one adding pirate gameplay with more involved story missions next week) is aimed at speeding up the game and improving diversity.. I'd say with the guided rockets it does cut down the main campaign to 6 hours as you can load out your bird to quickly take down the capital ships.
Anyways I do tend to take in all the critique, some of it's fair , some of it's taste , and some of it's me being bullish and not into making a highly accessible title.
Anyways sorry you had some frustrating experiences. Quite interested to hear which version,/when you played. Because I've released so many updates to change just the critiques you are giving.
With regards to xbox user reviews. I've quite given up.on those . We've had to remove a bunch of outright racists reviews and comments. To be honest I can' even read them its so toxic. There are definete fans on xbox as well my inbox is filled with gamers that do get lost in the world and so forth. But I never expected this to be a massively embraced game,but never expected it to become this disisive for sure (also didn't expect it to become a launch title ,just a quirky indie title that does things differently)
If you want a fairer assessment from ideas check out the steam page. There is critique there,but on the whole there is a more favorable view of the game there for sure.
The steam achievement stats are also a little more balanced., Still amount of people finishing chapters is not high, but i've spend 4 months asking players and most of the people that leave a positive review actually just fly around and explore/chill. And they say so in the user reviews. Kinda wondrous but certainly less destroys than how Gamepass has treated the stats..
On the whole a good video, found it worthwhile for sure.
But yes some of your points are and have been addressed, I hope those might have tipped the scales into a place we're you'd have enjoyed them more. It could be you played the latest version, in that case I have more work to do.
On a finishing note , you start of saying you felt sorry. That's appreciated,. But on the whole I'm doing fine, turns out I'm not super interested in making very accessible entertainment products :) and I've long since stopped giving a fuck about what most people think. It's just about the only way to make something original nowadays.
Heck someday I might make something more people enjoy. Or maybe not. Who knows.
Cheers and keep on making vids. You certainly deserve more followers based off the quality. :)
If I may add one critique the title of your video made me think it was just another trash clickbait vid. Trashing the game .
But it's actually quite in depth and you also give praise.
You do yourself a disservice that way. Distilling your in depth look down to "it's garbage" style title.
But that's just me :) cheerio
Hi Tomas, wow thank you so much for taking the time to watch my review, that means a lot!
The version I played was on Game Pass in late Feb/early March which did have the Fly Ahead option. I didn't discuss it as it wasn't always available when I needed it, so the long flying sections were constant throughout the game.
For the combat I didn't discuss the barrel rolls, as sometimes they weren't effective. Enemy projectiles locked onto my warbird so much that it would home in even when I tried to roll. The wreckdives sound cool, sorry I missed that, was that in the open world exploration? My first experience of exploring the open world was the cartographer missions which I didn't like, so I tried to avoid it afterwards. I should have defiinitely spent more time with this part of the game for sure.
It wasn't nescesarilly the upside down pacing, it was more that I didn't find the trade disputes that interesting (maybe I'm biased as we've been talking about Brexit Trade deals in the UK for the past 6 years!) I really enjoyed the portal to another dimension and the soul tree, they were really cool. This is more of a taste thing, as I would have enjoyed more missions with similar fantasy themes.
I agree about the Xbox Store reviews. They're overly harsh, which I why I wanted to make this review. Sorry about that, people are strange. But I'm glad Steam is more representative and that does explain why the chapter completiions are low, if people are flying around relaxing. I did have that almost medititive like experience from flying around like you say, which is one of the best parts of the game.
Hopefully you don't consider my review to be overly harsh as I always try to be balanced and fair. I was aware that you created this game solo, which I'm still in awe at.
Glad to hear you're doing well and I't's good to see you're working on your own projects!
Thanks for taking the time to watch my review and sorry I didn't enjoy it as much as we both hoped.
@Tomas Sala Oh really? That's not good. I was definitely not going for a clickbait/trash video
Was it the title or thumbnail, or both? I'll bare that in mind for future videos. Thanks for the feedback :)
@@TwinSticksReviews
I guess it's they you give away your conclusion in both the thumbnail and title. Taking away some of the need to even view the review.
You see major sites always hide their conclusion. The falconeer does it soar or crash? Find out .
That kinda stuff.
@@TwinSticksReviews
Yeh the first games version had a few issues. But it did have the guided rockets. It should have given you 1 pyro pot at the start.
That said that still needs a better introduction during the tutorial.
I will however try and solve that major frustrating event where you flew off for ammo and came back to find the event reset. That is not intended, could be a bug or balancing issue.
Based of this I'll also remove the penalty of losing your ammo pots on death. As the more expansive ones have double or triple the ammo capacity and should prevent you from ever having to use storms during a mission.
I wonder what difficulty you played because at easy and normal you get a free ammo refill upon landing at your home. And in easy at any perch you land.
That said I agree that the storms are fun once or twice only. Afters few story missions you should be able.to upgrade beyond the default pots
That said those bigger pots , just like the better weapons. And ability upgrades that also prevent those frustrations are ok no lt available at trader locations in the open world . Which I guess you missed out on because of cartohom. Quite interesting that turned you off of the side content, as it's the only exploration mission hub in the world.
I have to say with all the negative views towards this game it's kinda sad as its one of my most favourite games to play. However I do agree with some points you make, I've come across a few bugs here and there for example during my tutorial when I had to refill the pots it wasn't filling and I was stuck on that tutorial so I had to close and re open the game. And the combat is quirky in some ways but i like the combat style even if others don't agree. The rolling didn't work so much in the dodging aspect but I found it to be easy to cut corners and to make quick efficient turns especially in combat. And the hit boxes I find are really jenky aswell. When flying around objects sometimes I would bounce of a wall despite me obviously not hitting. And as for side missions I like the long fly's around just to admire the view giving me the feeling of being like a bird and I could always skip it if I ever got bored. Sometimes you don't get that skip option like escorting a ship but again I like the visuals so it doesn't bother me. Overall it has its flaws but I enjoy the game and it is one of my most favourite games to play on Xbox.
The combat definitely had its moments - the bit with the giant crab and fighting near the portal near the end was great. I think more time improving the combat rather than developing lore etc, would have really helped. And more arenas where we could cut corners and dart behind cover would have been great.
That's good to hear about the flying sections. From what I've read a lot of people enjoy that aspect of the game too. When the visuals, soundtrack and feeling of flight come together it does work well.
Glad you're enjoying it overall and thanks for taking the time to watch the review.
Tried this on my laptop and desktop with a flight stick, two different controllers, no matter what I do I can't get past the tutorial because it won't let me do a barrel roll. So glad I got this for free on Epic games launcher.
Interesting to read the Devs response to this review. I just saw this on sale on PSN and thought it looked like it could fun. The flight controls are just awful. The racing is where you really see how bad they are. The ad nauseum repeating dialogue, really confusing campaign. No really direction as what optional missions to do or where. Was a neat idea, but the execution is just poor. So far after 3 hours of gameplay it’s been 70% frustration, 20% confusion, 10% fun.
I'd really like to keep playing it because I'm intrigued with the game and story and development of combat weapons and progression of birds and stuff but I have also had the exact same 70/20/10 split in the 3hrs I've played and trying to convince myself not to uninstall.
I would like to convince myself the combat is skill based and any mission can be completed with any gear but the only combat utility you get seems to be a roll and dive that dont work for dodging incoming bullets, and even at max agility it feels so punishing to fly around in a group of more than 5 enemies that you cant kill fast enough before you just get shot down and full reset the mission, quite painful.
Every aspect other than combat was great and I enjoyed playing, but every time there was combat it felt clunky and lacking in tools to skillfully avoid gunfire, as oppose to just praying that you can shoot enough enemies down before they overwhelm you with damage. With combat being the main progression system through quests, and also the most frustrating part of the game, I'm a bit disappointed that I don't want to keep playing.
@@bloodwolf2609 This game definitely was a grind in areas. If I remember correctly, there are some mounts that have much better stats later in the game. It made survival much easier once you can absorb more damage. I did manage to get through the game with 100% completion. Eventually.
It will really test your patience though.
@@BlueTortieDad I kept playing and instead of forcing the story line, I just did a few extra hours in the first chapter fully exploring the map, grinded the seachantress 1k mission for an hour and got a 9/10 bird and max level gun and I will say, the gameplay is much more enjoyable having a bird that doesnt die in 3 hits, I think I'm gonna finish the rest of the game now that I've spent a few hours grinding out the items that let me do that, would recommend grinding it out for anyone that sees this in the future too because the gameplay is much more enjoyable now than it was with the default birds.
Just finished it on switch.
It's a really good game, but it took a while to get used to. The perfect execution of dives, rolls and halts make the races particularly hard, but rewarding.
Reminds me of souls in some weird way.
as someone who wanted to be a fighter pilot in the military but was told I had zero chance (bad eyesight and other factors) I keep trying to find fun aerial combat/exploration games. since getting my Xbox, I hadn't found one that was quite able to satisfy my itch. the falconeer took that itch out with a turbo gyroscopic vibrating back scratcher 3000. I absolutely get what you're saying about it's flaws though
That's great to hear, it's good that you enjoyed it. Did you play on PS5 by any chance? I've heard that version is better. Plus all the Dual Sense functionality.
@@TwinSticksReviews I played on Xbox
Tried this game on Game pass. Boy am I happy I did that. I don't blame anyone for not completing it. As you said, music, world and art style (minus the NPCs) are well done. But the gameplay and missions are just really boring and not worth it.
Yeah it's a shame that the infuriating systems and mission design outweigh all the good stuff. I enjoyed flying around and listening to the soundtrack, but I really struggled to finish it.
How long did you play for out of interest? Did you complete it? It seems like most people left before then. (I don't blame them either).
@@TwinSticksReviews I managed to complete the first 2 chapters after the prologue. When I found out that the missions and exploration was of a limited variety + grind, I stop playing.
English is not my first language, so I hope my spelling and gramma is not too flawed 😅
Yeah the grind to level up was a killer! The last two chapters are pretty good though, there's some solid moments towards the end.
Your English is very good by the way, I didn't even notice it wasn't your first language.
I am one of the people who refunded the game after 10 minutes, because I couldn't stand the controls. I had a brief exchange with Tomáš on Steam forums and unfortunately, in my eyes he ignored what the vast majority wants to use, and stubbornly pushed with his view of how the game should control. We aren't talking about accessibility, we are taking about common sense. Most people don't own joystick.
I've tried multiple ways and gave up, because it's atrocious. Especially because I've played great games that handle flight controls well, like AER memories of old. I would've loved to play the game, but alas, this is just Tomáš's and Tomáš's only fault. I hope he didn't give up, stopped sulking and gets out to make game he can enjoy, but also others can. Because that's not mutually exclusive!
When I saw this game alone on the shelf at best buy as it had been for months I looked into it and had hope.Hope for intriguing story and moving characters and the freedom of flight. Bond between rider and bird as Jack and BT and Hiccup and toothless.But it wasn't meant to be.
Yeah, for the average FPS or sim gamer an open world RPG game with little to no introduction to the game mechanics quickly leads to frustration. I adore the immersive world and the sound design but some mechanics are hard to learn. Like in the beginning "catch fish and let your falcon eat it" - who in the world would have guessed that you have to press the left trigger shortly above the waves to catch a fish? It's those little things that quickly throws off new players... 🐶
But I'm glad Tomas could explain some stuff on what was going on - yes, I've read the pinned comment... ✌️
I really enjoyed parts of the game too. I loved flying around and taking in the world, but in the end it over stayed its welcome. It was all the other stuff that frustrated me, average combat, no checkpoint and the RPG scaling that made difficulty numbers based not skill based.
It's all subjective of course and other people enjoy the game. As Tomas said in his comments a lot of people enjoy relaxing and flying around. I can see that.
What did you think overall?
@@TwinSticksReviews wanna hear the crazy part? I'm not even a RPG guy. I come from mostly FPS & sim gaming on PC with the occasional sidestep on the PS3 (Uncharted 3). Even on the XBOX One X I did play mostly racing/sim games like Forza 7 or Snowrunner. It's just recently with my XBOX Series X that I started venturing more into the open world gaming, like Witcher 3 Wild Hunt or Assassin's Creed Origins... ✌️
Falconeer: I watched the other interview video where Tomas mentioned some influences in creating "The Falconeer". As soon as he said "Crimson Skies" I had to grin - because I just loved that air combat thing with crazy planes. And that is the thing about Falconeer: it feels unique in today's gaming environment. Basically "Ace Combat 1668" with pirate ships and falcons instead of airplanes... 😁
I'm only around 3 hours in and still in the first chapter. But I will continue and see where it takes me. Most helpful thing: googling some stuff, getting frustrated and then learn that there is an official wiki... 🤪
thefalconeer.fandom.com/wiki/The_Falconeer_Wiki
Well, Witcher 3 is a great open world/RPG game to start with. So good. I've noticed that a lot with Game Pass - not sure if you have that? - but I'm trying games I'd never buy outright, like loads of indie titles.
Yeah those interviews were really interesting. Tomas is a cool guy and the Falcon idea is a great take on those old games. I kinda wish the control scheme had been modernised though, like the ability to rotate your bird fully so you can fly upside down like in Balltefront 2, Ace Combat, Just Cause etc. I prefer the freedom in those control schemes, and the easy to learn, but difficult to master elements.
I'm glad you're enjoying it. It gets better towards the end too! Let me know your thoughts when you finish it :)
My bird keeps flying off on its own so basically I can't leave the dumb thing to fly on its own
I agree and did encounter a lot of the same issues, especially the ammo. However I eventually came to enjoy it in a certain way, having to gas up before missions, and planning my routes to get more ammo. But I understand the frustration in “needing ammo to get ammo” so a small tip is investing in two or more pyro rockets, save them for emergencies and when you run out of ammo. Happy other people had the same difficulty issues as well.
That's good, I'm glad you enjoyed it in the end. There's definitely a lot of good there, but unfortunately the frustrating parts were too much for me. It seems like there are tips and tricks to get around some of that like you say, but I'd had enough before that point. You can't fault the visuals, soundtrack and the feeling of flying though!
Which version did you play out of interest? The PS5 Edition releases tomorrow so I'd be interested to see what's changed.
@@TwinSticksReviews I played on pc, just picked up the dlc today, and thinking about getting it on switch. Loving this game personally, but I understand why it got a lot of bad reviews because the problems are pretty annoying, and while after many hours I have remedies for most, nothing redeems the terrible checkpoints. Not to mention I wish they would add more detail to characters and cutscenes/ dialogue, even something as simple as having a background you speak to them in, the inside of a tavern or something. Would definitely make the world more real and interesting after 40 hours. They could expand upon a lot of it really.
@@yungi5730 sadly it's not a they, when it's just one guy that made the game. It's not a simple as being able to add all kinds of stuff in a quick time frame
@@austinmull8515 I didnt say it was simple, and while it was developed and in this case was majorly creatively directed by one dude, there was still a team involved. I still am a huge fan of this game, I just wished more so than improvements some of these problems could be fixed so itd stop getting bashed a lot by people getting annoyed, and rightly so. But when its a small game like this you cant expect perfection, which shouldnt be expected from any game. Is the game being updated just out of the question? With the new DLC and all I dont think so.
Yeah I'm thinking of getting the PS5 version to fly around with dual sense, plus to see what's changed since my review. It seems like the game is constantly improving, so hopefully some of the issues we've discussed are addressed. The Warrior Edition reviews are looking good anyway, 7's and 8's from what I've seen.
Wow, amazing work! Keep it up :D
Thanks! Will do :)
The combat and specifically the aiming in this game made me rage so hard, that and how they spawn specific enemies so incredibly close to objectives. Maybe its specifically playing it on mouse and keyboard that was so odd feeling.
I think the world would have been more interesting if there were active trade routes and pirate attacks etc/factions. It did feel really dead.
The combat was an odd one, sometimes the auto aim was insane and other times you'd be shooting an enemy and nothing would happen. The flying was good on console though, they nailed the feeling of gliding through the air. I just wish we had more freedom, to be able to rotate fully horizontally and vertically like in other flying games.
Yeah the world was a bit barren, but I guess it makes sense as it would have taken ages for one person to fill it. I dunno, maybe it could have been smaller and more detailed rather than spaced out?
The controls made me uninstall the game instantly. I play games inverted and just couldn’t get the controls and navigate the word it felt like bizarro land. It’s sad too because I really wanted to like the game.
I think the Control point simultaneously proves and disproves your point because the auto reload is explained in the lore of Control because it's a living weapon lol but I see what you mean.
Totally agree! the game is very frustrating.
I think this is the proverbial indie dilemma: a bad game made with good intentions. We feel compelled to like it for being indie but we can only compromise so much in our critiques.
This is a good way of putting it, indie and flawless cant be expected to go hand in hand.
Thanks, you've basically highlighted how I felt with this review - I wanted to like it, but there was too much that ruined the experience. We of course can't expect the same kind of polish and accessibility as a triple-A game, but little things like a checkpoint system or a less repetitive mission structure would have helped.
Exactly. Which is why it's so special when they do - Hades last year for example
Perle ai porci
Hopefully the creator of this game learns from the mistakes and comes back with a better game next time. Its not easy to make games, especially making them by yourself versus having an entire staff. I know you wanted the best for this game but in reality its just not a good game. Great review as usual!!
Yeah I mean making games sounds so tough! I have no idea how much work it takes, but I imagine it's a lot. I hope so too, there's a lot of good in here so I'm excited to see what he comes up with next. Thanks for watching :)
How is the game now? Any different?
It's had a few updates since this review, including some new side content and a PS5 release. I've heard the PS5 version is good as the dual sense works well when flying around. It's probably better, but still not great.
@@TwinSticksReviews I came here out of frustration with the PS5 version I'm afraid - same as I'm reading a lot of: I really wanted to love it, I love all flight games, but this game makes some serious design misteps despite the gorgeous art style and world building
Number one on my 'aww hell no' list is dual mapping key dogfighting controls for brake and accelerate, meaning I often dive into the sea or barrel roll instead of braking or accelerating. Plus those whirlwinds are hard to see so I often get launched into the air trying to fight ships...
Great video though: pretty much exactly sums up how I feel about the game. At least the dev is willing to engage: he spent most of last night trying to alleviate my grievances on Reddit bless him
I disagree with this review for a game made by 1 person it's good no game is perfect.
I honestly couldn't stomach Falconer for more than a couple of hours 😅
A nice little mix of boring and motion sickness 😂
Yeah from what I've seen it's more of a chill game where you fly around the map and relax. Definitely not good if you have motion sickness though!
Huh! Was interested in buying it for the Switch. Last time I played a flying simulator, which I have always enjoyed, was Wing Arms for the Sega Saturn which was pretty shit in retrospect (before that it was F-22 Lighting II for the PC, that was awesome for its time but yeah... OLD games).
Guess I should go to the high seas first to try this out then before a purchase... Ay tharrrrr she blows!
Whatchu mean bruh, its 120 fps, all that matter
It is smooth I'll give it that
LOL couldn't land in the prologue and uninstalled :D
I hated this game. The controls suck. Nice try but try again.