![]() ![]() These boxes need to be found, transported back to your ship, and then eventually transferred back to the Fathership where they can be unlocked. ![]() The gear system is similarly stripped down, with the only loot drops coming in the form of predetermined mod boxes, which are placed in specific areas of the map and contain mods for your various weapons. As a result, the process of farming doesn’t really form any sort of addictive gameplay loop. Unlike in Stardew Valley, here your seeds are all planted at the press of a button, do not need to be watered, and at first serve no clear purpose. These seeds grow in real-time, with your initial crops taking about 8-10 minutes to grow. Farming consists of first clearing a plot of arable land, then using your gathered resources to build a farm and plant a batch of seeds. Unlike these other games, however, the systems are quite simplified in Black Skylands. There are some clear influences here, from light farming elements vaguely reminiscent of Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley, to a leveled gear system, reminiscent of MMOs and Diablo -esq titles. Along the way, you’ll gather resources like wood, copper and scrap metal, which you’ll use back at your base - the questionably named “Fathership” - to craft new weapons, ships, and upgrades. The basic flow of the game takes you from island to island, killing enemies in a style reminiscent of some of the tamer bullet-hells, until the island is cleared of enemy forces and the local farmers and whatnot are free to return to their homes. Ultimately, however, your choices are fairly limited, as there is a level mechanic at play here that gates many of the islands off until you reach a sufficient gear level. Black Skylands is theoretically an open-world game, giving you the freedom to choose where you’d like to go. You pick up a skyship early on and use it to travel between a series of floating islands. The pixel art is very pretty.Īt its core, Black Skylands is a ship-based top-down exploration game, with some light simulation elements and quite a lot of resource gathering. Although there is a reasonably large amount of fairly polished content here, numerous technical issues, as well as questionable design decisions, hamper the overall quality and playability. It’s in Early Access, and while some titles launch into Early Access with relatively few flaws, Black Skylands is very much an Early Access title. Black Skylands, developed by Hungry Couch games, is currently out on Steam. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |