What if birds had guns?

VIDEO: The Falconeer live demo and interview, also available on YouTube. 

Don't laugh. It's an important question. I've been thinking about it since I was eight years old, and clearly I'm not alone in thinking it would be extremely cool—and the end of humanity's dominion. The Falconeer, a dogfighting game set on the backs of big birds, turns the question literal. 

You pilot a huge falcon with a gun over a drowned ocean planet, taking on rival factions and uncovering the magical mysteries at the heart of The Falconeer's fantasy world. Think of it like Tie Fighter or X-Wing, but with massive environments, some light RPG progression systems, and a deep narrative. 

It's gorgeous and chaotic and—sad people, this one's for you—so, so pensive and somber. Even wilder is that The Falconeer is a solo project. Developer Tomas Sala (who you might know as the creator of the legendary Skyrim mod Moonpath to Elsweyr) has been chipping away at The Falconeer for a while now, and his game development and world building chops are clearly worthy of the task. There's nothing quite like it.

We had a chance to sit down with Sala at PAX East this year to chat about his passion project and get a better sense of how it's put together and plays. Come for the birds with guns and stay for the horseshoe crabs with cannons. 

James Davenport

James is stuck in an endless loop, playing the Dark Souls games on repeat until Elden Ring and Silksong set him free. He's a truffle pig for indie horror and weird FPS games too, seeking out games that actively hurt to play. Otherwise he's wandering Austin, identifying mushrooms and doodling grackles.