Sky Beneath Preview: Gravity Can Kiss My Soles
Steam Next Fest seemed like a long time ago, but it really wasn’t. Without the luxuries of multiple staff workers, catching up with videos and write-ups has been a challenge this week, so here’s the last of the coverage, starting with Sky Beneath.
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- Age of Defense Review: This Takes Ages
Gravity games aren’t typically my thing. Can that even be a valid statement? Are there enough games to make that affirmation? Regardless, a few of late have been good but always tricky to get a grasp on.
One of those titles was Gravity Heroes. It’s a decent game – especially with chums, but switching back and forth from the floor to the ceiling is harder than rewriting Lionel Richie’s song. Ask your grandparents.
Sky Beneath Preview
What’s it about? Sky Beneath, from Mindhaven Games, follows two partners in crime – well, not necessarily crime, but they’re a pair of scavengers who look abandoned facilities so they can make enough moolah to get the latest iPod. Apparently, they exceed 8GB now!
Annie is the inventor who makes all other inventors look like boy scouts. Of all the gear she’s created, arguably the best is the gear that allows the user to switch the surface they’re standing on, making the play environment feel like a futuristic Escher piece.
Cassie is the brawn of the pair and the character that you control. In the demo, on show during the Steam Next Fest but still available to play, you arrive at the facility ready to plunder what remains. Initial experiences were a little poor as I didn’t realise how easy it was to enter the building and instead gormlessly jumped up rocks.
Heavy, (Wo)Man
This wasn’t a good impression as you can’t jump the rocks, but when Cassie jumps, she hovers oh-so-slightly that it was a little annoying. I made a video and ended up cutting the first minute. It’s like watching a chimp play a game – scratch that, a chimp would have done better.
Anyhoo, once realising how easy it is to get inside, Annie soon gets you to try her invention. Man, this is cool. Standing on one surface to trigger a hologram indicating your finger to gravity was such a great transition. Run up walls or on ceilings – the playground seems endless.
The only thing with this, aside from mild disorientation, was the constant shifting back and forth. There are a few environmental hazards in the Sky Beneath, but by the time they introduce enemies, I think it would be a struggle to shift back and forth without knowing each room inside out.
Nevertheless, I managed to complete the timed challenge in a reasonable amount of time without too much confusion. The mechanic works well, so it’s just a matter of time to see how it plays in the full game, released later this year.
To wishlist or play the demo for yourself, visit the Steam page below.
