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. 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. 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. Frostpunk this is not, and for better or worse, Airborne Kingdom is dedicated to maintaining a chill, relaxing atmosphere. The availability of resources can constrain players’ actions, but things never get too stressful.
It’s a unique spin among city-builders, and it’s a pleasant bit of tension.Īs 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. 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. Tilt too far, and the residents will be annoyed, and the stability of the structure threatened. 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. While the city can stay aloft thanks to magical technology, other rules of physics still apply - one such is balance. Keeping the city from crashing plays a key role in Airborne Kingdom. There’s no fighting at all here, the only real enemy is gravity. 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. They’ll also be able to take advantage of the Airborne Kingdom’s mobility, moving from place to place and undertaking quests.ĭuring this expansion, the city’s population will grow and place a growing strain on resources, necessitating further expansion. Players will start with humble, hovering beginnings and lay down walkways, set places for structures, and conduct research to unlock new technologies and options. What follows is fairly straightforward city-builder… except in the sky. 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. 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. 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.Ĭolor me surprised, then, that Airborne Kingdom chooses to aim a bit higher with its take on skyborne urban environs. Unfortunately for me, sky cities are rarely used as positive metaphors. I just love the notion of getting everything that’s normally seen on the ground - buildings, streets, and urban life - and making it fly.
If there’s one fantasy or sci-fi trope I’m a sucker for, it’s a good old floating sky-city. WTF Watching resource gliders consume forests like steampunk locusts. LOW …that might be a bit too chill for some.