Lost Skies Review

There’s no doubt that, when hearing about a new game with exploration and crafting, you’re likely to think "Oh lord, not another one.” It’s a pretty full market, so a game really has to offer something new to stand out, and developer Bossa Studios' latest title, Lost Skies, looks to make its mark. The question is if this will be a journey you want to go on, or if you should order in takeout. 

Lost Skies takes place in a world where everything has gone wrong, and it has become a series of floating islands. Whatever people were here are very dead, with the only remnants being the animals, strange robots, and monsters. You awaken in this broken land, and it's up to you to explore and find out what happened.

The goal here, at least initially, is what you would expect: you need to gather certain materials to craft new tools to help you progress and build more complex items. The difference here is how you need to travel. As everything is on floating islands, you need to build a glider, followed by a grappling hook to help you move around. Now, I love the grappling hook in Lost Skies. You can shoot it pretty far, the movements feel accurate, and you can swing around like Spider-Man. The paraglider is less fun, but it solves the issue of falling to your death a lot, so I can excuse that. 

Other than flying around, you can also build weapons, clothing, and more. However, I have one issue that I hit in the early game: a lot of items require scrap metal at first, which you can find lying around the first few islands. The issue is that several necessary items require this material, and there’s not a lot of it.

Now, in an ideal world, this would just mean you prioritise the right items at the right time, but here’s the other issue. The combat in the game is mostly based around shooting, and the only way to build bullets for the starting handgun is to use scrap metal. So, you can see the issue, as having your initial means of combat use ammo made from a very crucial, but limited material, is a problem. What’s more annoying is that when I finally got the means to mine iron, it was the wrong kind of iron and couldn’t be used for the items I needed. 

It’s just… frustrating to be honest, and makes it much harder to get going. With that said, while it might be stressful and annoying, the movement makes it fun enough that I didn’t care. However, all of this is only the initial part of the game, as the world really opens up when you’re able to build your Airship.

You’re Airship is truly yours, serving as a base and a means to travel to the farther away islands with ease. They’re also customisable, as once you’ve built the basic frame, you can add a host of different sails, decorations, weapons, and more. While the concept of an airship is inherently cool, and once you first set off, it really does feel like an epic adventure, the reality is a little more disappointing. The problem is that the ships are really slow, and once you’ve seen one island, there’s not that variety in what you’ll see. 

While the journey can be a bit slow, there are the odd enemies, namely giant monsters, that you can fight while on your airship using the guns. Admittedly, it’s a life-size bullet hell shooter that’s a bit tricky when playing solo. Therein lies my biggest issue with Lost Skies: it feels like a game that requires more people to really get the best experience. The world feels empty, and gathering materials can be a bit dull, but having your friends there would be a major plus.

Another area I will praise is the graphics; the world looks lovely, and the creatures (while minimal in number) are interesting to look at and well-designed. For instance, at one point, I experienced a scripted moment where “The Herald” caused the entire world to shake. Granted, once I found out this was scripted, it certainly lessened the experience, but it was impressive nonetheless. 

So, would I recommend Lost Skies? It’s difficult to say, really, as the whole experience doesn’t have any technical issues beyond some known faults. However, if you plan on playing alone, then you need to be prepared for a slow start. If you’re looking for a new game with a novel travel method for you and your friends, then Lost Skies could be the one for you.