It’s difficult to define what genre Airships: Conquer the Skies fits into. It’s a side-profile view game of tactical combat at its core, with a strategic level of shipbuilding, and fleet customization on top. It’s graphically old school, a pixel-based labor of love built largely by a single developer for the past five years.
The demo I played at PAX East earlier this year was designed to teach players the basics of movement, combat, and ship design. The heart of the game is shipbuilding. An airship needs an engine, weapons, and steering to function, but equally important is ensuring that the ship’s crew have efficient paths to keep the engine stocked with fuel, and weapons supplied with gunpowder and ammunition. Zooming in on an airship during battle will reveal a bustling hive of activity.
Airship versus Landship. Who’s going to win this battle?
Combat, which pits the player’s custom-designed fleet against enemy airships and fortifications, is a slow-moving tactical affair. Each weapon type has specific ranges and a usable firing arc that varies based on where the weapon box has been positioned on the airship. Getting your airships into the correct position, preferably while avoiding the bulk of the enemy’s guns requires skill, planning, and a bit of luck. Unfortunately, the pathfinding in the PAX build sometimes had issues, with my airship occasionally taking the most direct route to my specified destination, regardless of whether that route happened to go through things such as trees or hills (“Cumulo Granite” in pilot speak).
Did we mention that there are crazy flying monsters? Because there are. Why? Ask C’thulhu.
Airships: Conquer the Skies is currently on Steam as an Early Access title. The game is receiving regular updates as the developer works towards an official v1.0 release. Airships currently includes both a single-player strategic campaign and a multiplayer mode in which players design their personal coat of arms and engage each other with their custom designs. The final game will expand further on the single-player campaign. Another feature to be added in the final version will be landships – massive steampunk tanks with heavy anti-air weaponry.
Players interested in learning more about Airships should check out the game on Steam, its official website, on Twitter, and Discord.
