Is this game a masterpiece? No, it is a bit too simple for that. Tomas Sala created the world of Bulwark back in 2020 with his flight simulator The Falconeer. While his first work was more of a fantasy air combat simulation, a modern Dragon Strike (SSI, 1989), his new game is something completely different. Here you have to build a city. A city like the one you saw in the previous game - a tower in the middle of a rock in a sea (the primordial sea), with a few buildings around it. In Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, however, this can then become a few more buildings, and after a while hundreds of thousands of inhabitants can live in your new metropolis. It is a city-building simulation. However, the demands are kept relatively low - you don't really have to worry about many details, you can just start building. Initially, the game is more reminiscent of a mobile phone game than a serious city-building simulation such as Cities: Skylines.

You play a group of refugees who have set off with their belongings from the war-ravaged land of The Falconeer to build a new existence in a remote area of the Ursee (that's the sea that surrounds everything). You are travelling in a small airship, which you use to build the first outpost on a suitable rock with the necessary resources nearby. The resource management part of the game is kept very simple - there is wood (which grows in the sea), you also need stones and iron, all of which are mined automatically if they are connected to your outpost via paths or a transport ship.

Buildings are constructed in a matter of seconds. New outposts, resource extraction buildings or harbours are built with your airship, most other buildings in your settlement are simply attached to existing buildings. Your outpost must be connected to the sawmill. As soon as this is done, you have (unlimited) wood available and can build paths and wooden towers. Your inhabitants will automatically build their houses next to your paths and towers. The first path should lead to the quarry, because then you will also have unlimited stones, which you can use to build not only paths, but also larger towers and other buildings. In addition to the buildings, you can also build stronger foundations, which will automatically make the buildings bigger. Next, you'll need iron to build new upgrades and buildings - and that's almost it. You can build as much as you like... or not, because of course there is a limit to the resources. The relevant limit is the distance to the mining site. You can only build within a certain radius of the existing mining sites. Better roads and more towers increase this radius, but only by a few fields. You will soon come across other settlements or refugees. Take in new refugees, exploit new mining sites and expand your settlements. With the help of command towers, you will receive warriors who will automatically defend your settlement. Trade routes between two harbours require assigned captains, command towers require commanders. Warships that protect your trade routes also require a ship captain.

The best way to build your city is with a gamepad. Quite unusual for a city-building simulation. However, once you get used to the controls, they work quite well. Essentially, "A" is used to move the camera from building to building, "X" to build and upgrade, "B" to demolish buildings. Use "Y" to switch back and forth between the airship and ground mode. You can only explore the surroundings freely with the airship. You can also give the airship movement commands on an overview map, which is the easiest way to travel long distances across the sea. You can't see very far, and you don't have a compass either. The world map also shows your current population. On the inventory screen, you can see which buildings are currently being transported in the airship and can be erected in suitable locations.

Pressing "RB" gives you an overview of the current population and the availability of resources. In addition to a world map, you can also view your faction's soul tree, on which you can see your commanders and captains. Build stronger foundations and ever larger buildings, improve your towers with balconies, build trade routes and take care of their defence, find capable commanders to get more resources and troops, forge relationships with other settlements. If necessary, you can also send a battle group to attack other settlements, whereby the battle takes place automatically. There is a campaign, but the main mode is the "free game".

Conclusion:
The game is all about the fun of building. Build your dream city without detailed resource management, without having to think too much about the details of the city. If it doesn't fit, you just tear down the buildings. You have unlimited resources as long as you stay within reach of your mining sites. Trade with your neighbours, explore the Ursee world and find special building types. If you enjoy a typical sandbox building game and are prepared to deal with the limited game options and the controls that take some getting used to, you can spend hours building your dream city in the sea.

Game has been advertised in the past as strategy, but that's not the creator's intention. It is mostly a worldbuilding game with a light amount of combat and resource mining, some RPG elements and quests and exploration and mostly just enjoying the joy of building.

If you are a fan of games like Foundation and Dorfromantik, you will probably like this game. It's a relaxed game about painting the rocks with your own vision for a city, and figuring out how to make ever prettier constructions.

A pretty fun lil builder game. It has some very light strategy elements but overall its been fun. The dev is active on his discord and with it being just him it means he can answer in real time. Only negative is that thus far some of the tutorial and other popups arent very clear on what you need to do.