Skyborn is a pixel art, turn based RPG with enough gears and rivets to be a qualified Steampunk setting but not so much that it overwhelms. It's a strange task to review in 2022. The quality of games created with RPG Maker has gone way, way up since its release in 2014. At the time, it may have very well been the best game built with the tool.
Still, it holds up fairly well and I give it a "Would Play". Good story, fun battles with memorable combos, abilities and bossses. Plus, on easy difficult, it's five hours to finish. Why wouldn't it be a would play?
Battle
The battles are fun and challenging depending on the difficulty setting. There are numerous buffs and debuffs that really affect the game. Enough to determine a win or a loss. This isn't a game where you ignore enemy buffs or never cast that spell that gives Cloud extra damage. In a lot of games, the boost from one of these abilities doesn't make up for the loss of damage during the turn spent casting. I'm looking at Arielle from Rise of the Third Power. But in Skyborn, the buffs (and debuffs) add enough power and last enough turns to be hard requirements for difficult battles. In fact, one character essentially becomes a permanent debuffer in the end game.
There are no random battles and enemies don't ever respawn, meaning there is no grinding. Which also means if you struggle with a boss, and you've fought all the lesser enemies up to that point, you have to figure out the strategy to win, no powerleveling. Honestly, this didn't happen to me until the very late game, and I was able to find some side quests to boost power and go back.
If you can't tell, I think the battles are a real strength of Skyborn. Engaging and challenging, with some interesting abilities and interactions between buffs.
Story
The story is fine. It is fairly typical of the SNES era, which is what I imagine was the aim. Steampunk setting, ragtag group of unlikely characters save the world by unraveling a mysterious evil plot that has been in motion for centuries.
Here's the thing though: it's told well, with quality dialog and no fluff. There are some moments of humor and I rarely wanted to mash the A button to skip the lines.
Art
The art is similar to the story. It's fine. Appropriate for a game modeled after the SNES golden era. It gets the job done: sets the stage, isn't too cluttered.
Most of the game is set in the same city. In fact, there is no world map. The party travels between areas through elevators and an airship that the player does not control. So this city is done quite well in a steampunk style. It's really the best part of the art. It's laid out well and the tiling is interesting.
Progression
This is the category that ventures farthest from this games RPG ancestors. Characters level up through experience and even learn some abilites that way, but most of the abilities are learned at plot points in the story where the party receives new classes. This happens twice so that each character moves through three classes. For example, the protagonist, Claret, can choose a class that focuses on single target damage through Sniper, or multi target through Demolitionist. Sullivan can focus on tanking or damage.
This makes for an interesting choice twice during the game, but there's no real choices in the character builds outside of the two moments.
There are also augments and accessories. Augments add stats or benefits to weapons and armor and accessories are similar to the Final Fantasy accessories. There's a huge variety in what they can do. There's even a Ribbon that makes you immune to status ailments. Sound familiar?
The progression is good for a one time playthrough, but I don't think I'll be trying again. Some games with interesting choice and varieties in builds can rope me into playing through every so often. Any Final Fantasy game with a Job system for instance. This is not one of those games.
Grind
No grind! You literally can't grind unless you consider killing all the enemies grinding. If you want to skip enemies you can, although it's going to hurt you down the road.
Sound
The music is great; really engaging an scene appropriate. Sometimes haunting, sometimes epic. Indie games are all getting much better music this decade. I think there's just a ton of good resources out there for inexpensive licensed works. Thanks internet!
Conclusion
This game was fun and felt comfortable. Good story and characters, great battles. THe main issue with the game is the short length. A minor issue is the lack of options if you are overwhelmed by a boss, but the difficulty setting alleviates that mostly.
This game is a would play. Meaning, if I have no must or should plays in line, I'd play it.
