One thing I love to do in games is fly. If a game has a flight mechanic, you just know I’ll spend a lot of time aimlessly, joyously soaring across the sky. I did this in Tearaway Unfolded, with its paper planes. I did this in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, with its flying mounts. I’ve done this in basically every RPG I’ve played that has an airship or some other form of aerial transport.
And so, I’ve been looking for a game that captures that urge to just take off. In a lot of ways, No Man’s Sky is looking like it will capture that sensation quite well, but from all I’ve seen, there’s something – I’m not sure what – missing. Maybe it’s the sci-fi setting; maybe it’s the first-person perspective. I don’t know.
Enter Aer, an indie game currently in development at Forgotten Key. Here’s the official description:
Aer is a game in which you play as a girl with the ability to transform into a bird. You will fly to explore and experience a world of floating islands, where exploration will be the key to unlock secrets and progress through a story leading you to the end of the world. Ultimately, you will challenge the Gods and save reality itself.
What that doesn’t tell you, but what its gamescom trailer does, is the how well it captures that thrill of soaring through the clouds. Even just watching the trailer, I got the same weird mix of excitement and calmness that I get from flying in games like Tearaway and Final Fantasy. In fact, with the “floating islands” setting, Aer looks like a whole game based in Heavensward’s Sea of Clouds, which was easily my favourite zone in that expansion.
Just like I don’t know what exactly it is that No Man’s Sky might be missing when it comes to flight, I know that Aer has it. I haven’t played it, but it’s evident from the trailer alone. Whatever it is that makes flight so exciting, Aer has grabbed it and taken to the clouds.