Black Skylands
Review

Black Skylands (2021) is an adventure game where you pilot an airship through a sprawling open world of floating islands. You play Eva, who's ship has been destroyed and father killed. Your task is to rebuild your home from the deck up, arm and prepare for battle. It combines the tending and crafting of Stardew Valley and the airbourne island fighting of Bioshock.

It's a simple looking game that's viewed from above. But there is real complexity and strategy required here. Play involves aerial and ground combat, careful weapon selection and crafting of your ship to enhance your chances. There's a novel grappling hook to throw enemies into the cloudy abyss.

You choose a skyship: small and maneuverable boat or a heavy machine with a high-capacity cargo hold. When you have landed, you can enhance your handheld weapons with different modifications and special abilities.

Resources you gather are used to build facilities aboard your ship. A Workshop lets you acquire useful upgrades for airships & weapons, a Factory processes resources and a Laboratory allows you to create powerful artifacts. Also, make sure to construct buildings like Gardens and Ranches to grow & harvest crops.

As you progress you aim to capture territories, craft alliances and clear out occupied lands to expand the power of your faction. New resources, researches, characters and other features become available as you expand your influence. Travel across forests, farms, snowy lands, urban jungle and the mysterious Black Skylands themselves. Discover ancient secrets and take risks to unleash powers behind them.

Coming to PC first then Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Black Skylands 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 12 weeks ago.