Games focused on flight are nothing new. Gaming fans have been enjoying arcade shoot-em-ups starring souped-up planes since the days of actual arcades, and actual flight simulators have been around for almost as long.
Heck, flight has a long history as a mere feature as well. Truly, this is well-trodden territory, so it’s rare for a project to claim using it in a new way. Even so, Annapurna Interactive’s new title, Flock, is apparently doing just that and bringing the experience to PC, PlayStation and Xbox on July 16.
One might expect a game called “Flock” to be about flocks of birds or perhaps a group of migrating geese, but that assumption would be wrong. Flock is actually about flying sheep and the herding of them. Either alone or with friends, players will spend their time in Flock as flying shepherds who tend to their flocks of “hover-sheep.”
These animals, just like real sheep, eat quite a lot when they’re hanging around outside, so it’s the players' job to constantly guide them to new pastures and make sure that stragglers don’t get lost. There’s also, it seems, an element of exploration in Flock. Players can explore the new areas they bring their animals to, discover secrets and even find new and interesting creatures to add to their flock.
The goal of all this flying and wandering is to get some nice, high-quality wool.
Flock also has an element of crafting to it. Players can take the wool sheared from their hover sheep and use it to craft clothes for their shepherds. Craftable clothing items include a variety of hats, socks and cardigans. In other words, all the sorts of stuff people who take up knitting end up devoting their efforts to.
Going back to the whole flying concept, it might sound like Flock just happens to include it and could work just as well without the mechanic. However, that really doesn’t seem to be the case, andone look at the most recent trailershows why. Flock gives players a huge space to fly around in and seems to allow the full range of movement. There’s a sense of freedom here that almost certainly wouldn’t be there if the game were earthbound. Seriously, check it out!
