City builders are good for when you want to relax and play a game that is going to have some staying power. Most that I have played have had some kind of combat or other mechanics to make the game more challenging. The Wandering Band LLC has created Airborne Kingdom, a sky city builder, and have broken the normal mold for city builders. There are only a couple of things to worry about as you float through the clouds. Find out what they are in our review below.
Games like Sim City and Cities Skylines are fun to play and give you infinite ability to create cities that you want to see, and that is why I chose Airborne Kingdom for review. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun to build a city in the clouds because I love Cloud City from the Empire Strikes Back. I love that you start off in the sky with a small city. A few small buildings and some beginner engines and propellers keep you in the air. Houses are key for your people and you can only get more to live in your city by visiting ground encampments. Citizens will want to migrate to your flying fortress and help build up the legend that is your city.
Certain buildings will give you extra propellers and help to keep everything afloat. The craziest part of this city-builder is the balance mechanic. You can build all around the central spire, but if you build too far to one side or the other your city will tip and fall. Build your heavier buildings with propellers to the outside and the smaller houses and everything else near the center for a more stable existence. To expand your city build walkways to extend off from and send your workers to the ground to gather the needed resources. Food bushes, forests, ores, and ponds are all over on the ground below just waiting to be tapped into.
One thing that would make this an even better title would be some kind of combat system. If there was an enemy to fight, maybe another flying fortress that an enemy faction was building, then it would give us something that is clearly missing. City-builders such as Caesar III, have always been awesome due to building armed forces to protect your villages and expand your empires. The lack of fights and soldiers is felt early on. Fighting tilt is your worse enemy but that gets boring pretty quickly. All of this and the fact that you have to hunt for villagers makes even the smallest drop in population hurt. You won’t die to enemies but you could lose the ability to harvest or explore without your citizens.
The world below may not be your world anymore, however, the cities and temples that you can explore play a big role in the evolution of your civilization. As you progress there are quests to complete in the cities below to be able to earn the ability to research more building tech for your fortress. Upgrading the city is the only real mission you have as you continue playing. I lost track of time as I tried to get as much research done as I could. Searching around the expansive map was a lot of fun.
Note: Our copy was reviewed on EGS with a code provided by PR.
