Chill Archives - Gamecritics.com https://gamecritics.com/tag/chill/ Games. Culture. Criticism. Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:25:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://gamecritics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Chill Archives - Gamecritics.com https://gamecritics.com/tag/chill/ 32 32 248482113 Tranquil Isle Review https://gamecritics.com/jack-dunn/tranquil-isle-review/ https://gamecritics.com/jack-dunn/tranquil-isle-review/#respond Mon, 14 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://gamecritics.com/?p=62258

HIGH Tight city-building controls and lots of customization.

LOW Each experience ends abruptly.

WTF Why am I able to infinitely stack bushes into the sky?


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Build-A-Village Workshop

HIGH Tight city-building controls and lots of customization.

LOW Each experience ends abruptly.

WTF Why am I able to infinitely stack bushes into the sky?


Tranquil Isle is all about building a tiny island village far away from everything, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

The objective of Tranquil Isle, if you can even call it an objective, is to place buildings around an archipelago’s town center and slowly expand the population by building houses, artisan buildings, and other fixtures, while also expanding to other islands. Each building the player can place also has a point total assigned to it, with certain buildings buffing and debuffing others.

As the points add up, Tranquil Isle presents the player with two options for buildings to populate their village with after certain point thresholds, like a choice between one group of an altar and five houses, or another group comprising a farm and some stables. It’s an effort to give players more control over their end score, which tallies up all the points for every building placed across their village, after which the player can move on to a new project.

A player can experience Tranquil Isle in two different styles — the first being a purely numbers-based experience where they attempt to stack as many buildings as close to each other as possible, while combining certain groups of buildings and their buffs to get the highest score possible. The other is to create an aesthetically pleasing paradise to look at.

Mechanically, the first style is a complex puzzle to solve, but placing certain buildings next to each other makes intuitive sense. Forager buildings work better when they’re not in contact with any other nearby buildings. The mills with big windmills get buffed by nearby farms, but are debuffed by other mills within a certain distance. Houses buff the town center, as well as altars and town halls where people who live in these houses certainly congregate.

The best part of this buff and debuff system is that it naturally lends itself to creating towns that look aesthetically pleasing, so it rarely compromises any part of itself. I don’t play builder-adjacent games like The Sims or Frostpunk because I feel like my poor design choices would ruin whatever architectural layouts make a well-run city look the part, but Tranquil Isle takes that out of the equation, and makes me feel like a somewhat capable city planner.

Aesthetically, designing my islands to make them look more lived-in came secondary to placing down buildings — but that doesn’t mean I still didn’t try to dress them up.

While each building has spacial requirements that prevent them from being too close to one another, there’s no limit to the amount of decorations the player can put on every building and empty inch of grass in town. I found the limits of customization in Tranquil Isle when I found out I could infinitely stack decoration objects like rocks and shrubs on top of each other. Naturally, I made infinitely tall stacks of these objects and just laughed to myself that I was permitted me to do that.

Getting to create a beautiful island utopia is most evident in Tranquil Isle’s Sandbox Mode, which lifts the limits of building space requirements and allows players to run free. I could put ten town halls on one island, or make an island that’s full of taverns and theatres, surrounded by houses so the townspeople could access them. There’s a world full of combinations of buildings, decorations, and terrain forms that can make Sandbox mode a joy to explore.

My only issue with Tranquil Isle come from the eventual end to these building experiences. While I can begin lots of new islands to create lots of different potential towns, it always feels like the building process ends too abruptly.

For example, a “medium” sized town will have three different islands to populate and build upon, but once the player runs out of buildings to build, the game forces them to end. Every time I’d place my last building, I was given the option to build a bridge to a new island… that didn’t exist.

I wish Tranquil Isle would give players a greater sense of closure when they were clearly finished with the space at hand, or build out some objectives for the player to complete when they were actually done. However, with tons of combinations of buildings, decorations, and island constructions, players can get nearly infinite replayability out of this title’s solid foundation, chill vibes, and potential.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Buy Tranquil Isle – PC


Disclosures: This game is developed by Tom Daly and published by Future Friends Games. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PC. Approximately 2.5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB, but it contains no violence, graphic imagery or language.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Dear & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no dialogue, and the only bits of text are in pop-ups on the screen. The text can be resized by a “UI Slider” in the game’s settings. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The game’s controls are fully remappable.

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Europa Review https://gamecritics.com/jack-dunn/europa-review/ https://gamecritics.com/jack-dunn/europa-review/#respond Thu, 24 Oct 2024 11:00:00 +0000 https://gamecritics.com/?p=58500

HIGH The environments and movement combine for immaculate vibes.

LOW The free-flowing movement can get out of control.

WTF The protagonist's eyes make it look like he's possessed.


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Floating Above Paradise

HIGH The environments and movement combine for immaculate vibes.

LOW The free-flowing movement can get out of control.

WTF The protagonist’s eyes make it look like he’s possessed.


I don’t think there is a game that embodies the spirit of Hayao Miyazaki and the Studio Ghibli movies more than Europa — but instead of being a cheap copy, it carves its own path through stunning environments, whimsical gameplay, and a thoughtful message about mankind’s relationship with the natural world.

Europa is a 3D platformer where the player begins as Zee, an artificial boy equipped with a magical levitation device strapped to his back. With this jetpack full of whimsy, Zee gets to explore the idyllic paradise that is Europa, an extraplanetary colony meant to be mankind’s next utopia. Along the way, Zee collects pages of a journal from his dead father that guide him through this world as he uncovers the mystery of what happened to this abandoned paradise planet.

As his father’s narration via journal explains, Europa was a human utopia long in the making. Europa was supposed to be a place where humans could live without worry, but all that Zee can see are long-abandoned ruins without a trace of human activity. The only things left are the “gardeners” — a legion of AI-powered robots that made the planet liveable. The player gets to see thousands of these gardeners along their journey, as they’ve evolved into life forms that resemble Earth’s animals. I got to see herds of real deer along herds of robotic deer living together in harmony with flocks of mechanical birds flying above me.

All of these lifeforms live in the paradise that is Europa. It’s a world filled with peaceful environments taken straight out of a painting. Rolling hills, snowy mountaintops, endless oceans filled with bioluminescent life — it’s a miracle that all of these locations fit into this game cohesively, yet it’s crafted so seamlessly that I didn’t bat an eye.

However, traveling in this environment takes some getting used to. With Zee’s jetpack, he can hover just above the ground, charge up a tall jump, or fly across entire areas with the help of hundreds of pockets of energy (to keep his flight sustained) scattered around the world of Europa. Abundance and flow are critical gameplay themes in Zee’s journey, as every part of Europa’s movement ties into each other, and I was never far from another ball of energy I could use to power up a new flight, and I would often find myself chaining power jumps into hovers into longer flights as I flung myself across sections of the map.

At times this movement is clunky, since it’s difficult to slow Zee down and change direction when he reaches breakneck speeds, but since there’s no penalty in the form of losing health or “dying” if Zee gets blown off course, it’s fairly easy to reorient him. A core theme of the story is how mankind interacts with the natural world, and Zee feels like an integral part of the environment he is exploring, frictionlessly flowing in and out of areas. It’s like Zee is a leaf on the wind, and we’re just riding the current.

Zee’s journey isn’t just leaping and bounding around the world, though. Between every major area are usually a few simple puzzles and some collectibles for Zee to pick up. Featured treasures include items that boost the capacity of Zee’s jetpack and hidden emeralds that are the side collectibles of Europa. These emeralds reward player exploration and experimentation, and I wasn’t able to get even half of the forty available. However, I was able to complete all the puzzles around Europa.

Despite their simplicity, there were a few ideas that really stood out amongst other 3D platformers, including rotating platforms, disappearing blocks, and keys filled with energy scattered away from their appropriate keyholes. They’re all a bit rough around the edges, but they achieve their purpose in Europa’s overall narrative. That said, with only about six hours of total runtime, it’s unclear what these puzzles could have looked like with a few permutations thrown in the mix for a longer experience.

In a larger sense, what Europa is, more than anything else, is simple — yet not in a way that detracts from the overall experience. It’s incredibly focused in trying to show an idyllic paradise that happened to fail because of human hubris. The puzzles don’t need to be complex stratagems that take more than five minutes to solve. Some of the best moments in the campaign involve Zee simply flying around the world, carefree and exploring how alive Europa can be.

Interspersed with the wonders of this natural world is narration from Zee’s father. Rarely do I think that narration adds to an experience in a videogame, but Europa’s does the clever thing where they don’t tell the player exactly what they’re seeing, but they fill in the gaps where the player has questions. The writers lay out the story along Miyazakian principles of capitalism, exploitation, and destruction of the natural world eloquently, but in an innovative plot that flows between these themes. All of this is told by the deceased narrator, Zee’s father, who was supposed to be the architect of this paradise, yet ultimately found more happiness in his relationship with Zee.

Despite its simplicity, Europa establishes itself as a whimsical, wondrous experience floating through the wilds of a fallen utopia. I won’t forget it anytime soon.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

— Jack Dunn


Disclosures: The game was developed and published by Helder Pinto, Novadust Entertainment, and Chozabu (Alex PB). It is currently available on PC and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 6 hours were devoted to the game, and it was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of E for Mild Fantasy Violence. There is no combat in the game, but the main character does have to dodge energy blasts from hostile turrets and mechanical birds that try to knock him out of the sky.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles in the game, and no audio cues are required for gameplay. The subtitles can be resized into 7 different sizes. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable controls: Controls are fully remappable.

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Melatonin Review https://gamecritics.com/joshua-tolentino/melatonin-review/ https://gamecritics.com/joshua-tolentino/melatonin-review/#respond Tue, 21 May 2024 11:00:00 +0000 https://gamecritics.com/?p=54329

HIGH A chill, pleasant mood elevated by lovely music and art.

LOW It's very short, and oddly strict about timing.

WTF It's oddly bright and upbeat for a game about trying to get some sleep.


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HIGH A chill, pleasant mood elevated by lovely music and art.

LOW It’s very short, and oddly strict about timing.

WTF It’s oddly bright and upbeat for a game about trying to get some sleep.


When it comes to rhythm games, one persistent (yet understandable) misunderstanding about the genre is that it’s about appreciating music. While the overwhelming majority of rhythm games are framed around music, rhythm play is ultimately about rhythm. Music is just the best mechanical device to build a timing-based set of mechanics around. It’s why so many rhythm titles are still playable in the deafening cacophony of an arcade, or why many rhythm players can still succeed with the music on mute. However, Half Asleep Games’ Melatonin might be one of the few where the music is truly essential.

The concept of Melatonin is heavily informed by genre classic Rhythm Heaven, and like Rhythm Heaven, Melatonin frames its challenges around scenarios set to music. But, where Rhythm Heaven was whimsical, silly, and focused on bizarre, energetic set pieces, Melatonin‘s framing is a more coherent and chill.

As one might expect of a title named after the brain hormone that helps regulate sleep, Melatonin is about a young person trying to get a good night’s rest. Unfortunately, their brain seems to have other ideas, with stages organized into five “Nights”. Each musical piece is centered around a dream subject, such as “Work,” or “Nature,” or “Space”. Melatonin‘s hand-drawn visuals are excellent, with character art and lines reminiscent of modern cartoons and a light, pink-and-pastel color scheme.

The music is a standout, with a number of relaxed pieces produced both by Half Asleep Games and other producers like Gravity Sound and Filippo Vicarelli. Fans of selections found in the “Chill Beats” and “Lo-Fi Girl” corners of YouTube and Spotify will find much to like in Melatonin‘s soundtrack. While consistently of a piece with the dreamy vibe, the songs do vary in tone, with some of the more stressful dream subjects having a darker mood.

Meanwhile, Melatonin varies the interactions with each dream, with the patterns themselves varying throughout the song. For example, a dream about shopping might show players a pattern first, then have them swipe their credit card to match the pattern to buy trinkets. Meanwhile, a dream about time challenges players to wait until the pause in the beat to bat away a flying clock. A dream about exercise has players hitting shoulder buttons to flex their right or left biceps. Melatonin then ups the challenge by speeding up the song, slowing it down and messing with the prompts.

Melatonin‘s strongest Rhythm Heaven influence is in the nature of the these prompts. While most modern titles often use a standardized set of visual cues to tell players the timing of the beat, Melatonin challenges players to listen to the beat for their cue. Most stages vary or even hide the prompts at certain points, forcing a player to pay attention to the audio as much as the visual. Helpfully, the game doesn’t throw a player into the deep end, as there’s a mandatory practice stage for every song and an explanation on the nature of each mechanic.

Melatonin also has assists that may help players with poor timing or those with disabilities. These can consist of adding a metronome beat, or permanently turning on the tutorial-style button prompts, which makes Melatonin a more “traditional” rhythm experience. Personally, I found the scoring assists which widens the “perfect” timing window to be the most helpful. Melatonin doesn’t penalize one for turning on assists either, which I appreciate as someone who was never a fan of the way some devs try to shame players who want to take it easy.

A while it’s a conceptually-perfect perfect love letter to Rhythm Heaven while still offering its own vibe, Melatonin isn’t free of the occasional sleep-disrupting issue. Without assists, play is surprisingly unforgiving on timing. Perhaps it’s just my own lack of skill (or my aging reflexes) but some stages were basically impossible for me to complete without turning on scoring assist. A few of the interactions also rely on an unintuitive understanding of the timing for their cues, as well.

Also, Melatonin is on the shorter side, clocking in at under three hours to get through all available stages. The included custom beatmap options and a personal quest to get a perfect score can add time to that number, but one could theoretically clear Melatonin in the time it takes to have a nice weekend nap.

With all that said, Melatonin never stopped putting a smile on my face. The pitch-perfect sound and visuals, along with the twist on Rhythm Heaven‘s under-imitated style make for a unique and memorable, if brief, experience. Consider it a compliment when I say that my time with Melatonin passed by like a pleasant dream.

Rating: 7 out of 10


Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Half Asleep Games. It is currently available for the PC, Switch and PS5. This review is based on a code provided by the publisher and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 2 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode. There is no multiplayer mode. The game was completed.

Parents: This game is rated E by the ESRB, with content descriptors for Mild Fantasy Violence. The rating does not have a description, but if it did, it would probably read something like: “This is a story-driven rhythm game in which players control a young person in their dreams over the course of five nights. Players will attempt to hit buttons in time to the music and according to specific patterns in each stage. During the game the protagonist dreams of playing a video game where they shoot cartoon aliens.”

Colorblind Modes: The game has no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Gameplay relies heavily on using audio cues, and in its default mode will gradually hide visual cues to further challenge the player. Assists are available in the accessibility menu to permanently enable visual timing cues, making the game playable for players that are deaf or hard of hearing. There is no voiced dialog in the game, and all text is rendered onscreen. This game is fully accessible (with the appropriate features turned on.)

Remappable Controls: This game’s button controls are not remappable.

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Submerged: Hidden Depths Review https://gamecritics.com/ali-arkani/submerged-hidden-depths-review/ https://gamecritics.com/ali-arkani/submerged-hidden-depths-review/#respond Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:16:00 +0000 https://gamecritics.com/?p=45606

Drowning In The Shallows

HIGH The setting is truly promising.

LOW The world is big, but empty!

WTF Why can't I just die?


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Drowning In The Shallows

HIGH The setting is truly promising.

LOW The world is big, but empty!

WTF Why can’t I just die?


 Submerged: Hidden Depths is a relaxing exploration adventure that tells an emotional story about love and nature. It’s the second installment in the Submerged series.

In this world, megalopolises have been devoured by the ocean and dilapidated skyscrapers are the only landmarks left from once-great civilizations.  The game follows a sister and brother, Miku and Taku, on their quest to save the world from a global curse called Black Mass.

The player controls Miku who has a strange power — she can destroy the Black Mass by breathing life into giant magical seeds scattered across the land, thereby restoring life to nature. As such, players will roam the ocean in a small boat and move from one island to another to cure these cursed lands.

Achieving this is simple. From a third-person perspective, find 10 magical seeds, take them to a specific location, and then activate them.

Hidden Depths is astonishing at first. Visiting a post-apocalyptic world that’s been reclaimed by the nature is always interesting, especially when it’s painted with vibrant and lively colors as it is here. It’s really a feast for the eyes, and its messages about the value of nature and the need to respect and restore it before it’s too late is something that worth covering in a videogames. Unfortunately, while the setting and worldbuilding are noteworthy, that glow doesn’t last long.

Part of the issue is that the experience is focused on relaxation, and the gameplay is devoid of any combat. There are no enemies in the classical sense here, just the Black Mass that can only be destroyed by the magical seeds.

This lack of combat is acceptable for a project focused on ‘restoration’ and ‘life’ but what is not acceptable is the lack of any challenge. There are some platforming and puzzle-solving elements in Hidden Depths, but getting past them doesn’t provide a sense of progress because there is no fail state. Players literally can’t fall off edges or cliffs, and the puzzles are too simple — things like bringing a seed from point A to point B by crossing a few minor obstacles. To put it simply, nothing can go wrong in Submerged: Hidden Depths — the player will succeed by simply pushing forward, and that’s kind of dull. Once they reactivate 10 seeds, the game is over.

Submerged: Hidden Depths offers a relatively big world and there are different things to look for such as journal pages that tell stories from the lost civilization, different animals that can be found across the ocean and land, watchtowers that can show interesting parts of the map, and so forth. However, in a general sense, all of the above fall under the ‘collectible’ category, and it’s not substantial enough to make time spent exploring the game feel worthwhile — the only thing I really looked for were boat upgrades that helped me move faster.

Submerged: Hidden Depths is the definition of wasted potential. The setting is a rare treat that deserve to be experienced, but the world is too empty of significant content and the gameplay is too straightforward without any challenging aspects. This ocean might be quite beautiful, but it’s far too shallow.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Uppercut Games. It is currently available on PC, PS4/5 and XBO/X/S. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PC. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player modes, and the game was completed.

Parents: The game was is rated E by the ESRB. The official description reads as follows: This is a third-person exploration game in which players control a pair of siblings as they navigate partially submerged ruins. Players can traverse a variety of structures while searching for collectibles and diaries.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not available, but the players can change the color of environmental hints such as movable objects and paint markings that show the way.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game has subtitles, but they cannot be resized or altered. There are no audio cues in the gameplay, and the game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game’s controls are remappable.

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Lake Review https://gamecritics.com/aj-small/lake-review/ https://gamecritics.com/aj-small/lake-review/#respond Fri, 08 Oct 2021 01:21:00 +0000 https://gamecritics.com/?p=42617

I Don't Want To Wait For Our Lives To Be Over

HIGH Wandering around the video store.

LOW Some distracting pop-up.

WTF I beat that high score the first time, why am I being patronized?


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I Don’t Want To Wait For Our Lives To Be Over

HIGH Wandering around the video store.

LOW Some distracting pop-up.

WTF I beat that high score the first time, why am I being patronized?


It’s no secret that I will happily sit and watch some of the sloppiest mid-’90s dramas. There’s a part of me that loves low-stakes, emotional conflict that plays out with soundtracks from bands like Dido and Our Lady Peace. This stuff just taps directly into my brain and makes me happy.

Enter Gamious’s new title Lake. It’s a project steeped so deeply in this ’90s drama aesthetic that I would have sworn it was written by Kevin Williamson (of Dawson’s Creek fame) himself, and not the Netherlands-based team that it comes from.

The story is about Meredith, a computer programmer in 1986 who returns to her hometown of Providence Oaks after a 22-year absence. For reasons that feel perfectly in line with the setup, Meredith decides to help the local postal service for two weeks because her father has just retired and left a gap in their workforce.  Along the way she meets many of the town’s residents, catches up with old friends and navigates potential romances.

Lake is played in third-person in a small open-world, and the player controls Meredith with the aim of delivering several letters and packages each day. With the freedom to roam anywhere, it’s possible to decide whatorder to deliver them, and there is no discernible time limit. The focus here is on relaxing drives in a mail truck, listening to twee Sheryl Crow-esque tunes on the radio, and exchanging niceties with the locals.

All dialogue involves choices that shape the narrative. For example, Meredith can choose to aid the video store owner with some errands, compete in a photography competition, or she can ignore all of it and stick to her route. Regardless of what is chosen, all of these directions feature a refreshing lack of high drama. Even when presented with a ‘serious’ choice between ratting out a co-worker or staying quiet, the outcome either way is pleasantly and reassuringly mild.

I do want to call out that the atmosphere in Lake is that of rain-soaked Oregon. In the hands of another team, the lighting and setting would have led to sinister goings on, a mysterious murder, or encounters with the paranormal. Instead, we are refreshingly met with situations like a sick cat that’s eaten too many cupcakes or a teenager that just wants to be listened to and encouraged.

With everything geared towards being non-threatening, Lake ends up being exactly like the specific type ’90s drama that was extremely popular with teens during that period. The time I spent in this world was rich and rewarding, and it only falls down in the multiple endings and potential romantic connections — I steered towards the most unlikely outcome, which was to turn down all romantic advances and choose to leave Providence Oaks. Some of the characters’ reaction to this decision was so mild that it was hard to believe that they were in love with my character in the first place.

Lake is a comforting game that lives and dies based on how well a player will connect with its very specific setting and vibe. It worked for me, and I hope it works for many others.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Gamious and published by Whitethorn Digital. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 7 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed.  There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Suggestive Themes, Use Of Drugs And Alcohol, and Strong Language. The age rating is completely baffling to me. At worst, some marijuana is smoked and people gamble, with no major consequences to these acts. Nothing else in this game suggests that teens and up could not play this game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and/or resized. The game is fully playable without sound.

Remappable Controls: Certain functions are remappable. The camera can be inverted on both the X and Y axis.

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Airborne Kingdom Review https://gamecritics.com/joshua-tolentino/airborne-kingdom-review/ https://gamecritics.com/joshua-tolentino/airborne-kingdom-review/#respond Wed, 17 Feb 2021 14:44:00 +0000 https://gamecritics.com/?p=36352

Above It All

HIGH A relaxing, chill city-builder...

LOW ...that might be a bit too chill for some.

WTF Watching resource gliders consume forests like steampunk locusts.


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Above It All

HIGH A relaxing, chill city-builder…

LOW …that might be a bit too chill for some.

WTF Watching resource gliders consume forests like steampunk locusts.


If there’s one fantasy or sci-fi trope I’m a sucker for, it’s a good old floating sky-city. I just love the notion of getting everything that’s normally seen on the ground — buildings, streets, and urban life — and making it fly.

Unfortunately for me, sky cities are rarely used as positive metaphors. From Xenogears‘ Solaris to Bioshock Infinite‘s Columbia to Zalem in Battle Angel Alita, floating cities are an easy way for creators to depict a class of people who are literally above it all, lording their privileged status over the plebs on the ground.

Color me surprised, then, that Airborne Kingdom chooses to aim a bit higher with its take on skyborne urban environs. In its world, the titular Airborne Kingdom was once a force of unity, able to travel between disparate nations while serving as a hovering nexus of learning, trade, and culture. The plans to build it have been rediscovered, so players must reforge the legend of the Airborne Kingdom, growing it from a simple levitating building to a thriving city among the clouds.

What follows is fairly straightforward city-builder… except in the sky. Players will start with humble, hovering beginnings and lay down walkways, set places for structures, and conduct research to unlock new technologies and options. They’ll also be able to take advantage of the Airborne Kingdom’s mobility, moving from place to place and undertaking quests.

During this expansion, the city’s population will grow and place a growing strain on resources, necessitating further expansion. Despite the somewhat smaller scale compared to city-building titans like SimCity or Anno, Airborne Kingdom resists the urge to include RTS or combat elements and sticks to its genre. There’s no fighting at all here, the only real enemy is gravity.

Keeping the city from crashing plays a key role in Airborne Kingdom. While the city can stay aloft thanks to magical technology, other rules of physics still apply — one such is balance. Players need to build their city in a somewhat planned manner, as building too far in one direction can cause the whole complex to tilt. Tilt too far, and the residents will be annoyed, and the stability of the structure threatened.

In practice, this makes for some entertaining considerations when developing the city’s beautiful, middle-eastern-inspired aesthetic, as one searches for just the right place to put a heavy structure, or when deciding just how far a housing block can extend before the city starts sagging. It’s a unique spin among city-builders, and it’s a pleasant bit of tension.

As they journey through biomes randomly generated at the start of each campaign, players will need to maintain a certain level of resources to keep the city aloft. The availability of resources can constrain players’ actions, but things never get too stressful. Frostpunk this is not, and for better or worse, Airborne Kingdom is dedicated to maintaining a chill, relaxing atmosphere. As someone who doesn’t mind a game that’s willing to step back and let me tinker rather than making me work hard to ‘win’, I can appreciate that.

That said, the relative lack of challenge may be off-putting for some players as the resource pressure isn’t enough to force interesting decisions about where to go and what to do. While it doesn’t need to be harsh, I would have appreciated having to make a hard call or two, or exploring my tech tree from necessity rather than curiosity. Still, Airborne Kingdom isn’t large enough to let ennui settle in, so any boredom that could’ve resulted from the relaxed pace didn’t have a chance to manifest.

Rather than trying to beat the giants at their own game, Airborne Kingdom carefully selects its core tenets and takes flight without getting weighed down by steep difficulty or stressful play. It might not be the kind of city-builder one comes back to again and again, but I enjoyed my time floating above it all.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by The Wandering Band. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game is based on retail build provided by the publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 13 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode. There is no multiplayer mode. The game was completed.

Parents: At the time of writing, this game is unrated by the ESRB, but if it were, it would likely be rated E. The description might read something like This is a strategy game in which players manage and construct a mobile, airborne city. As players explore the world, making connections with land-based kingdoms and expanding their city, they gather resources and conduct research to unlock new structures and technologies. There is no combat in the game, though running out of critical resources may cause the city to fall and be destroyed in the crash.

Colorblind Modes: The game has no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All voiced dialogue is accompanied by subtitles. There are no text size or presentation options. No audio cues are necessary for successful play, this title is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game’s button controls are not remappable.

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