Hi, I’m Tomas Sala, creator of The Falconeer – an open-world aerial combat game where you pilot a giant warbird in the skies above a vast open world covered by an endless ocean. After five years in development, I’m proud to launch the game today for Xbox and PC.
The Falconeer is a game about exploration, agile combat, high adventure and deep mysteries you’ll uncover as you play through the campaign. It’s also a great way to unleash the power of your new Xbox Series X|S, running at up to 120fps in Performance Mode on both consoles.
As a creator I like creating gameplay more than I like creating tutorials! But before you take flight over the oceans of The Great Ursee, I’d like to offer a few pointers and help you find your wings.
Stay On Target
The Falconeer is all about getting up close and personal with your enemies. Your warbird is more agile than a fighter jet, but your weapons are imprecise at range. Instead of engaging at a distance, close the gap. And once you are close engage your lock by tapping X on the controller which will also activate aim assist, making it possible to hit those targets at breakneck speeds.
Dive Into The Maw
In The Falconeer’s first chapter you’ll find yourself free to explore the open world, so take a visit to The Maw. Located near the starting town of Dunkle, The Maw is a churning supernatural canyon in the middle of the vast ocean. Ancient shrines and temples line the edges of The Maw, revealing the mythical backstory of The Great Ursee or unlocking Chants – passive buffs you can add to empower your warbird before launching into combat.
Play Your Way
The Great Ursee’s world is always open but its campaign is told across a series of chapters, each with their own theme. I wanted players to be able to experience the story in any order they choose, so if you feel brave you can dive into Chapter Three and Chapter Four to explore some epic content right away.
Shrine Hunting
Shrines unlock the map of the area, new lore and new abilities from the Sea Chantress. Chants change how you’ll play the game. Memorial increases the distances at which you can gather the game’s currency, Splinters. Bloodlust refills your health gauge for defeating enemies. Purify powers-up your shots to create epic chain reactions when taking out battleship turrets. They’re just one of several ways to customize your warbird and change the game.
Mutate!
Biochemists out in the open world offer mutagens to upgrade your warbird’s speed, agility, health regeneration and other factors. Biochemist Kytera sells almost every mutagen in the game if you can find them hidden at their half-sunken laboratory somewhere in the great ocean.
Race For Your Perfect Warbird
People you’ll meet in the open world will sell warbirds, but to qualify you’ll need to beat a trial. Marked by small flame icons on the map, each trial unlocks a different warbird. A Royal Strongfeather is super-agile and super-fast, while the Imperial Cavalier is a super-strong flying tank. You’ll find a lot of variety out in The Great Ursee
The Falconeer is a very personal game for me, inspired by the classic flight games of the 90s and 00s like Red Baron, Aces Over The Pacific, TIE Fighter and OG Xbox classic Crimson Skies. For most of the last five years I’ve worked alone on the game, but I’ve benefited greatly from the creativity and support of the team at Wired Productions and our incredible composer Benedict Nichols whose score brings the world of The Great Ursee to life with an exotic orchestra of instruments and voices, from Scottish bagpipes to Mongolian throat singing.
For me The Falconeer is about the desire to escape and to rise above darkness. It’s a game about the freedom found in the skies above a dark ocean that always threatens to pull you down. To be able to create The Falconeer without compromise was my goal. I hope when you play The Falconeer you’ll feel the person who made it has put something of themselves in there, and I hope you find that makes it more meaningful in some way.
But it’s okay if you just want to take down massive aerial battleship from the back of a big-ass bird!
The Falconeer
Wired Productions
Become the Falconeer and soar through the skies aboard a devastatingly powerful Warbird. Uncover secrets lost to the sea as you join or oppose different factions and clans scattered throughout The Great Ursee. Take advantage of multiple Falconeer classes with individual stats, weapons and warbirds that can be upgraded through winning battles, completing quests, discovering secrets, or applying Mutagens or Chants. Use ocean thermals and energy to dive, dodge, barrel-roll, and twist to gain an advantage.
The Falconeer is an open-world air combat game, featuring fast, brutal aerial dogfights and deep exploration of an incredible fantasy open-world set not only above the clouds, but also amongst the waves and down through the sunken, ocean depths.
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Source: Xbox Blog
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