This is a game for me, an enthusiast of all kinds of flying, especially by natural means. Since my earliest years I dreamed of a flying carpet, or a flying monster to ride. I paraglide' skydive, play MS Flight Simulator, DCS and even niche, super realistic glider simulators. Short of flying a dragon, or a real jet pack, this is the closest I can get to living that dream. No surprise then that I was super excited about this game.
Sadly, it’s been a thorough dissapointment. First, flying is extremely arcade-y, with zero connection to how birds fly, and annoyingly large collision hit boxes, which make flying timed races frustrating. In theory, there are both upwards currents, and fast winds at altitude, but they are almost cartoonish, an afterthought with no interaction with other mechanics, and can be safely ignored. Making a bold decision to actually try to model natural flight would make this game interesting, stand out from hundereds forgettable airplane simulators, even if the rest was bland.
And, sadly, the gameplay itself is bland. Very generic, with an unengaging, pretentious story and worldbuilding which could be so much better, inspire imagination, but doesn’t. The side quests feel like homework in a game dev class.
The world is an extremely empty ocean with an occasional rocky mountain growing out of it. It could be cool, but the wave animation, something you literally look at 100% of your game time, feels very off. I don’t mind blocky, cartoonish graphics, I know it’s an indie, but you have to pick the features most important to the game and do them right in order for players to forgive you coming short in everything else.
I know it’s a single dev game, and as such, I am actually impressed. However, ultimately, I don’t care how many people, time and money were invested; I just want a good game. To be clear, there is nothing bad with it, either: it’s just utterly mediocre. If you don’t share my passion for flying, subtract another star from my rating.
