Coming from new studio Outerloop Games, with developers that worked on Dino Frontier,
Falcon Age has you bonding with a feathered companion to gather resources and fight together
to take back your homeland.
It’s a smaller game that you can play either in PlayStation VR or on a standard display,
and while it has some rough patches, it also has a lot heart.
You begin the game as a woman in prison,
enduring daily interrogations and doing manual labor
while also using some of your rations to nurture a baby bird whose nest was in your window.
Before long, you find an opportunity to escape and join forces with your Auntie
and other resistance members, fighting against robot colonizers despite the fact
that you’ve admittedly already lost the war.
While the concept of rebel underdogs isn’t new, Falcon Age feels personal and comprehensive.
You aren’t just fighting for territory, but to preserve your sense of culture and identity,
including the traditions that allow you to become a falconer.
Dialogue wheels allow you to express your reactions to different characters,
and there are several moments that really hit home
and allow you to internalize what your character is going through.
This is in spite of the fact that most of the people you meet
aren’t particularly complex or memorable, aside from your stern Auntie.
Unfortunately, the final chapters don’t connect quite as strongly, as you encounter another character
who attempts to challenge your viewpoints, but feels a bit underdeveloped.
And the ending leaves these threads somewhat in limbo.
At the center of all this is the connection between you and your falcon.
Early in the game, the baby grows up, but a special item allows it to appear continually in its younger form
if you prefer.
Either way, subtle animations and interactions contribute to the sense
that you’re working together with a living creature.
When it gets attacked by turrets, you’ll need to pull the darts out one by one,
and petting or playing with it allows it to heal.
The experience is even more effective in VR where twisting your hand
will have the baby bird hop across your fingers
and simply calling your bird and watching it fly up to you feels special.
The controls are specifically tailored to use the DualShock in TV mode
and Move controllers in VR, but in either case,
your left hand essentially directs the falcon while your right hand
is used to wield a baton that also shoots out a beam of energy that’s used like a whip.
You can use your left hand to point out distant objects for your falcon to grab,
fruit to gather, and animals to hunt,
while the baton is used to bash things, whip open chests, and pull switches.
VR players have the option to either teleport from point to point or
hold a button to walk forward more freely,
both of which have their pros and cons.
The biggest of which is that if you have the walking option enabled,
your falcon will flap away as soon as you start to move, which isn’t an issue in TV mode.
The hit detection when swinging the baton can also be a bit weird,
particularly against quicker, more aggressive enemies.
While it can be a bit clunky mechanically, it feels great to coordinate with your bird.
You can have it grab items and toss them down to you, direct it to pile-drive rabbits,
or work together to smash robots and reclaim outposts and refineries.
Some enemies are defeated as simply as having your bird knock them out of the sky
so that you can follow up and finish the job,
while others require a more complex back and forth
where you wear the enemy down then have the bird hold it in place.
Although it’s never that difficult, you do begin to encounter new enemy types and situations
that require you to outfit your falcon accordingly.
Finding assorted recipes allows you to cook new treats that bestow various buffs,
you soon get bombs that allow your bird to take down turrets and spawn points from a distance,
and a shop in town sells various bits of gear that increase the bird’s attack power
or provides new abilities like being able to dig up chests.
You’ll also find an assortment of hats, costumes, and toys to dress up your bird
and find fun new ways to interact with it.
Whether it’s due to the limitations of VR or simply the fact that it’s made by such a small team,
Falcon Age undoubtedly has some rough edges.
The environments are generally simplistic and feel a little empty even for its art direction.
Surfaces and background elements are continually shifting and popping.
Auntie is the only human who speaks, but it almost feels as if she should have been limited to text as well
since spoken lines feel randomly thrown in between blocks of text.
There’s a take on mini-golf that’s more frustrating than fun,
and after methodically clearing a mine-field, the mines respawn when you return,
making you repeat the process.
The most exasperating issue we came across, though,
is a bug that prevented the final door from opening,
leading us to backtrack to see if there were objectives we somehow missed.
A quick reset though, and the door opened right up.
It’s true that Falcon Age is burdened with its share of annoyances,
but it overcomes them through the strength of its sense of companionship.
By the end, you feel both as if the falcon is a trusted partner and a part of who you are.
Even though the story may not have a satisfying payoff,
it’s effective at putting you in the main character’s shoes and allowing you to identify with her struggles.
There’s a greater sense of meaning here as well as a heartfelt connection that’s well worth exploring.
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