Bird watching is an old man’s hobby, or so I thought before I lost hours to Flock. An adventure/creature collector from Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg, Flock is an on-ramp to buying binoculars, posting up under a tree, and listening for various birdsongs. It’s a game that focuses more on the natural beauty of the world and the practice of building a flock and less on actually being a game. The result is a relaxing experience that can feel incomplete or uneven at times. Shortcomings aside, Flock is a fun dabble in bird watching that also curbs some of the more ridiculous aspects of collecting in modern gaming.
Players take on the role of a flying shepherd tasked with filling out a bestiary of local wildlife and adding them to your flock. You can take on the game solo or bring in a friend. I spent a majority of my time with Flock solo, but did appreciate having the option to goof off with a friend and his flock. The story here is light. Your character is tasked by their aunt to retrieve their stolen food basket, while also catching and documenting any wildlife that crosses paths with you. About an hour in, I had completely forgotten about the stolen basket. The minimal UI presentation while you fly around enables you to focus on the beauty of the world and keeps the game from becoming a checklist. While there are things to do and over 60 creatures to find, I never felt the pressure of “Gotta Catch’em All” ringing in the background.
The world of Flock feels lived in. The various species throughout the world react to you in different ways that set them apart. Most Gleebs (a weird blend of fish and bird) run from you on site. Bewls’ behavior ranges from lounging about in the sun to hiding amongst similarly colored fruit in the environment. Some harder to find animals require some extra work to unveil. A later example requires you to summon it with the song of numerous other animals in your flock. In another example, following a trail of little gas bubbles eventually leads to the discovery of a beautiful sky serpent. It’s these little surprises that keep the adventure fresh. A little less fresh is the act of actually adding each animal to your flock. Once you’ve met the requirements to unveil an animal and your bird has learned their call, you enter a minigame that requires you to charm the animal by repeating their song from a specific distance. Once the charm meter is fulfilled, the animal joins your flock. This is done for each animal and while not a bad minigame, does get tiring after completing it a handful of times.
Getting around in Flock is easy. Instead of giving players full control of movement, players only move on a horizontal plane, with their bird adjusting its height based on the landscape. This keeps players from wasting time in empty corners of the map. It also makes getting across the map a fast process. Boosting into tunnels, columns, and valleys also gives players a bit of a speed boost. The limited movement does create some issues though. Smaller wooded areas where you’re likely moving a little slower can be a headache when your flock is blocking your view. Adjusting from a higher plane to a lower one in quick succession can also leave you descending slower. For example, a later valley can be difficult to explore as you continuously bounce around from high to low planes. Movement is still fun in these areas, especially when you want to throw all caution to the wind and jet around the map. The slower moments can become tedious though.
The overworld map is gorgeous. Each biome stands out and will have you taking screenshot after screenshot as you drink the scenes in. The day and night cycle add some mileage to each area as coming back to one at a different time transforms the space you already thought you knew. The Mushroom Forest is a perfect example. During the day it’s a lush forest with massive mushrooms that serve as home to numerous species. At night, the forest is set ablaze as the glow off magma pools and crystals make the forest a multi-color dreamscape. The game also does a good job of piece-mealing these areas out throughout the campaign. At the start of the game, most of the map is covered in clouds. New areas reveal themselves only after capturing a rare “boss-like” species and then performing a cloudfall. This bit-by-bit reveal of the world keeps things interesting and spreads new discoveries across the game.
Players also have access to numerous sheep throughout the game. These sheep are used to graze on grassy knolls and reveal Burgling Bewls that steal things throughout the world. Finding a Burgling Bewl can yield additional species’ sounds, charms that increase the size of your flock, and fashion magazines that add some wardrobe options you can purchase at your base. Shearing your sheep plays a delightful shearing animation and also yields wool that can be used to purchase clothes. It’s mostly one-note, but the sheep do give you a break exploring, even if just for a short moment.
While I enjoy the game’s map, there are some quality-of-life aspects that keep it from being perfect. First, and probably my biggest gripe, the game does not contain an in-game compass. Many times, I had to pause the game just to confirm I was heading in the right direction. Directions became a little easier once I learned some of the landmarks, but I still found myself pausing to check direction more times than not. Flock also doesn’t contain a journal for checking mission progress. Missions will pop-up momentarily after unpausing the game but are nowhere else to be found. This is especially annoying when returning from the game after a few days away. The game’s map does a good job of labeling the landmarks once you’ve discovered them. It also keeps track of the first place you discovered a species. This was great for returning to a species I had failed to capture on my first go. I do wish there were options to filter out times of day a species was found though.
The game’s bestiary tracks the species you’ve seen, if you have the capabilities to capture them, and if you’ve captured an animal in that species specifically. Each also comes with a little blurb about the species. Otherwise, the game doesn’t track any other aspects of a species. There’s no obsession with capturing the biggest or a variant of that species. There are no buffs that come with having certain species in your flock. Animals disappear from your flock as it reaches its size limit. They’re not stored somewhere to be managed later, they’re simply gone. It’s a freeing feeling, not having to manage the creatures or track buffs. Too many games where collecting is an aspect become an endless pursuit of efficiency in collecting. Instead of just enjoying the act of having collected something, players become hyper focused on collecting the “best thing” or the thing that’s going to make collecting easier. Flock says no to all of this and instead focuses on the positive side of collecting.
Flock is a cozy collecting game that doesn’t take the collecting aspect all that serious. It’s a fun time alone or with a friend. It’s also a gateway to bird watching. So don’t be surprised if you Google binocular prices as you jump from one Flock to the next.
