Flock Brings The Power Of Flight And Silly Little Guys To Xbox Game Pass
Look, don’t touch.
More games should feel like a nice day at the park. As much as cozy games have become a dominant force in the indie scene, cozy doesn’t necessarily mean relaxed, as they’re often stuffed with the to-do lists and time limits that tend to make the rest of life so decidedly un-cozy. One game now available on Xbox Game Pass Standard does away with all of that, instead leaning into the feeling of one of the most unhurried activities you can do in the real world — bird-watching.
Released in the summer of 2024, Flock is the latest game from the creator of the delightful odd Hohokum. And like Hohokum, Flock is a colorful, bizarre, altogether soothing treat wrapped up in lightweight flying mechanics.
The beautiful world of Flock is full of extraordinary creatures.
As Flock opens, you’ve just arrived for a visit with your aunt and uncle, who promptly put you to work gathering a flock of wayward sheep and cataloging the native fauna of an archipelago above the clouds. Riding atop a customizable bird, you’re free to zoom all around the delightful landscape without the fear of crashing or even failing your mission. While you eventually need to fill Aunt Jane’s field guide with your observations on the local animals, there’s no time pressure and no fail state to keep you on your toes.
That works in Flock’s favor, since its gorgeous little world is so fun to explore. Flying is all but automatic, with you only needing to steer your bird in the right direction and tell it to start moving. Since you won’t be managing any complex flight mechanics, you can use that mental energy just taking in the multicolored trees and sweeping hills around you, keeping an eye out for all the critters that call it home.
Gathering a flock of your own is a joy.
Because of Flock’s lackadaisical pace, encounters with wildlife feel more like stumbling on a rare bird at your local park than arriving to complete a quest. When you find a creature you haven’t yet cataloged, the action starts, or at least, the closest to action that Flock gets. The game’s world is filled with dozens of flying critters, categorized into distinct families by their shape, habitat or behavior. The most important part of your interaction with them isn’t very interactive at all — it’s simply observing. To add a creature to your field guide, you’ll need to correctly identify its family and species, which you can only do by studying them closely. Is that the distinctive honk of the Belted Bewl, or the colorful fin of the Crested Winnow? Once you’ve identified an animal, you can charm it by mimicking its call, which does nothing more than let it follow you on your flight for the sheer joy of it.
Interacting with wildlife in games is rarely as peaceful as it is in Flock. Wild animals in games more often than not tend to be enemies to fight, or potential allies to battle for you as in Pokémon. In Flock, they’re at most decoration as they join your flying parade once you’ve spotted them. A closer comparison to Flock might be Pokémon Snap or 2024’s Endless Ocean Luminous, which ask you to find and document creatures rather than recruit them.
But what sets Flock apart is that it’s not quite as passive as those games. You can’t just snap a picture of the Rosy Thrip and call your job done. You first need to engage your senses, keeping an eye and an ear out until you understand what makes a given creature tick compared to all the others. Rather than capturing them, you need to understand them, which is a more fulfilling task in the end.
