I ’m sailing on the back of my trusty bird through a woodland lined with giant mushrooms when I spot something peculiar . I see a sparkly eyeball with a neon glow floating in front of me . As I puzzle over it , my eagle eyes see another one close by . presently I ’m comply a trail of them like a animal scientist tracking a set of footmark through the mud . After gliding in lap for a while , they go me to a wondrous deal : a rainbow - colored ophidian gracefully floating through the air . I stop to study it and learn that the creature is very territorial and marks its domain of a function with gaseous cloud .
I ’d just spent the past few minutes chasing a trail of farts . And I could n’t have been happier .
It ’s that nature designation hook that makesFlocksuch a charmer . The new game from Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg , the squad behind indie gems such asWilmot ’s Warehouse , takes the quiet joys of birdwatching and set them into a low stakes geographic expedition game about key out eldritch wildlife . Though its loose tale give way to a plodding - driven endgame too soon , Flockis a pleasant sashay to a colourful world that might help you better appreciate your own .
Birds of paradise
WhenFlockbegins , I find my character sitting on the back of a bird in an ocean of cloud . After sailing to a nearby island and foregather some locals , I ’m quickly given a simple task : go name some critter . That quick introduction plant the level for a sleek , streamlined geographic expedition game where my focal point is almost solely on observing wildlife . I do n’t even have to suppose about my campaign too much . I only steer and boost my bird , who swimmingly hovers above the background , while its height mechanically changes based on the terrain . That simplified crusade mostly works , though I now and again find myself wishing I had more control when I struggle to line up with a creature I want to study .
creature are a silly delight to discover .
My focus is more on keep an eye on the eccentric globe , a picturesque landscape painting filled with piano flora and bright pastel . It ’s the kind of mini open world that ’s been popular in late indies likeLittle Kitty , Big City ; it ’s small in size , but dense in biodiversity . It feel like a circular preservation enclosure build to foster the 61 creature that call it home . And each of those wight is a empty-headed pleasure to discover .
InFlock ’s mankind , all animals are a admixture between birds and Pisces . They all hover through the melodic phrase , though some exhibit specific behaviors that I sometimes involve to crack like a puzzle . Some animal , all of which go to one of 13 invented coinage , are easygoing enough . Cosmets are disc - shaped critter with multicolored fin that I can easily aviate up to and canvass . Thrips , on the other hand , are fundamentally fireflies with long snouts , and I can easily find them glow at night . Finding every single wight and figuring out how to catalogue them is the main attractor here , as it honor measured observation . When I hurriedly take flight up to seahorse - same Baffin , it promptly dips into a crack in the rock ‘n’ roll below to hide from me . I learn that I ’ll need to approach more cautiously and observe from a distance if I ’m going to study it .
Once I do get nigh enough to observe , I call for to properly place it and log it in my field guide . That mean right opine what genus it belongs to and then figuring out the metal money by await at a list of forgetful signifier for each make out creature and matching it based on what I ’ve observed . It ’s a seraphic small system that has me cautiously watching each brute ’s apparent movement , pattern , and eccentric demeanour . It ’s a low - stakes puzzle . Whenever I guess incorrect , I ’m just told the right-hand solution and I sort it with no penalisation . I find myself wishing I could examine myself a bit more , butFlockisn’t out to punish players ; it just wants to keep their curiosity pique like a all-inclusive - eyed kid at a menagerie .
As an amateur birdwatcher myself , Flockreally captures something I love about patiently observe fauna in their innate habitats . On a recent walk through a nearby cemetery , I caught a skirt I ’d never seen soaring over a pond . I carefully peek at it through my opera glasses and started taking mental promissory note . opprobrious feathers . Orange accents on its wings . A quick hunt let me aright key it as a violent - wing merl , leaving me satisfied with my power to time its defining features . I get the same smiling on my face whenever I see a green piper twine around a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and correctly guess its name .
Natural grind
While that core hook letsFlockfly high early on , it skin to keep that momentum beyond its end credit roll . The former game has me following a clear set of objectives that move me through the populace naturally . As I relegate critters , I now and again stumble into environmental secrets or confab with NPCs who give me fast charge . I can also find ( flying ) sheep scattered throughout the world that I can cut down off in a meadow to clear some grass and disclose out of sight wages . Each time I straighten out a major story beat , the clouds lower a scrap around the island and reveal more space for me to explore . It ’s a smooth stream where I always experience like I have something to do , but am never overwhelmed .
That concise frame-up end on an abrupt note , as a on the face of it uneventful mission three hour in conduct me to an end - credit roll . Flockgets looser from there with some interracial results . The long - term finish beyond sort each animal is to become an expert on every genus . To do that , I want to befriend wight several multiplication to max out my knowledge of them . That ’s fulfill through a minigame where I keep abreast the beast at a sure distance and blab out to it . Doing so adds it to my flock , which follow me around like a bundle of balloons at a funfair . It ’s a precious visual , but the minigame never interchange despite some coinage make very unlike behavior from one another . It ’s a tedious dweeb , which fly in the face of the uncovering element that take in the first few hour so particular .
A decorative wearing apparel - up system total a act more to do , but that can get insistent too . If I bequeath my sheep at enough meadows , I can eventually shear their wool and expend it to buy clothing pieces for my character . It ’s a cute touch , though I just roll up rotating between the same handful of spots to farm wool . day-by-day pursuit from NPCs pay back me with woollen too , but those largely just take me to capture a few critters in a short meter limit .
Flockat least finds a way of life to make that experience more societal with a welcome multiplayer option . Up to four friends can easy jump out into the world together and capture critters , render more incentive to unlock costume and show off . Granted , this is a sleek game with only a handful of unlockables and a pocket-sized mint of creatures to find . It ’s a pleasant way to expend time with some bud , but I do n’t know that there ’s quite enough here to support that for very long without update .
The first time I see a critter is always the most exciting .
It ’s an domain whereFlock , and games with similar hook likeEndless Ocean : Luminous , can have hassle truly capturing the wonders of nature . Even when I go to the same cemetery I frequent , my wildlife experience is always different . One day I might see a family of geese raise some newborns . The next , I ’ll amount back to see a white Grus patrolling the same area , or a mallard couple nuzzling in the grass . Nature is dynamical ; even animals in the same species can have wildly different personality . A video game is still by compare . animate being inFlockdo their one affair and appear in the same scratchy area . The first prison term I see a critter is always the most exciting . Everything after that remind me I ’m interact with a machine .
It ’s gruelling to get around those limitations , butFlocklargely come up to that challenge in a delicious personal manner . Whenever I picked it up , I was transported in a elbow room so many games endeavor for but few can pull off as well as this . For a few delightful hours , I was a full on birdwatcher , befriend flyspeck Winnows and following fart cloud through the woods just to get one glance at a rare genus Piper . That it was all over so quickly was n’t a problem ; it stand for I had more time to apprise my feathered friends living in my own backyard .
Flockwas tested on personal computer andSteam Deck OLED .
