Airborne Kingdom is a city builder game published by Freedom Games and developed by The Wandering Band. Released on November 8, 2021, on the Epic Games Store, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation; it has garnered some very good reviews on PCGamer, Metacritic and more.
The game operates like most city builders, such as Sim City or Cities Skylines, but with a big twist. Your city is floating in the sky and moving. From the official website, it’s described as follows. The gist of the game is to build up your city while it floats and the landscape can change below you on every playthrough, while you also focus in getting migrants from ground clans to join you, all the while harvesting resources, etc. You must build paths to your buildings, such as hangars, factories, etc. All the while making sure your citizens have food, power and even making sure they aren’t passing out because the city is leaning too much. The level of detail that went into this small game is astounding.
Game Modes
The game features both a single-player base mode, as well as New Game+, which is as the game states as follows, “New Game + has a larger, more randomized map to explore, with new Town Centers to choose from, adding a different challenge for those who have already bested the main game.” To unlock that mode, you must complete the Tapestry Quest, which you get in the base game. And if you build each Wonder, which are special buildings, you can play with them in this mode. There is also a Creative Mode, which unlocks everything in the game for the player to use to their hearts’ desire, without worrying about your citizens.
Graphics
The graphics are really satisfying to look at. Players can unlock different building colors, lights and more. There is also a Photo Mode in the game for the candidly-eyed. The game has a very similar look and feel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, one of my personal favorite games. I have to say, I’m very happy with the graphics of this game. It has a unique sound and look for a city builder and it should be praised. The soundtrack is very good and is my favorite thing about this game. The soundtrack is excellent and really sets a tone while playing that sometimes, I just wanted to sit there and listen, rather than play. It reminds me of the sleeper hit, Journey. It gives this adventure tone while not being overly loud over the playthrough.
Fun Factor
I really think this game has a unique mechanic that I think more city builders should incorporate. The idea that you need to consistently gather resources not only for your citizens to satisfy, but to keep your city afloat. The first thing your city says is that it needs to coal aka fuel for the large fan and as the game states, “If our [fuel] ever depletes, our home will fall to the ground!] Most city builders, such as Cities Skylines, Sim City, Zoo Tycoon, yes, I am counting that, etc., don’t have survival mechanics and they should. This adds to the drama of your playthrough and forces the player to pay attention to more than a few factors for their city and I very much enjoy that level of responsibility. It really helps separate Airborne Kingdoms from the pack.
You can lose citizens to leaving your city as well, which can quickly lead to a costly effect on the efficiency of your daily operations. Players must directly recruit your citizens from ground clans, so players must try their best to convince them to come and stay. Couple this with the fact that most of the buildings and their operations require coal to work, as well as the coal weighing your city down, so downsizing is eventual and can alienate citizens into leaving. So, players have quite several factors they need to balance.
With environmental disasters, as well as the need to constantly demolish and rebuild based on immediate needs and reactions, it allows your city to evolve constantly based on the player’s needs, not wants. This is a very cool aspect of the game as it doesn’t just go with whatever your vision is before you start your playthrough. I can guarantee you that your city will not look the way you thought it was going to when you first log in. Don’t let that dissuade you from playing though, as I think this evolution of design is what makes the game keep its replayability and allows every playthrough to feel fresh. It reminds me of the old Sim City games when they would have the comet fall out of the sky or a random volcano erupt in the middle of city, necessitating rapid reaction from the player to redesign the city based off the immediate circumstances and it’s a fantastic feature.
Conclusion
Airborne Kingdom was a very fun game to test and review. It has cool quirks, and the story is fine by most standards, although I will say that I personally didn’t care about the story that much, because I don’t believe people play city builders for storylines, but for the city building simulation experience. I also think the controls aren’t as refined for console play as they would for a PC; note, I haven’t been able to play on a PC version, I reviewed this on an Xbox Series X. I do think the graphics and sound design/soundtrack are the strongest parts of the game. The need for constant fuel is a great addition that helps make this game unique. The game reminds me of an airborne version of Mortal Engines, except this would be a better concept. I highly recommend this game to any of you who are looking for a change in the genre and give this game a double thumbs up!
- Screenshots courtesy of the official website: https://www.airbornekingdom.com/press/sheet.php?p=airborne_kingdom
- https://www.xbox.com/en-us/games/store/Airborne-Kingdom/9NCX7DGDZGF4
- https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/airborne-kingdom
- https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/airborne-kingdom-switch/
- https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP6705-CUSA28042_00-9613556802399170/