“There are no songbirds in the palace of the king”, it says this when you boot up Bulwark, an unconventional quote for an unconventional game and world. Because in this world there are giant warbirds ridden by mounted warriors called Falconeers. The palaces in this world also are rarely places of beauty but bastions of violent subjugation and factional strife. Something I as the solo developer of The Falconeer first explored in 2020 in the Series X/S launch title The Falconeer – a retro air combat game in the vein of Crimson Skies but set in this hauntingly bleak yet beautiful world called the Ursee.
Bulwark : Falconeer Chronicles saw me return to this world but with a more upbeat creative city builder. Allowing anyone to design and grow a small settlement into a massive fortified palace rising into the skies. But of course, there are no songbirds in those palaces, and this is the Ursee, so that meant inevitably I would have to expand the game to fully make use of the more violent and bleak aspects still very much party of this world and universe. This meant evolving the game, which is what has happened with the release of Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles.
Evolution is the next step in the continuing growth of Bulwark, it expands the world and adds strategy and economics that make war something more meaningful. And this comes with two major areas of expansion. The most obvious addition is a new game mode called “total conquest” and secondly is a complete overhaul of the game with a special focus on making combat more meaningful.
The Total Conquest game mode is the obvious new addition. Start building your empire but in a scenario where everyone is against you. Your enemies will start throwing waves of units at your settlements just about as soon as you get it up and running. Survival means properly defending yourself before you can go on the offensive.
Luckily the second part of Evolution is a bevy of new content to help you accomplish this. From new fortress elements that add gigantic naval batteries to being able to set different stances for your commanders, have their units defend, escort or assault based on your commands.
There is also a surface flagship you can unlock as a freehouse wonder that will allow you to sail the Ursee yourself, just like you can already fly. No system has been left untouched and you’ll find a deeper economy but also a price to losing units in battle. But this doesn’t mean only combat and strategy have been improved, the actual world of the Ursee has been filled with new content to explore, new locations to acquire new commanders and captains to enlist
All in all this update has been powered by the community and feedback from players, with nearly every aspect being in some part improved from the game having been played by so many of you and the feedback it’s been lucky to receive.
In closing I’d recommend any existing player to at least once play with a clean start to experience the hopefully more balanced and meaningful growth and also use some of the new building blocks that can be found in the design of their settlements. Explore some of the mechanics you already know and you’d be surprised to find some nifty new improvements you didn’t expect but hopefully will love. Play Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles today on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles
Wired Productions
$19.99
$10.99
Bulwark is about designing your fortress and expanding it into an empire.
I hope you enjoy my attempts to experiment and evolve this game into something enjoyable and fresh.
Bulwark also continues to evolve with each passing update, based on your feedback.
So positive or negative comments are welcome. If it’s intended to help then it’s all appreciated!
Story:
You are in charge of the last remnants of free people on the Ursee, tasked with building a new home. Carve your path onto a world, tower by tower, wall by wall, sculpting from the daunting cliffs and perilous waters of an unforgiving landscape that refuses to be tamed.
Game goals:
Design fantastic ocean fortress settlements. Progress is simple, grow the populations of various factions and you will progress on their Soultrees. Unlocking commanders and captains that may work for you, unlocking new ships, units and abilities.
Play Your Way:
Bulwark – Explore the Great Ursee as you build your grand civilisation. Scavenge for resources,create trade routes and strike alliances with other factions scattered across the waves as you balance negotiation and conflict to grow your settlement.
Freebuild – Enjoy a cosy ‘Freebuild Mode’, devoid of the conflict and challenges present in standard play, you can sketch and experiment without the need for resources, building without limits.
Total Conquest – War has come to the Great Ursee. You start at war with every faction, diplomacy is disabled and the frequency and scale of raids is ramped up. It is no longer enough to just build – now you must survive.
Building Resources:
Wood, stone and Iron aren’t stored or tallied up, the only thing that counts is distance, not cost. You transport resources along your network of towers as well as trading routes over the sea. Towers and walls within range of the resource can be upgraded and built for free, those out of range cannot.
Splinters :
The currency that powers diplomacy, army building, buying new locations and unique buildings is separate from resources, it runs on a currency called, Splinters. You gain these through population growth, trade with other factions or as rewards from combat.
Challenge:
The game challenges you to design and grow grand fortresses, often at little cost other than setting up trade routes for resources. As you grow you may invite in populations from other factions which unlock faction unique content from their “soultree”.
But everybody hates everybody on the Ursee and doing so might lead to war or to loyal allies that merge with your empire. This sandbox builder has consequences!
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