The game developer Tomas Sala is fed up: People on Steam simply do not understand his game “Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles”. He wanted to release a creative sandbox, but players on Steam are complaining because his strategy game has no “endgame”. Now the artist has had enough. He is renaming his game so that everyone knows: It is not a damn strategy game.
Who is the developer?
- Tomas Sala is an independent developer, best known for his mod series for Skyrim, Moonpath to Elsweyr. He writes: With 2 million downloads, it remains one of the most popular mods for Skyrim.
- He also released “The Falconeer” on Steam in November 2020. A game with 80% positive reviews on Steam, where you sail through the air on the back of a majestic war bird. The air combat game was nominated for a BAFTA, a British artist award.
- However, with his new game “Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles”, Sala has had less luck. The artist feels misunderstood.
Steam reviews say: Nice game, but something is missing
What is the problem with the new game? The new game; “Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles” (via Steam) was released on March 26 on Steam. Although it had quite good reviews at release, this has turned around in recent weeks and the game currently has only “Mixed Reviews”.
- One player complains: The game is more aimless than expected. In YouTube videos, it looks like there is a lot to do. But there isn’t actually that much to it.
- Another player argues: He wants to like the game, but it simply lacks depth after the tutorial. The game is beautiful, but not for him.
- A third player is annoyed: He loves experimental games. But Bulwark is just a nice city painter; that’s not enough for him.
A user in the Steam reviews explains the problem: There must be an error with the Steam tags. It states that it is a 4x strategy game. But it is a creative sandbox, and the tags are misleading.
“It looks like an epic strategy game, but it’s not, okay?”
This is how the developer responds: The artist has identified a reason for this negative criticism: Ignorant players expect Bulwark to be a city-building game with endgame and everything. But the game was never designed that way, as the developer angrily writes.
He has now renamed his game to:
“Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, a damn creative sandbox and not a damn strategy game, build cool shit and expect no endgame because it’s a sandbox”
However, only “Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, a creative building sandbox” is displayed as the title on Steam.
The developer says his game only looks like a cool, deep strategy game. But it is not. Because he doesn’t like “cozy shit designs”; it is simply a relaxed sandbox.
“Have a few hours of fun and do something else”
This is how the developer sees his game: People should build cool fortresses with a bit of light, have a few hours of fun, and then do something else.
He will still put cool stuff in his sandbox, but it’s a sandbox. When you start the game, you also hear his voice saying: It is a sandbox. That is his intention as an artist. It looks epic and all, but it is not a damn fairy tale, okay?
How much does Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, a creative building sandbox cost? The game currently costs €15 on Steam. But it is a sandbox, okay.
These developer geniuses on Steam are not to be trifled with. Even Google had to learn this when it crossed paths with the wrong genius game developer: Developer of Steam hit takes revenge on Google and forces them to back down
