Many, many moons ago, I played a JRPG that was set in a world where airships were the primary mode of transport and all land were islands floating in the sky. I don't remember a ton from the game, but I do remember enjoying it.
The marketing for Black Skylands really reminded me of that game, so I bought it during a sale.
Made by tinyBuild, this is an action RPG with a top down view and nostalgic graphics (Save for one really beautiful image in the end game.). You're Eva, a young woman who, through a series of events, becomes the "top cop" of the land, but also humanity's last line of defense against the Swarm. The Swarm being "monsters" who live in the south, and...uh...are bad?
If you haven't guessed, the story is a bit weak. There are lots of "facts" in the story, but no explanation for them. You'll know the Swarm is bad, but what their purpose is really goes unexplored. You'll know [REDACTED] isn't [REDACTED], but you won't ever learn why. And so on. This fun continues into the ending that hints at more story, but as far as I see, no sequel is planned.
However, you're not here for that, you're here for action and it's fun, but does get repetitive. Thankfully, the game isn't long enough to make playing a slog. I think half of the world you can completely skip if you'd like.
Ship battles are good. Constant motion, offensive and defensive capabilities, different weapon types, different ships (4), etc. The only time the ship battles got annoying was late. I was running the largest ship because I wanted to use each one once and entered the end game with it by mistake. Well, the end game involves a lot of throwing loads of enemies at you in small spaces. So going in with the biggest ship sucked.
Land battles are also good. Different weapons, amulets, 6 special abilities, and most importantly, a hook that you can use to silently kill, grab enemies, or to traverse gaps. This isn't Torchlight (before they sold out), but it's decent. Yeah, there are areas where you won't sweat anything, but you'll hit areas that will give you a bit of a challenge.
This is a solid game, but ultimately suffers from a lack of polish. I think they were a bit too ambitious with some of their plans (there's furniture in the game to decorate your ship, but is utterly pointless).
Black Skylands
Black Skylands
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Black Skylands
Yes! You made me google it and rumor has it that it's being remastered. Here's hoping it comes to PC.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Black Skylands
That would be cool, i hope that happens.
I looked into buying Skies a few years ago but, NOPE! That game is crazy expensive on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... e&_sacat=0
WORLD CHAMPIONS!!
Black Skylands
That's without the console too.
Yeah, I would definitely buy a remaster, and hopefully sales would get us a sequel.
Yeah, I would definitely buy a remaster, and hopefully sales would get us a sequel.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell