Skies Above is set to fly into the eshop for Nintendo Switch next week, on Thursday, April 17th, following its release on Steam last year, and as we previously reported, it’s the latest Switch indie game to be published by Flynn’s Arcade, whose previous release, Freddy Farmer, we recently reviewed. This latest Flynn’s Arcade release, Skies Above, was developed by solo developer and pixel artist Hungry Dingo, who was previously responsible for the pixel art party game Tacticats.
While Skies Above appears to be a horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em up at first glance, it’s something a little bit more unusual than that, playing somewhere between a shoot ‘em up and an action puzzle game, all in a roguelite style, with the game offering wave after wave of enemies, and being played via “runs” through the game. Skies Above offers a unique blend of said three genres, all in a pleasant arcade style, with a very light sprinkling of adventure gaming added as garnish, in the form of conversing with NPCs.
In Skies Above, you’re tasked with protecting an airborne leviathan, who who is under attack from robotic baddies, who, almost inevitably, have been sent by nasty greedy types hoping to profit off the poor leviathan, and It’s your job to protect the leviathan from these attacking robot invaders by aiming and launching yourself at them to blow them up.
Your aim in Skies Above is to defend the leviathan against a never-ending barrage of robotic attackers as it ascends the “Skies Above” to get from A to B, A being Earth, and B being the safety of outer space. Luckily for you, despite the waves of enemies being seemingly never-ending, they’re not non-stop, meaning you’ll have the chance to catch your breath every now and then.
Despite the game’s slightly unusual method of dispatching of enemies, Skies Above’s controls are intuitive, making the game a pleasure to play.
Skies Above’s pixel art graphics are truly gorgeous. The start of the game is set on terra firma, and here you can interact with other humans, seemingly setting up Skies Above to be some kind of adventure game, but once you mount the mighty leviathan and you ascend to the titular skies above, the game reveals its true colors as a sort of puzzle game/shooter hybrid. The leviathan is quite a sight to behold, occupying a good third of the screen, and it really is a truly magnificent creature, which only motivates you to protect it all the more, with the graphics and story of the game working in unison to create something of an emotional attachment to the mighty leviathan.
The game is a colorful feast for the eyes, and the music is well-implemented too, beginning with a serene soundtrack while on Earth, but becoming more urgent and dramatic when you’re riding the leviathan and you’re under attack.
Earning the in-game achievements gives you a pleasing feeling of satisfaction, as does chaining your attacks on the airborne robot orbs for combos.
Skies Above is definitely worth a look for retro gamers looking for something a little different from the usual side-scrolling shooters or puzzle games. The game offers a lot of fun, especially when played in short bursts and it’s well worth picking up at its budget price, even though it’s probably not a game you’re likely to come back to very often, that said, there’s always the chance to beat your previous run! Nonetheless, if you enjoy playing Skies Above, you’ll get more than your money’s worth from your first play through of the game.
Overall, Skies Above feels very much like the creative vision of one person coming to fruition, feeling rather like an “authored” piece rather than a game designed by a big team, or by committee, and it’s all the stronger for it, offering something that little bit different from your usual indie game fare, somehow meshing together elements from shoot ‘em ups ad action puzzle games, all wrapped in some of the most gorgeous pixel art you could imagine, creating a unique experience that might well be as much a piece of art as it is an arcade-style game. It’s quite an achievement, even if it might not necessarily be a game whose skies I’ll return to again and again. And even though Skies Above is certainly a success on its own terms, it won’t be for everyone, and its lack of depth might make it better suited to casual gamers than a hardcore audience. Hungry Dingo and Flynn’s Arcade certainly deserve to be praised to the Skies Above for trying something a bit different and pulling it off in impressive style.
