Either there are a lot of aviation nerds out there, or people are hyped to play what’s being billed as a dieselpunk roguelike with airplanes!
Blindflug’s AIRHEART just went up on Steam Greenlight this past week and it’s already been ‘lit. Perhaps the protagonist’s quest reminds us of our own proverbial Skywhales… or maybe the idea of a sky pirate roguelike is way cool!
In AIRHEART, you play as Amelia (ah, yes, of course). It’s a continuation of Cloud Chasers, another game by Blindflug, in which Amelia and her father seek a better life in a city up in the sky. SPOILER: She makes it. But Granaria isn’t the promised land she expected. “Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization.”*
Blindflug says on the AIRHEART Greenlight page that they’ve intentionally made real-world problems part of the game’s core message. Granaria is plagued with social inequality, and Blindflug suggests fish may become scarcer over time.
As players, we pick up when Amelia is a young sky-fisherwoman and mechanic. Alone when she arrived in the city, she had been a child labourer in an airplane factory. Now she dreams of reaching the stratosphere and catching the great Skywhale. But skyfishing ain’t no boating trip on Lake Manitoba. It’s a highly competitive business. Blindflug says every flight is perilous, with Amelia having to avoid, or engage, sky pirates and security systems.
The dogfighting shown in the teaser trailer looks exciting, and according to the developer, players will be able to upgrade their plane and arsenal. The harpoon sounds pretty versatile, allowing you to reel in big fish, smash enemy ships, or even steal their weaponry.
Currently the game is being made for Windows and Mac, and there’s a plan for console versions in the future.
Blindflug says Early Access will be single-player only, but they’re considering co-op and arena battle modes for the final release. There’s no definitive date on Early Access yet, but it looks like the Steam Greenlight page is monitored and updated pretty frequently.
To quote Leonard Nimoy: Keep watching the skis!**
- * – “Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization.” – Amelia Earhart, Last Flight
- ** – Not actually Leonard Nimoy. ‘T’was The Simpsons.
Mark McAvoy is a contributor to AYBOnline. His opinions are fleeting. And his own.
