Return to the Sky

This game surprised me right off the bat by having something I don't think any other game on this list did: an expository voiceover!  While chilled by the professionalism displayed in this introduction, I was not terribly interested in which part of the sky I'm returning to nor why I want to return there in the first place.  The title established my mission and that was enough for me, so I dove right in.

Now, a returning reader may know that I'm not a fan of pixel art in modern games.  I find it to be pretentious and unnecessary.  However, the pixelated art style in Return to the Sky commits none of the sins I normally associate with pixel art while also being pretty damn breathtaking, especially the big, omnipotent skull of purple smoke chasing you around everywhere.  I like the kind of art that calls back to the old days, but is beautiful enough in its complexity that it never could have existed back then.  The art style herein is distinct, awe-inspiring, and nostalgic without any of those particular flavors becoming overbearing, so, in short, A+.

Many people disagree with me on this, but I feel that the way a game looks is not quite as important as how it sounds, and while the sound direction in Return to the Sky isn't quite as fantastic as its visual design, it certainly gets the job done.  Your ears won't be crying for relief, but they won't be calling for more, either.  What the sound direction does is set the mood, which is the most important thing it can do.  Even if you didn't see the game, you would feel like you were trapped in the darkest part of Aladdin.

But I don't think anyone would deny that how a game feels is the most important aesthetic sense of all, and with a few minor tweaks here and there, Return to the Sky could feel downright amazing.  It already flows beautifully with its thoughtfully placed platforms that force you to learn the mechanics through the mechanics alone (a reading from the first book of Egoraptor), but there's a bit of a delay between your pressing the jump button and your character actually jumping.  Your character is athletic enough to linger in the air so that this isn't much of a problem, but jumping at the very end of a platform is a habit you will have to unlearn for this game.

In my Resonance review, I said I like games that challenge my mind as well as my reflexes, and I wasn't necessarily talking about philosophically-charged niche games like Deus Ex.  This game is a more colloquial example of what I'm talking about.  I don't need enough mind food to go ahead and white a dissertation on the nature of man; all I want is to be able to nod my head and go "oh yeah.  That was the right thing to do, and I know exactly why," which is a feeling this game conveys to me beautifully.  This one gets my seal of approval.

That's all I got for now.  Until next time, stay skybound.

Links
Wheee: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26721