PREVIEW : Black Skylands (PC)
It’s been a while since a game had such an impact on me. Black Skylands is a fantastic open-world adventure. It can combine aspects from a variety of games into a unified and fun experience in the skies. Grand Theft Auto, Stardew Valley, Hotline Miami, and Owlboy are all classics. If you like top-down shooters and want to create towns while shooting stuff, this is the game for you. It’s not only a lot of fun to play but there’s also a lot to do. It looks fantastic, and the sense of freedom once things get going is unlike anything I’ve experienced in a long time.
The premise of Black Skylands is that you control a girl named Eva. The Swarm attacks her house, a breed of monsters unleashed as a result of your father’s discoveries. With this new menace, Eva and the Earners must defend the Fatherland and fight back against this deadly foe. Once the main tale is established, the freedom in Asypa is limitless. The Earth has now been divided into hundreds of floating islands in the sky. Eva must rely on her airship to navigate across the enormous open planet.
Black Skylands: Guns and ships
Not only can you modify the sort of airship you have and enhance it, but they can also engage in air battles that demand a great deal of expertise to win. Controlling your vessel and eliminating your enemy can result in a long and exciting conflict, from one-man enemies to huge monsters and airships. Each airship requires fuel and ammo, both of which can be obtained from floating fuel depots. When you are gallivanting, each ship has a cargo hold where you may unload all your finds.
Not only do you have to fight in the sky, but practically every other island has some form of the enemy as well. You are fighting pirates in the early stages. As the game advances, the Swarm begins to target you, and the action becomes increasingly fierce. In your workshop, you can create new weapons and enhance them with constant bonuses and abilities. Each island is divided into sections. Some may have movable platforms or a dense population of adversaries. Almost all of them will be equipped with crafting materials such as wood, stone, and other ores.
Quick and intense combat
Ground fighting fundamentals revolve around the weapon you employ and rolling out of the way of an incoming bullet. It can be difficult for the adversary to fire you if you grow used to escaping at the appropriate time. Boss battles can be challenging, but as long as you keep upgrading your armament, you’ll be OK. One of my only gripes with certain firearms is their lack of accuracy. You aim with the right stick, but some adversaries may move out of the way, or you may miss entirely. It takes some time to become used to shooting. Not because it is difficult, but because of the speed with which gunfights take place.
You also have a grappling hook, which is useful. It can be used to draw foes closer to you, fire at surrounding platforms to propel you closer to them, destroy boxes containing jewels, and more. If you happen to tumble off a cliff, using the grappling hook at the proper time and in the right direction can save your life. If Eva dies, she will be returned to the ship or her bed, depending on how many hearts you have remaining. Health, as well as brief buffs to your gun power and other benefits, can be obtained from various plants.
Black Skylands: Building your home
Every adventure you go on can have numerous objectives, both assigned to you and ones you set for yourself. Your abode in the skies is the Fathership. By constructing various structures, new alternatives and opportunities become available. You can cultivate vegetables and cotton, breed animals, transform ore into ingots, and do a variety of other things. Everything feeds into something else, and everything feeds into something else, and so on. You’ll do this for tasks, but it’ll be up to you to watch how your home grows.
It is not simply about improving your own home. You can increase your influence in Aspya by liberating islands. As you do so, new resources, research avenues, and the ability to gather objects without adversaries attempting to kill you may become available. The size of Black Skylands is enormous. Not only is there always something to do but there is also a lot of fun to be had.
So beautiful
Pixel art might grow repetitive across genres and titles, but Black Skylands is stunning. Everything is quite well-detailed. There are numerous landscapes and biomes, as well as numerous alien monsters. I’m not even close to exploring everything it has to offer, but I intend to do so. This is something I’ll be playing for a long time.
Black Skylands is still in Early Access, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it. While battle can be stressful at times, the rewards on the various islands make it well worth it. The tale is compelling, and the open world has been thoughtfully designed to create such a satisfying experience. If you like the trailer, I’m confident you’ll enjoy exploring Aspya and creating your own home in the sky.
