I first wrote about Skyfear in one of my first posts here, back in early 2022. At the time, it was anticipated to release that year; but here we are, two years later with no game. Developer Protoria Studios has resurfaced on their Discord channel after a year of silence to share that the game is quickly on its way to release. They said this back in 2023 as well, so while I’m keeping my expectations in check, the upcoming closed beta playtest hopefully means that maybe we’ll actually hit this newly promised 2024 release date.
In a May 23rd, 2024 Steam news post, the devs shared a new trailer and information about participating in the playtest, which runs from June 1st to June 15th, so head that way find out more and check out the new footage. Overall, the environments are looking pretty nice and we see a bit of pretty sharp looking action gameplay. The dragon art and animations are still the biggest eyesore, but it sounds like that is going to be a major focus as we approach the final release. I think they have a ways to go on that front, so time will tell.
The devs also shared a roadmap to launch in an earlier post this year. It looks like the plan is to execute the finishing polishes after the playtest and then speed along to release.
The overall idea for Skyfear doesn’t seem to have evolved past the original vision detailed a few years back. It’s still a 6 player arena shooter inspired by early examples of the genre. I’m very curious to see how it compares to the live-service Century: Age of Ashes. Obviously Skyfear is a much smaller game with a much smaller budget, but Century’s art wins out for me, hands down. I’m amped that the devs have held onto the single player mode, so I hope that will provide a satisfying enough experience. For such a small game with very little marketing, holding onto a healthy playerbase is going to be a challenge.
Again, head over to Skyfear‘s Steam page to get the full scope of the updates and to sign-up for the closed playtest, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.