Skybound Colonies Review (PC)

Among the skyline, somewhere between the farthest ray of sunshine and a beaming beacon of light, there is a colonial revival of sky-high architecture and civility that openly reflects the spirit of perseverance, hope, and collaborative work. In the middle, between the clouds and the great beyond, a town idles in silence, waiting for a stern eye and a steady hand to assume the reins and steer it towards a new and prosperous future—a place where generations can thrive and new worlds can flourish without delay. It’s there, within the beating heart of a fruitful economy, where we take our rightful places as the curator of clouds, the silver lining for a booming civilization.

Skybound Colonies is, for the most part, a 2D city-building game in which your sole objective is to create a tapestry of colonies in the clouds, and, through the creation of trade routes and formidable connections, expand and monopolize in an effort to weave worlds and sky-high cultural advancements. Going by that, it sounds all rather threatening — at least on paper. Thankfully, it isn’t quite as daunting as it appears; in fact, it’s a lot easier than your traditional city-building strategy sim à la Civilization or, dare I say, Frostpunk. It’s Minami Lane with a cloudy exterior, if anything, only with more automation and an opportunity to evolve through the establishment of trade routes.

Truth be told, there’s a cute and somewhat elegant cloud-based build ‘em up here, with all of the relevant trappings of a wholesome experience with charming, beginner-friendly mechanics that ought to suit both newcomers and seasoned sandbox builders alike. It doesn’t push the boat out to new horizons I’ll admit, and it keeps all of its greatest strengths and assets stowed away in a fairly compact environment. That said, for what it does bring to the skyline, it finds a good balance between being both satisfying and oddly rewarding, with its gentle progression and milestones offering some solid incentives to keep you chugging along.

The Great Beyond

The game itself plays out like a classic, almost cliche-riddled utopia creator, in that it takes place over a series of short and oftentimes grueling periods in which players build from the foundations, and slowly but steadily develop a kingdom that can operate on its own axis. From humble beginnings to fruitful endings, it tasks you with laying the groundwork for a colony with the use of buildings, citizens, and trade routes, and gradually elevating its roots in order to grasp new opportunities to expand. Days go by, and little by little you begin to shape your future; a granary here, or a stockpile of resources there. Eventually, you may be able to unlock another cloud—a secondary haven to store items and establish trade routes. The world ticks on, and you, being at the center of it all, forge the path for the cloud folk to follow.

While Skybound Colonies doesn’t flaunt a bottomless trove of customizable elements (think one step up from the likes of Townscraper, and you’ll have a good idea of what we’re talking about here), the game does feature a good choice of assets to experiment with. There are farms to mill, lodges to accommodate folks, clouds to garner additional knowledge from, and several buildings synergies that you can implement and connect to alternate worlds. And, again, all of this comes packaged in a simple 2D overlay, which allows you to carefully allocate buildings without having to get swallowed by pointless clutter or unnecessary UI. That’s a good thing, for sure.

Worlds Beyond Clouds

There isn’t so much of a challenge here as there is a lack of room for tactical maneuvering. As the game itself doesn’t harness a mentally taxing experience, it can feel awfully slow and repetitive. Having said that, it does make for a surprisingly hearty journey that, after so long of harvesting the goods and reaping the fruits of your labor, eventually feels worthwhile and surprisingly satisfying. It’s a slow process I’ll admit, but that’s to be expected of a city-building sim, really. At least it’s authentic, anyway.

For as little as a few dollars I’d say that there’s enough of a reason here to warrant your coin. In addition to its slow yet gratifying nature, it has a whole bunch of little details that help to flesh out its appeal, including a wholesome exterior and all of the embellishments of a well-kept indie build ‘em up. It’s certainly no Belle of the kingdom-building ball, but I can appreciate a good indie when I see one.

Verdict

Fortune favors the bold, true. But, Skybound Colonies isn’t bold; it’s comfortable in its own familiar skin. It’s a cute game that adopts familiarity and settles with a simple yet engaging blueprint that, while in an area that fosters countless schematics of a similar design, finds a good balance of gameplay and storytelling, creative opportunities and digestible UI. Granted, it’s still a dime-a-dozen concept that doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it’s still one that houses some pleasant surprises and some gratifying themes. And I think that’s something that I’m willing to take away from all of this: the fact that, despite it being all rather trivial, it still feels like a good spot to hang your coat and wipe your feet.

It’s no secret that cloud-centric colony-building sims are common among developers (just take a look at the likes of Airborne Kingdom), but to give credit where it’s due, Skybound Colonies does manage to get a lot of things right. Moreover, it does just enough to keep you emotionally invested for the long haul, with a ton of great rewards and progression-based milestones to unlock and maintain. It’s also an adorable alternative for the average big-budget building sim, too, with a generous price tag that boasts a great deal of replay and entertainment value. That’s another huge plus in my book, truly.

Of course, there’s still a small game here that might leave you with an untamed itch, so to speak. Yet, for what it’s worth, I’d say that it’s a good investment, if only to wax that indie build ‘em up curiosity of yours. We’ll let you decide whether or not it’s a better sim than its competitors. Frankly, you’re more or less spoiled for choice.