Flock review: relaxing nature game will turn you into David Attenborough

digitaltrends.com:

Flock Score Details Pros

• Picturesque world
• Quirky creatures
• Charming identification puzzles
• Multiplayer is a welcome touch

• Flying feels a bit too simple
• Story ends abruptly
• Endgame is grind heavy

I’m sailing on the back of my trusty bird through a forest lined with giant mushrooms when I spot something peculiar. I see a sparkly orb with a neon glow floating in front of me. As I puzzle over it, my eagle eyes see another one close by. Soon I’m following a trail of them like a zoologist tracking a set of footprints through the mud. After gliding in circles for a while, they lead me to a wondrous sight: a rainbow-colored serpent gracefully floating through the air. I stop to study it and learn that the creature is very territorial and marks its domain with gaseous clouds.

I’d just spent the past few minutes chasing a trail of farts. And I couldn’t have been happier.

It’s that nature identification hook that makes Flock such a charmer. The new game from Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg, the team behind indie gems such as Wilmot’s Warehouse, takes the quiet joys of birdwatching and places them into a low stakes exploration game about identifying weird wildlife. Though its loose story gives way to a grind-driven endgame too soon, Flock is a pleasant expedition to a colorful world that might help you better appreciate your own.

Birds of paradise

When Flock begins, I find my character sitting on the back of a bird in an ocean of clouds. After sailing to a nearby island and meeting some locals, I’m quickly given a simple task: go identify some critters. That quick introduction sets the stage for a sleek, streamlined exploration game where my focus is almost solely on observing wildlife. I don’t even have to think about my movement too much. I only steer and boost my bird, who smoothly hovers above the ground, while its height automatically changes based on the terrain. That simplified movement mostly works, though I occasionally find myself wishing I had more