As you can probably imagine, growing up with a family PC that was distinctly lacking in games, I spent a lot of time playing Minesweeper, which came pre-installed on the old 386.
Microsoft’s little puzzler is/was so simple yet also endlessly replayable, as I discovered first hand when I spent untold hours clicking away at each grey tile-covered board.
For the uninitiated, Minesweeper has you trying to identify all the mines on the grid without accidentally clicking on one, and it does this by giving you minimal information about your surroundings as more and more tiles are uncovered.
I get the feeling that someone at Sextant Studios had a similar childhood, because Flocking Hell is underlined by the same kind of energy. Herein, you must explore the world around you to find out what is where and how it can help you, and you do this by clicking on squire tiles cloaked in darkness.
What is Flocking Hell?
As you can see from the attached screenshots, the game takes place on a obscured grid, and you must left the fog of war one tile at a time. Revealing tiles opens up resources – usually sheep – which you need to do things, such as building roads between your cities.
Much like in Minesweeper, your exploration of the obscured grid uncovers information about the surrounding tiles, allowing you to make increasingly educated decisions about what to uncover with your limited number of actions.
As you reveal the map, you’ll find little towns filled with sheeple. Your citizens can move between connected towns, and there are different tile types to uncover, including mines that grant additional resources when maintained by your sheep. There are also mini-challenges built into every level.
On top of that all that, you unlock cards as you go, adding them to your deck. When played these cards can imbue your towns with stat-boosting properties ready for the end game, making them more powerful or giving them higher populations.
Like lambs to the slaughter?
Once you’ve run out of turns, it’s time for the said endgame. This takes the form of a swarm of demonic hell beasts (they’re cute, but they’re hell beasts nonetheless). This pixelated pestilence moves from settlement to settlement, destroying all the sheep in their path. However, your little lambs aren’t chopped up for nothing as each battle reduces the number of demons in the enemy swarm.
It can get nail-biting during these automated battles, and all you can do is watch on and hope that your little sheep are strong enough to withstand the horde as it moves between towns. If you do have enough in the tank, it’s on to the next level and a sterner challenge.
The demo didn’t take me too long to beat, but it did show me exactly what kind of game Flocking Hell is, and I have to say, I’m really impressed by what I’ve played so far and I’ll definitely be back for another look when it lands next year.
I really enjoyed the blend of Minesweeper-inspired exploration, the light strategy from the deckbuilding, and then the pay-off at the end as the scenario plays out. It was interesting and relaxing, but the stakes are high enough to keeps things tense during each apocalyptic battle as the flock is ravaged by the demon horde. However, as new mechanics are layered in, every turn becomes more precious and the cards in your deck more integral to your forward progress.
If the above sounds like fun to you, there’s a free demo on the horizon for players to try for themselves. The demo is due on November 19, and it precedes the full release of the game, which is currently pencilled in for March, 2025. Finally, you can head over and wishlist Flocking Hell on Steam here.
