Now and then I do love diving into a good city builder/management game. The ones that hold close to my heart at the minute are Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Planet Zoo. However, that could all change after I got to dive into Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles.
This city builder is like no other and has an interesting concept which is one of the main things that pull me in. I was lucky enough to get a hold of a copy on the PlayStation 5 before release and have been spending a good amount of time, learning the ropes, building phenomenal cities on the edges of cliffs and on top of water and just letting my imagination run wild with the free builder mode.
Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles is an open-world builder with freedom and expression at its core. You can build sprawling towns, huge spires and fortresses that become hubs for trade or rallying grounds for conquests. Devasted by the aftermath of a war 40 years prior, you are the one who is in command, you must create settlements upon the Great Ursee which is a vast fantastical oceanic world filled with lost myths and breath-taking vistas and danger.
This game’s world is made up of your choices, so what legacy will you leave behind? This is the next instalment in the ‘The Falconeer’ series but instead of being another aerial combat game has turned the tide and Tomas Sala has opted this time around for a City Builder extraordinaire.
City building at its core Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles is a peaceful sim game that doesn’t heavily bombard the player with hundreds of UI’s and rotation menus but instead allows the player to embrace their creativity and run wild with their settlements. I highly recommend checking out the tutorial and story modes first to get a better understanding of the game mechanics before diving into the free builder mode and just taking all that the Ursee has to offer.
One thing you will notice straight off the bat is that there are only three resources in this game. These are Wood, Stone and Iron. These can be extracted from Resource Extractors or by setting up trade routes between the other settlements in the world. One thing that took me ages to realise was how to get a hold of more Resource Extractors as it didn’t really explain how to get a hold of them till later on.
Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles has two parts to its gameplay, these are the settlements that you build and the Flag Ship which you use to travel around the world, interact with the different settlements and interact with the other boats and characters you come across. The Flag Ship is a small blimp that soars around the Ursee allowing you to expand your empire and interact with the many wonders you stumble across.
When you are travelling around you can use the Flag Ship to warp between settlements and harbours to speed up gameplay which is a cool feature to have, especially when have a large amount of the map unlocked and have settlement on the other side of the map. You will quickly need to set up trade routes and hire ships to help transport the resources but also defend your trade routes against others who will attack you. Making sure your trade routes are safe is key so that all your settlements can thrive and get the resources that they need.
Combat is present in Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles but it is passive rather than a thing you can control. When combat takes place, you will sit back and watch a mini battle with two health bars at the top of the screen. While combat is going on the health bars will slowly deplete until one comes out victorious. It would have been nice to have a bit more control over the combat, but it wasn’t that bit of a deal-breaker for me.
Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles makes it quick and easy to build settlements and huge fortresses with ease. When playing on the controller though it did feel quite awkward at times trying to get the right angles on the camera and making sure I was building where I wanted but after a few hours of playing you get used to it. I love being able to build across cliffs, the Ursess and having multiple settlements trading and thriving together.
Being able to upgrade the different tiers for my towers was neat and you could make certain areas look more populated than others and create your own little stories on how the settlement works. I loved this and can get lost in the building side of the game without having to stress out too much on money, workers and all the other things that other Simulation City Builders bombard onto you. It strips all this away and gives you something that I truly believe is a nice medium when it comes to this genre.
Graphically Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles is fantastic, to think that all this was done by one person is incredible. Hats off to Tomas Sala who once again has given us a gorgeous-looking game. The different cities that you can build, and all the different visual elements are remarkable when you build massive cityscapes on the side of cliffs and spanning across multiple little islands. The level of detail is brilliant, and I love the fact that all the characters are voiced, it helps bring the world to life and paint a picture of the character’s personalities. It also helps expand upon The Falconeer universe and does a fantastic job at it too.
I feel like I know more about the Ursee and the joy I get from kitbashing fortresses and settlements together is amazing. There is nothing more pleasing than looking at all your settlements when you finish an area and getting to use the in-game photo mode to show off what you have accomplished. The flagship is a cool little feature and I like being able to use it to unlock more of the Ursee. It’s a little floating airship that is guarded by Falconeer’s which is cool.
In all honesty, Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles has a high replay value. There is a campaign which is made up of three different scenarios and on top of that, there is a free build mode which allows you to run wild. It will all depend on how much you enjoy the building elements in Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles. I enjoy the ability to just build massive settlements from nothing and then manage the trade routes between the different settlements.
It is simple in its own way which makes it highly accessible for players. There are a few mechanics in the game which were hard to get my head around but once I figured it out, I was able to progress and continue building and thriving. I like the fact that it isn’t overly complicated like some city-builder/management games as you can relax while playing.
Conclusion
Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles is a pleasant addition to the Falconeer universe. Tomas Sala seems to be expanding the lore and universe of the Ursee but in a different way than what we are used to seeing. Normally companies stick to the same genre when releasing sequels but that isn’t the case with Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles as it is a completely different style of game compared to its predecessor. It’s a simple city builder that concentrates more on the player being able to construct masterpieces rather than worry about a multitude of management and resources.
It would have been nice to have more than three resources but ultimately, I loved how relaxing this game was and the level of detail it goes into when constructing cities. The trade routes are a pleasant addition to the management side of things as they allow you to expand your settlements to newer locations as well as trade with others. For an asking price of £15.99 on the PlayStation 5, you can’t go wrong with Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles and I highly recommend you check it out. For those reasons I’m giving Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles a score of 9 out of 10.
Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles Trailer
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