Sometimes I wonder if I'm playing a different game than the other people who review it.
Forward to the Sky stands out, in my mind, as a rather bad game. It has floaty controls, bad hit detection and terrible voice acting, yet it sits (at the time of writing) at "Very Positive"

Graphics & Sound
The graphics in Forward to the Sky is hardly amazing, in fact it looks a bit dated, like something released in the early 00's, but with slightly better lighting and a higher resolution. Textures are flat and repetitive, and the models look like they have a low polygon count. Of course, the technical aspect is not everything, a game can be built on ancient tech, and yet look good due to a strong art direction. In my mind the art direction in forward to the sky is acceptable, and while I do appreciate the use of more vibrant colours, the rest is just "meh". Not terrible, but not good either.

Sound effects are alright. Not something you think of, but they could have been worse. They serve their purpose. But the voice acting, oh the voice acting. It seems like they just decided to let some intern do one take, and then used that, because this is some of the most uninspired voice acting I've ever heard. It's not funny bad, it's just uninspired, flat and boring.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Forward to the Sky is marred by issues. Combat with enemies is simplistic and quite boring, as there seems to be very little strategy involved. At least early in the game. It reminded me of Fable 3, only even less involving, and Fable 3 had amazingly simplistic combat.
Platforming is hampered by really floaty controls. It feels like gravity is not quite what it should be, and the character moves through the air in an odd way. What I'm getting at is that platforming is not well made, and there's a bit of it.
Then we have the hit detection. I quickly started to suspect that the hit boxes of objects did not match the models very well, and tested on some spiked, and as suspected, I would get hit even when the model was not touching the spikes. It's as if the hitboxes are too big compared to the models.
These issues all add up to a game that feels amateurish at best, and is really not fun to play.

Closing thoughts
What more is there to say about this game? It's bad. It works, but it's simply a bad game. And as a cherry on top of all the other issues, the main menu puts style over usability. It's not a massive issue, and if the rest of the game was good, I would have easily been able to forgive the poor main menu, but when there are so many other issues, it just becomes another annoyance. Had this been a student project, it would have been acceptable, but as commercial software, it's not worth your time and money.

My playtime: 2.3h (based on Steam, 100% achievement)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (5 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.

Initially, I thought that this is a short action RPG game where you have to clear some dungeons to finish. I thought the only downside to the game would be its short playtime, but I was completely wrong. In fact, it's more heavily focused on puzzles and precision platformers. While I'm still a fan of those genres, some things don't sit right when I played Forward to the Sky. More on the review.

Pros:
- Almost all dialogues are dubbed
- 6 levels with one boss fight level
- Difficult puzzles

Cons:
- The hitbox of the lasers in level 5 is too large
- You still can move when you are pushing boxes
- Dialogues are being told as you explore the levels, even if there's an enemy to fight
- Poor combat mechanics

No.
There are better games than this. One example is Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers (my review), which also focuses on puzzles and has longer playtime with the same offering price. It's even cheaper than this game when it's on sale.

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The main menu is the first thing that ruins my expectation when I played this game. It looks like a cheap unity game where the dev tries to slap some images with no word to it. Not only did it look terrible, but it is also confusing. It took me some time to figure out how to start the game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292560069

Luckily, the in-game graphics are the same as the screenshots on the store page. The main character has a cute, anime-looking style with a simple, yet great-looking environment in it. It looks cheap while beautiful at the same time.

The story was told in two parts. There is a huge chunk of text that acts as a summary to the game at the beginning and end of each level and some dialogues that happen as you play the game. It seems that the dev is bad at making an attractive main menu because the summary has the same style as the main menu; it also looks like one of those cheap games.

While the in-game dialogue looks great with the beautiful dialogue text and voice dub in every dialogue, it becomes annoying as time passes because the character doesn't know when to stop. She always talks, even if there are monsters that I had to beat. If you ask me whether I had to listen to the pointless dialogue or focus on killing the monsters, there's no way I wouldn't choose the latter one.

Combat
To be honest, the combat feels more like hack and slash rather than action RPG. You can use left or right mouse click to attack, space to dash, and shift to dodge backward. Although the game seems to differentiate between left and right mouse click attacks, the difference isn't noticeable to me as I just needed to mash my mouse clicks to defeat the enemies. Dashing forward and rolling backward are also useless that I never paid attention to them.

Although enemies are very easy on the first level, more variations and stronger enemies will be available on the next few levels. You still need to spam mouse click to defeat them, although you might want to prioritize the stronger enemies first. Since the dodge backward mechanic is counterintuitive and there's no other way to dodge enemies' attack, you're bound to take damage in each fight. Luckily, I finished all levels on my first try despite me always almost running out of health. I'm sure wouldn't enjoy the game this much if I had to die and restart the game again from the beginning.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292560037

There is a boss fight at the last level where you must figure out the boss' attack patterns to defeat. While I find this to be the most satisfying combat the game has to offer, it took me a while to realize that my attack is effective towards the boss. The boss doesn't move at all when I was attacking that I thought that I wasn't dealing damage.

Puzzles
The game relies heavily on puzzles in two of the levels. While the first one is quite obvious, it took me a while to understand how the second one works. There is no tutorial or whatsoever that can help you to figure out the confusing mechanic either. However, it becomes one of my most favorite levels after I learned it due to its challenging difficulty.

Platformer
You'll need to jump through platforms, sometimes within a time limit, to reach the other side of the road. However, I found it hard to control where to land whenever I'm taking a long leap to finish the run more efficiently; I ended up ditching the idea and had to be very careful to make sure that I landed correctly whenever I jump. Luckily, the game doesn't give any penalties if you fail the jump; you will respawn close to where you fall so you won't waste time walking to the same spot again.

There is still one more problem though. One of the levels requires you to dodge a laser while moving. However, the laser seems to have a larger hitbox than it seems, making it hard to figure where to actually move. There is even an occasion where you must move close to moving lasers that it seems to be impossible to get through without getting hit.

Difficulty and Length
The game has 6 levels in total. Each level has unique mechanics although your objective is still the same: to reach the goal. There is also an additional objective where you need to collect 100 crystals, which can be found by clearing everything in the dungeon, to unlock the full story. Doing so is tricky though as some crystals are well hidden, giving more challenge to the game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292560100

The game is not hard to beat although I admit that I was always close to death whenever I finished the levels. Each level can be finished in less than 30 minutes and I finished the game at 2.3h after replaying the first level once because I didn't collect enough crystals to unlock the story. The game seems to only provide a save for level completion that you must restart the level again from the beginning if you want to collect the missing crystals.

Problems
I just find it odd that the game decides to let my character move whenever I was pushing boxes. I needed to reposition my character several times because of this.

Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

Despite it being marketed as an action RPG, there aren't many enemies to beat, and combat isn't what I remember doing the most in the game. The only combat that is memorable is the final boss level which also has its issues. In fact, the difficult puzzle level still remains in my mind due to how enjoyable it is. However, with so many lackluster mechanics that the game has, I don't think I can recommend this game, especially since there are better games out there with longer playtime and cheaper price.

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Forward to the Sky looked very appealing with its cute graphics, seemingly interesting story, and simplistic playstyle. With the price, I expected a bit more than what I got (luckily, I got it at a cheaper price). In terms of characterization and story, simple and "cute". Overall, not all that outstanding. I expected the puzzles to be a bit more challenging, but they were simplistic at best. The only times I got stuck were when I got lost due to my sense of direction.

The writing was "cute" but the voice acting didn't match well with it and seemed rather force. When zooming through the map, there were points where the sound would get cut off which was very distracting. There is no option to turn off the voices nor an option to skip the cut scene with the air balloon when you fall off. There were also points where I ended up jumping onto places where I shouldn't have landed (like standing in midair), getting pushed back and forth between spikes, somehow getting trapped between walls. In short, the game is still buggy.

I do appreciate the hard work put into it and would give it a neutral review if there was one but with the price at 7.99USD and gameplay of 1~2hrs, I can't recommend it.

Since this won't be the only review you read I'll simply break this review down into a list of pros and cons and then I'll explain why I feel that this game isn't worth recommending.

• The game has a nice art style and is pleasnt to look at.
  
• The puzzles aren't too bad although they're nothing too spectacular in the way of puzzles
  
• If you aren't too concerned with stories the one here is short and sweet albeit very predictable
  
  There's honestly no other positives unless you include the music which is "ok" but it get's repetative rather quickly

• Optimization is lacking and lags on the latter levels
  
• The platforming isn't fun, it lacks any kind of features that would make it fun there's no sprinting or double jump and you can't even change how high you jump based on how long you hold the jump key down
  
• Put simply the combat is awful it's far too basic, it lacks challenge and feels awful to play
  
• Controller support is ♥♥♥♥♥
  
  You could say the games too short although the game would be worse if it was longer as you would have to spend more time with the bad platforming and horrible combat

What is comes down to is that this game isn't fun to play. On your first playthrough you may find your self enjoying the game somewhat but if you were to step back for a second to take a more objective look at the game you would see that it's rather bad.

The combat in Forward to the Sky could be completly thrown away and nothing would be lost expect for a couple of sales because they wouldn't be able to feature it in promotional images and videos. It's awful, pointless and adds nothing to the experience other then frustration at how little range and "AOE" you have in your attacks.

The platforming is trash and only has one mechanic to it... the jump key and movement keys... you get no double jump, sprinting varying height nothing. You can jump and move that's it for a platformer these mechanics are far too simplistic.

The puzzles are ok however with that said this isn't a puzzle game it's a 3D collectathon puzzle platformer with combat elements. The collectathon part of this game is pointless and is only there to make sure that you kill all enemies and solve the "optional" puzzles. Honestly though if you skipped the collectathon part of this game you could probably beat this in under 30 minutes.

In conclusion
Forward to the Sky feels like a foundation for a better game as it has ok ideas it's just that they're executed poorly. If the developers were to take these mechanics and improve on them in a new game I wouldn't complain even if it was of the same length because that's the thing I prefer quality to length but with Forward to the Sky you don't get quality or length.

So do I recommend Forward to the Sky?... No, it's not bad but it's not good even if it were free I wouldn't recommend it as the mechanics aren't good but I've said that several times.

I also did a video review if you want to watch that but I doubt you would want to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tG_W3szkDc

You're game isn't awful but you need to expand upon and improve the mechanics you have because when your being out matched by old PS2 games your not in a good position.

I’ve taken a lot of chances on indie games solely because of their visual style. That’s what led me to try games like Pocket Kingdom and Submerged, a mixture of art and atmosphere that evokes very specific feelings or memories in me. I couldn’t resist giving Forward to the Sky a go for that very reason, looking like something that lands square in between Studio Ghibli and Skies of Arcadia. But I know as well as anyone that it’s always a gamble when you pick up a game based on screenshots, and this one was a bust. As much as it may have nailed an aesthetic that I really appreciate, it certainly didn’t take any inspiration from better platformers or adventures.

I won’t go too deep on the story here, partly because uncovering it is a major thrust of the progression and partly because there’s not much depth anyway. The sky tower was once an important source of magical crystals for the world, but a none too neighborly witch moved in and cut off the supply for a better part of a century. The tower drifted away under her ownership but now it’s back, and a spry little princess with a poofy dress and a bigass sword is looking to seize the means of production. But not all is as it seems in this airborne edifice, and it becomes clear right from the start that the witch is hiding a greater secret. If the princess can survive the journey up to meet her, she might get a little bit more than she bargained for.

The story is told in very brief still scenes between levels, but there’s a catch. One of the magical properties of the crystals here is recording memories, and as you bash enemies and statues for the precious gems you’ll unlock more of the tale. Functionally, this means you have to collect all 100 crystals in a level to see the full scene and keep up with the story, and while they’re not exactly hidden it means the game is geared way more towards completionists. It’s also worth mentioning there’s a lot of dialog between the princess and the witch during levels, and it assumes you’ve seen the whole story scene leading into that level. This can get a little awkward if you’re not keeping up with your collecting, but not as awkward as the intensely amateur-hour voice acting.

Crystals are squirreled away in statues off the beaten path and in the bodies of rather adorable skeletons that you’ll spar with periodically during levels. Each kind of skeleton pretty much has one attack and goes down in a couple hits, so fighting them is just a matter of clicking in their direction. You have two stiff combos that will dispatch just about anything, and while they’ll get some hits on you from their own stiff attacks, you have so much health you can laugh it off. Outside the combat you’ll be scaling a big stone tower, or at least the fragments of it. Levels are really collections of rooms and platforms floating in the big blue sky, and while they might look vast and complex there’s really just one main path through each level. Take a peek at obvious platforms and you should find all the statues, and don’t bother exploring little ledges or archways because they’re just for show.

It’ll take you about 15-20 minutes to get through each level, and there are six to tackle. They tend to have different gimmicks like spinning fans or gusting winds but every single mechanic and hazard feels either poorly-implemented or janky to work with. There are mystical breezes that push you around but the glow that marks them is far too subtle, and the aforementioned fans have finicky hitboxes. More important than any of this, though is that levels are just boring. There’s not enough going on, not enough to see, and so little to the plot and combat that Forward to the Sky really lacks any kind of hook whatsoever. I could easily beat this in two hours but when I realized I was dozing off during fights in the fourth level, I knew it was time to stop.



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Cute game, short game. Puzzles aren't bad which is good as it's more about the puzzles than the small amount of fighting you do. Reason I'm mainly marking this as not recommended is the hit detection in it is horrible. You can be on top of a rock and get hit by nothing, standing perfectly between two lasers and still get hit. Be standing on something and suddenly get knocked off. Not to mention if you need to back track, the game is very picky about what areas you can jump from to get to lower levels, and what areas will call yoru blimp to keep you stuck at that area.

Also the lack of Mouse Sensitivity controls is just horrible. It's set so high in the game I had to lower my mouse DPI by 4 times my usual level just so I could have decent turning control.

This is going to sound very mean, but it seems like someone just mashed a couple of Unity tutorials into one game and called it a day. With annoying voice acting on top of it.

The fighting system is repetitive and is not very empowering (you basically have one attack and that's it). You also have to "explore" and find your way around. It's not always obvious where you have to go, and it's never satisfying to figure out where to go. All of the environments feel the same.

It's the kind of thing that feels like an impressive and polished student project, but a rather weak commercial project.

This is a highly unoptimized Unity project. Setting the lowest quality helped a bit, but the framerate was still horrible. This is not a game with a high quality awesome graphics, but a simple cube-based environment one.

The environment is boring. Okay, we climb some tower, but there are only walls and bottomless sky everywhere around. They are actually nicely done and don't hurt eyes, but they stick with us from the very beginning till the very end. There are 6 levels in total, all made with the same tiles. Every level introduce some new mechanics, which is nice. Still the world seems to be empty. There are only 25 enemies every level, most of them packed in one or two groups. The rest of levels is just walking and a bit of 'solving' very easy puzzles. It is mostly a simple platformer, surely not RPG as you might read in tags. "Anime"? The model of a main protagonist is cool, but there is where the anime aspect ends.

There is even a shallow story in this game, but it made me feel even worse about the game. The main protagonist is showed by a dumb girl and I couldn't like her in any way. Ehh.

There is also a menu case, which is completely unintuitive. Another thing is horrid controls. Might using a keyboard and a mouse might be a better experience than playing with a controller. WHY THE HECK CLICKING AN ARROW POINTING RIGHT REQUIRES CLICKING LEFT ON THE CONTROLLER??????

If you bought Forward To The Sky in some bundle, then give it a try, but if you want to buy it at full price, it is absolutely not worth it.

For me the art style of the game was the selling point. When I started the game up I got what I expected for the price: Simple combat, nice and sometimes challenging puzzling and some platforming elements. The controls are tight but sometimes frustrating when jumping. Combat consists of slamming the left or right mouse button to swing your sword, you cannot block, you can only "dodge". It's very minimal.

The game contains 6 levels/chapters, in each of which a new, unique mechanic is introduced, which I like. The dialogue is sometimes funny but overall very naively written, what makes it obvious that the game was targeted at children. Though that doesn't mean you cannot enjoy the game as an adult, because I did. It's a nice little game.

But why am I not recommending it? It's the unjustified price. It took me 1.4 hours to finish 100% of the game (all "collectibles") for 7.99€, which isn't worth it at all. I Can only recommend to pick it up on a lower price.

I genuinely wondered if I was playing a different game than the rest of the reviews here. This feels like a game that your mom would find in the video games bin of a store that had no business selling video games, for the Playstation 2, in 2004. It objectively works, but it feels like Baby's First 3D Platformer. The voice acting is positively grating. Like, I was almost embarrassed to be playing it through my speakers with other people home. It feels like it was a bad translation, but the only full audio option is English, which makes it almost seem that it was done badly as a joke.

I don't see why anyone that owns other games would ever reach for this one.