it's okay.

it's nothing innovative or groundbreaking.

it's a top down shooter, a bit like gta 2, but in a steampunk enveloppe, with some platforming, which can be bypassed by accident.

i dont understand why the passive income mechanic that was present pre-release was removed (you could grow veggies and pets at the home base, which meant getting more cash for upgrades)
nor why the shipbuilding was streamlined (you could build and pick up any combo of parts you wanted, including nerfing some features off to fit more speed and firepower on the smaller hulls)

Now using the bigger ships is completely pointless, unless you need the occasional boost in hitpoints for a battle with lots of ennemies.
why would you bother with a ship that's 50% slower, less manoeverable, doesnt fit in some areas when you can just TP back to home, dump what isnt needed, TP back close to your area of choice and continue?

the smallest and fastest skip was limited to 20 cargo cap, which meant you had to make a choice when going around. now i have 34 cap and i litterally just TP when it's full. from anywhere. getting the bigger hulls only grants a minor hull stash buff...

AI is dumb. reaally dumb. unless there's lots of it and you're doing it in hard, it's never really a threat.

they also kept the RNG'd weapon parts mechanic, so getting upgrades is just a slow, long drag.
there's really no reward in freeing an island to get goodies, and you cant make cosmetic choices. (that would make too much sense imho)

the story has been made further and further less impacting. initially you had your familly wiped, now it's an unrelated uncle you talk to twice before he dies. and dad's doing a fallout 3.
big bad guy is basically nonexistent and the annoying and badly implemented but necessary mechanic where the islands could be invaded again was removed.

so...

since i had 3 saves wiped during the developpment of this thing i'm going to finish it and be done with it.

good game

Heard that the Early Access was better and that they scrapped a lot of features to get the game out for good, but still as it is now the game's good.

Would be nice if they gave people a way to check out the Early Access version though.

okay, recycling what I posted onto some friends on discord for this, have fun, or whatever
"I played black skylands recently
It's basically a top down twin stick shooter where you alternate between piloting ships and shooting guys on the ground, I was initially reluctant to try it cause I don't particularly like the perspective of these kinds of games; it was a big part of why I never really got into hotline miami, here though, I was able to enjoy the game for most part due to it having extremely meaty feeling gunplay; your bullets hit hard and fast and eviscerate enemies in a way that feels satisfying

I'm not sure if I should necessarily recommend this one though, as it's a case of something that started strong, fizzled out a bit and then got very boring in the last few hours
you basically spend the entirety of the game raiding pirate settlements, and whilst it initially feels good because a of a very strong reward system, it falls apart the moment the game runs out of new weapons and mods to feed you with
It also introduces a faction at the end of the game that is just not fun to fight

I also kinda found the story frustrating due to bad pacing, basically 90% of the plot takes place in the last few hours and it ends by teasing you with stuff that you don't really get to do anything with gameplay wise, it ain't great

Still working on this one, Game is quite something, although it is not the original - As It Was Intended To Play - which to be honest is really disappointing considering i purchased the supporter bundle in EA (at full value, mind you) to be presented a totally over hauled game. Sure, the're were story plot holes and some of the writing seemed a little weak at times but i have not seen anything like this game ToMyKnw. at least, which makes it wicked original. This aside: ill give what i can:
pros: you get to pilot and build airships that go with and against air currents in the world. Fight air pirates! lots of different guns to choose from and accessories and upgrades for both items and airships. some RTS and RPG/Action collide to offer
an interesting exp.
Cons: The script. I hate it! The character Aaron goes from being family to being just an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (As an Aaron, I can relate. neither here nor there tho) and Eva sounds like a know it all conceited ♥♥♥♥♥. Not the kind girl i was introduced to before 1.0
control mechanics are still head scratching for me at least sometimes and it forces me to have to play with both a controller and mouse/keys. there is no way to set retroactive on the ships engine allowing me to continue thrust NOT using the keyboard/ mouse. Both controller and keyboard have greatly different control outcome functions. if your ship is in close to walls.......well, goodbye. Enemy has been toned down for power levels which is good.

Conclusion: still playing. I may write another review when i finish or this may just serve as my final. There has been little in the ways of updates or patches, or much whats up with the devs at Hungry Couch. It could be they folded not long after this was brought to Alpha.so not a great sign of confidence. Just being honest here.

The game is a mixed bag of great ingredients, but they ultimately result in a subpar expirience. I like the protagonist, she seems cool and fun. Weapon variety is also good. Aesthetics are great. Enemy variety is okay. And what I saw from the story, until I quit, also was engaging. That actually sounds good, right? Why the thumbs down?

The game is incredibly repetitive. Like other reviewers stated, it is like Far Cry or that Mad Max game, in the sense that you liberate copy-pasted outposts to gain ressource to upgrade your gear. And that is the core game loop. In the Tier 1 world there are already like 10 floating islands to liberate and it is just so exhausting. It is always the same.
Up to the point where I played (when you get the dynamite), your air ship is also completly under utilized; you use it for traveling , but not for actual air combat except the occasional random encounter.
Opening lootboxes for weapon mods has for some idiotic reason a multi second open animation at crafting stations. Why???
Later, I tryied playing it while watching some youtube but even for that it was just to broing.

It is not a completly bad game, but I just cannot recommend some 6/10, there are better things do or play.

Awesome TDS with enjoyable mechanics.

So here's my review of this game:

TLDR: I think it's a great game, especially for the price. I would only NOT recommend it to those who don't like top down shooters or pixel graphics.

LONG VERSION:

GRAPHICS:

The graphics are amazing. The artistry of the developer is evident throughout the game. For a pixel game, there is a surprising amount of detail. every time you pass through sky areas, you will see something happening in the background, lower in the sky. The creature concepts and designs are beautifully done, and while not always 100% original (base enemies very much remind you of Zerglings), there are enough unique designs or variants that make it special. My only complaint graphically is that it IS a top down shooter, which makes human characters very much blend together. A character will run up, and you will have no idea who it is unto the dialogue box opens up. Other than that, everything is gorgeous.

Overall 9/10

SOUND:

The sound is good. Nothing mind blowing, but very well serves its purpose. The music is very good, but with limited variety. Its very pretty, serves its purpose, but for the most part just floats in the background. The guns sound nice and punchy to fire, each have a unique sound effect when firing that's appropriate, and the sound of bullets hitting things sounds nice and "meaty." The reloading effects are all different, effective, and all feel "chunky" or "gross" as fits, if that makes any sense. The bug based weapons in particular have excellent sound design, and truly sound disgusting when you reload them. The other in game sounds are about what you'd expect from a pixel game: very reminiscent of NES/SNES era games. They work, but like the music, nothing that makes me go "oh, that's nice!".

Overall, I give the sound a 7/10, but it would be much higher if it were just the gun related sounds, which to be fair are what you hear the most of.

GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay is good. Its a simple, overhead shooter, with some nice platforming mechanics. I would not say the gameplay mechanics are anything that is super unique, but they are well executed. My only complaint is that it seems like there are concepts/things in place to have a much larger game, but they simply aren't there. From what I've heard/read with just a cursory glance, this seems to make sense. Parts of the game seem set up to make it a far more open world game than it is. For example, the ore refinery 2nd upgrade says that it allows more refining of different materials, which never seems to happen. Perhaps I didn't delve into the game enough (I did almost no Fathership customization), but I did free every island, found the secret weapon, did a few raids, and did above what I feel your average person would do. There are a few mechanics and ideas set up like this that just show the dev had larger plans in mind that, sadly, never came to fruition.

As for the actual combat, I felt that it was perfectly serviceable. I never completely ran out of ammo, but I did have some times where I was pushed to use weapons that were not my first choice. The swarm damage vs. regular damage keeps you interchanging weapons, and about the only complaints as far as weapons I have are that the 2nd tier of weapons that you can buy with gold have no mods, and that the mods felt like they could have had a bit more of an impact. The powers you gain all seem quite strong and balanced as a whole, although I do feel the shield power should be its own thing, as I never felt like there was a situation where another power would have replaced it. The melee for me felt... weak. I was shocked that I never found an upgraded weapon, or any other mechanics related to melee. I was hoping for a melee type power, or different weapon, or mods that could change it, but no, the melee you get at the beginning is the melee you have for the end.

The ships are incredibly cool looking, and fun to pilot around. The fuel mechanic is ok... it seems only to be an issue at the very beginning of the game, so it seems... odd and unnecessary. The upgrades to the ship carryover to every ship, which is nice since they are quite expensive and some devs like to stretch out replayability by forcing you to upgrade every ship individually. My only complain about the ships is that, even fully upgraded, the air combat felt lacking. The boost power took too long to activate to use to dodge things, so most of my time was spent merely lining up shots or repairing damage on the ship as I was under fire. I would have liked to have seen more dodging/maneuvering in the air. My other complaint about the ships is that there wasn't much a reason to change between them. Early on, cargo space is at a premium, but once you upgraded it all the way, I never had storage issues. I used the smallest, most mobile ship the entire game (once I had acquired it) and I never once felt like I didn't have the cargo space to strip an island of all its resources. This seems to me another mechanic that was left out of the game. The "elephant", the largest ship with the largest hold in the game, has a description that makes you think you might need to do some mass gathering of materials, or that maybe there's a mining mechanic, or a quest that requires you to carry a lot of things a long distance. I never ran into such a quest or situation, and I did every side quest to completion, along with freeing every isle.

The quest gameplay is... kind of sad. There are side quests, there are extra islands to free. None of this contributed much to the game, and the overall feel was the same. Every island you free feels about the same, thee reward from the freed people the same, the side quests pretty much the same. Again, this felt like a part of the game that had to be trimmed by the dev, and that is sad.

Overall I give the gameplay a 7/10. The mechanics are solid, but there should be more, and sadly I think the dev had more in mind.

STORY (SPOILERS):

The story is good, not great. I feel the weakest part of the story is not the plot itself, but the character development. Many of the characters (including the main one) just don't have enough dealing with them to make you empathize. You do a bit for the main character when her grandfather dies, but only a little bit. The love interest isn't particularly well done, as the only interaction we have with him is annoying. I feel this could have been fleshed out a lot with side quests for these characters, making us feel more for them. Maybe the devs had plans for this to be more of a thing, but as is, the characters are pretty flat.

The plot itself is decent, nothing too amazing, but very good. It starts as a basic "fight off the pirates" story, which is quite fun. Once you start getting tired of this, it jumps and evolves into a "crazy experiment gone wrong" story. The final act has the "big twist", which to be fair is not expected too much, but is kind of out of nowhere. The big surprise is that the main character (you), are actually of the swarm. I don't hate this twist, it explains why the protagonist is such an insanely overpowered character, but it seems to come out of nowhere. I would have loved to have some hints along the way, so when the twist arrived I said "oooooooh.... that makes sens now!". As is, its good, its a fine twist, its not super well done. The ending I felt was cute, and appropriate for the story.

Overall, 5/10

So, finally: should you buy this game: absolutely. It was a blast, took about 20 hours or so co complete. I feel I could go back and have some fun fighting swarm, or other random activities on occasion. I will most likely replay it in a few years. Its a super charming game, with a very unique look, made by a dev that clearly knows what they are doing, and I really look forward to their future games!

Overall: 8/10, 9/10 for the price!

Cute but buggy. A fast-travel glitch took out 3 hours of gameplay.

hotline miami 3

A really cool top-down shooter game that is definitely worth your money and your time. I had a blast with it. I loved the mix of fighting on foot and fighting with your ship. There are two different materials to get to upgrade either your hand guns or your ship weapons and armor which you get from fighting people on foot or other ships. Good story, fair battles, fun all around. I'd love to see a sequel!