Black Skylands

In Black Skylands we dive into a world where we find a multitude of islands floating above the clouds and curious people who inhabit these islands and move through them with flying boats. We also encounter a somewhat sinister and dangerous region known as The Eternal Storm, and in one part of that world we come to Aspia, which is where Black Skylands takes place.

This is an indie action game with sandbox, simulator and pixelart elements. It is the first game from Moscow-based studio Hungry Couch Games, and also comes under the umbrella of publisher TinyBuild, known for games such as Starup Panic, Despot's Game and Hello Neighbor.

The game shows us the story through conversations and time skips to understand what is happening. After the first time skip to the present, we can see that the Swarm is attacking Aspia, as are the Falcons. At this point, after the tutorial, we take control of the protagonist, Eva.

After a Falcon attack on the Mothership, we must bid farewell to the fallen to begin rebuilding... and seek revenge. At the start of the game, we are shown the first mechanics, and some of them are quite simple like moving with the keyboard or jumping. We can also wield various weapons (pistols, rifles, shotguns), and in the first fights we are given some guidelines where we aim with the mouse. We can dodge the shots by jumping, keeping a distance, throwing enemies through the air with a hook or avoiding falling into the void. These are somewhat complex mechanics that, in some cases, require some time and coordination to handle well.

In addition to firearms, we have the possibility of attacking enemies in close combat, albeit in a very simple way. One option is using stealth, since attacking some enemies undetected from behind means elimination on the first hit. We can even receive ammunition by taking out enemies "in melee".

We can also sail aboard flying boats of various sizes, taking the controls as the pilot. The ship controls are somewhat crude, more so than the character and combat controls, and depend on the ship and the customisable components it has. The game, in terms of the ships it allows us to handle, has a certain realism about it. And, of course, enemies can damage or destroy the ships and so we are able to repair them with repair kits.

Like so many other indie games, Black Skylands provides us with beautiful, pixelated concept-art. However, it may lose some of its charm due to the aerial perspective. The ships, islands, etc. look nice and sharp, but in the case of NPCs or enemies (except for the Swarm), buildings and some cinematics... it's a bit worse, as it's sometimes hard to distinguish a box from a still NPC. The swarm looks pretty good and its surprise impact on some of the cinematics and missions are very successful. We could say that the graphics of the game aren’t bad, but they are not its strongest point.

The music, which varies from place to place and situation to situation, is generally relaxed. It may not be worthy of an "A", but it blends well with the gameplay, and it fits the environment.

In conclusion, we can say that this is a very interesting and fun game. It’s a game which stands out for having a multitude of tasks to complete and fun mechanics, some of which are complicated while others are somewhat crude. Some of these mechanics are tricky at first, but with a bit of time they will be nothing more than minor hurdles. It is a game which mixes various genres and subgenres in a good way.