Game review 17 July 2024, 01:00

author: Matt Buckley

Flock Review: The Power of Observation

Find and collect strange fictional creatures in Flock, a relaxing multiplayer game with an emphasis on exploration, observation, and soaring through an open-world on a giant bird.

The review is based on the PC version. It's also relevant to PS5, XSX, XONE, PS4 version(s).

Flock from developers Richard Hogg and Hollow Ponds (I Am Dead) focuses on exploration and observation. The player soars through the skies of a colorful environment, filling a journal with the eclectic wildlife that can be discovered throughout the world. The name Flock comes from the player's ability to encourage these various creatures to follow them around as they soar through the landscape, creating their own flock of vibrant creatures. Gather a variety of unique shapes, colors, and styles for a memorable flock worth showing off to friends. And yes, while this review copy of the game didn’t have multiplayer functionality, it is planned to be a primary feature of this game.

This game is for the patient observer. Flock’s open-world is small and only expands gradually as the game is completed. But that may only take a number of hours. I was able to unlock the entire map within six hours of playing, though by that point I still had a number of creatures to discover and even a whole unknown family of creatures.

The player joins the biology team of their aunt, scouring the land for stolen whistles which will allow the player to charm various species. Burgling Bewls stole the whistles and hid in pastures, which can be grazed down by floating sheep. Once the sheep have exposed the hidden bewl, the player pulls it out of its hiding spot and reclaims the whistle. There are twelve families of creatures, with four or more species per family, and twelve whistles to charm them.

Utterly Charming Design

One of the first things that stuck out to me was the audio design. In some ways, this feels like a game designed for me, but the realization that got that idea into my head was when I began to recognize the calls of each creature in the game. Much like taking a walk in my neighborhood and recognizing the call of local birds, I quickly began internalizing the unique and natural sounds of these fictional creatures.

Bewls all have a similar sausage-like shape, cosmets are all boomerang-shaped and live among flowers, sprugs are small nuggets with huge eyes, and thrips are small nocturnal creatures that glow in the dark. In just a few hours of gameplay, Flock has instilled in me crucial biological knowledge of its fictional species and how to distinguish them. The names vary between ridiculous, funny, and clever, and the designs are just similar enough to make the player question their identification at times. But the one aspect of this game that drew me home was the sounds these creatures make.

Once I got to know an environment, I could identify creatures just by sound. That chirping is a clique of Bartlett’s Drupes. That trumpeting sound is a Greater Spotted Cosmet. This knowledge not only gave me a sense of progression, it also let me instantly recognize when I was near something unusual. Any sound I hadn’t heard before immediately caught my attention and through the game, I could pinpoint its location and track it down to identify its source. This led me to observing new creatures and ultimately progressing further and further into the game. When a game’s world is not only fun to explore, but rewires my brain to comprehend the biology of a fictional environment, it’s hard not to be impressed.

A Creature Collector

An amateur naturalist like me might be stunned by the audio design of this game, but many will be drawn by the marvelous cast of creatures. It’s easy to have a few favorites, for me, the Moon Gleeb, Bartlett’s Drupe, and the Purple Piper stand out for various reasons. Flock is not afraid to appeal to the collector in all of us. Even if I can’t maintain a box full of creatures, the simple satisfaction of documenting every species is enticing enough.

Flock could be compared to other creature collector games like Pokémon, but don’t expect any battles from this game, turn-based or otherwise. When a creature joins your flock it is not bound to you for the rest of the game. Your flock can only have so many creatures at a time, and when new additions are selected, the older ones simply return to their natural habitat. Some players might find this frustrating and would rather form attachments to specific creatures, but others may appreciate the natural ebb and flow of casual interactions. The player is a passerby in this natural landscape, not the owner or the controller.

Personally, I wish more games would venture into the concept of an observer. My friends and I could not play enough of New Pokémon Snap when that launched a few years ago, and Flock gives me some of the same vibes. It’s an open-world experience rather than Snap’s on rails gameplay, but it’s still about learning how to be a careful and thoughtful observer. Learning how to identify a creature and then puzzling out how to interact with it is a major part of gameplay. Some creatures camouflage masterfully into their environment, while others will flee from you, requiring quiet or persistent approaches.

Flying High

The story of Flock is rather bare-bones. The player’s aunt is a biologist studying the various species of the Uplands and as a bird rider, the player is a big help with that research. Completing simple tasks allows the player to progress and unlock more of the map, which in turn unlocks more species and more tasks. These challenges grow more complex, though most of the time the primary challenge is simply in thoroughly exploring the areas to find what you need.

Flock is not a difficult game, and it’s not trying to be. This game is a collecta-thon that puts an emphasis on exploration. The gameplay will not be mechanically taxing. In my experience, despite Flock recommending a controller when launched, I had no trouble completing the game with a mouse and keyboard.

Flock is actually a nice break from many other video games, like the other game I spent time playing and reviewing this weekend: Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. A tense action strategy game about fighting off monsters and saving villages. After a few hours fighting off evil, it was nice to gently float through the world of Flock for a change.

Conclusion

After finishing Flock, I still have only observed and charmed eighty percent of the game’s fictional species and I can’t help but be compelled to finish that last twenty percent even after publishing this review. My favorite part of the game might have been the few times when I discovered a new species and was able to give it a name. I could only choose from maybe ten options, but it was exciting to feel like I was breaking new ground on some level instead of just categorizing already-known species. While it certainly has its flaws and will not fit every player’s wants and desires, Flock provided me with a gameplay experience I didn’t know how much I would enjoy.

Flock might be a small and short game, but I can tell that this is a world I will be happy to return to. This vivid ecosystem of fictional creatures is a pure joy to explore and discover. I can only speculate about the multiplayer, but I imagine it would be a great way to experience the game too. Although one aspect of this game that does worry me is once creatures and areas are discovered, I am not confident in the compelling replayability of this game in the long run. Each new game will be a different experience, but I’m not sure it will be different enough to make it worth replaying without at least introducing some friends to the game.

Ultimately, Flock is a delight for a short non-violent indie game. What I enjoy the most about Flock is how it has the power to change the players' perspective of an environment. Listening to familiar and unfamiliar sounds, and noticing when something seems out of the ordinary, these are skills that will lead to success in Flock. This game teaches players about the power of simple observation and how it can unlock the secrets of a beautifully vibrant world, whether in a game or not. Flock launches on July 16th for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Game Pass, and PC via Steam.