The Flock Is Either Genius Or Stupid

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“Indie Horror Multiplayer Stealth First Person Action Game” are not words that frequently get mixed together, so on curiosity factor alone The Flock caught my eye a while ago. Information has been a slow trickle from Dutch developers Vogelsap, with the last information I personally recall pertaining to the basic gameplay elements. When I first heard of The Flock, it was before any real official information was out, and it was promised to be a dark, horror, first person multiplayer “shooter” (I use the term loosely, since there aren’t really any guns). I remember hearing sometime later about the specifics of the project, which seemed to be a juggernaut game-mode with a twist. Players start out as members of the titular “Flock,” but can become the “Carrier” by acquiring the “Artifact.”

Players in possession of the Artifact will emit a beam of light, capable of instantly killing any member of The Flock by shining its brilliant glory upon their unfortunate low-caste dirty visage. The Carrier must slowly travel from objective to objective, beating back the dark heathens in a quest to gather all the McGuffins.

Member of The Flock, on the other hand, have agility, numbers, and the ability to turn into impervious stone on their side. They will do all that is within their power to take the Artifact for their own and see to those objectives themselves. If nothing else, they can all turn to stone and be super spooky.

It all looks cool, but that’s not why we are talking about it here today. No, the reason we are talking about it is because of the recent shocking decision to put a permanent life counter in the game. The game will start with a set amount of “lives” shared by all players. When a player dies, they take one tick off of the universal counter. As soon as all the number ticks to 0, there will be a “memorable climax”, and it’s game over, man. The game will be pulled from Steam shelves, and no one that purchased it will be able to play it again.

It’s certainly an interesting idea, but I’m not holding my breath with the hopes that it will take that breath away. The promise of a light-based juggernaut mode only shooter is bizarre enough to raise a few eyebrows, but for the developers to add that there is a fixed expiration date seems almost like suicide. Look, Vogelsap, we all get that games have an inherent expiration date. Just like relationships, the sex will become a boring obligation until we both mutually agree to give up and just ignore the other’s new “secret” boyfriend. Regardless of knowing this reality, saying “lets have sex until the monotony of it all leads me to seek greener pastures” doesn’t get me laid, and admitting your game will only be playable for so long has the same effect.

I personally am all for titles exploring new avenues of creativity and pushing the limits of what we expect from games. I’ve never really considered myself to be a fan of the “art-house” indie scene. Avant-garde experimental titles have always just seemed to me like they are just trying too hard to make up for lack of good ideas, and this is kind of how this feels. You make a cat and mouse shooter where light is the only weapon, and then try to make it stand out with a shocking meta-mechanic. There’s some symbolism in it all, where members of The Flock are drawn to the one thing that can kill them in a way gamers playing The Flock will be compelled to bring about the titles own demise. Still, even saying all that sounds like I’m trying too hard to make sense of it all.

Despite my bitter cynicism, it is certainly an interesting idea that is shining the spotlight on this obscure little title. I would have been interested anyways, but hopefully this brings some much needed publicity to the project. Look for more information as the timer counts down to a release date.

the flock

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