i initially played this game in 2020 when i was like 11 years old, and i decided to pick it up again. it is just as beautiful as i remember! i remembered quitting because i kind of did everything, and i've come back to hours of content to catch up on, so there is plenty of content especially for new players. the world and its art is beautifully crafted, and so is the story telling, as the game sparsely uses dialogue and prefers to tell its story through environment and animation. sky is truly one of the most beautiful games of all time in all aspects of world building, visuals, and music. the controls can be a little janky but they're easy to get used to, and best played on controller or phone. once you get the movement down, especially for flying, it can feel very satisfying. the social aspect of the game is also great, it's easy and important to make friends and interact with people. the game puts a heavy emphasis on its social elements, so you will often have awesome interactions with the other players, since the community is very nice : )
but despite all of that, i cannot recommend this game for 2 reasons.
firstly, another major aspect of the game is cosmetics, which are nearly impossible to obtain unless you grind it like it's a job or pay money. this completely negates any enjoyment you may have felt about the game previously, as all predatory monetization does. paid cosmetics are also ridiculously expensive, especially with how simplistic they often are.
secondly, the camera is SO. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. BAD. oh my god. it is genuinely ridiculous how sick i feel and how long it lasts. every time i play this game i end up nauseous, it doesn't matter if i'm playing on my laptop, on the tv, on my phone, i always feel incredibly sick afterwards, and it sucks having such a negative association with such a beautiful game. the camera movement is just so jank... the control gets taken away from you a lot, and whenever it tries to follow spirits it somehow does it in the most jarring way possible. the FOV also constantly gets readjusted for some reason, and the camera will suddenly jerk to places it wants you to look. you also are often unable to tell whatever the hell your camera is following, if it's an objective that someone else activated and you were forced into or if it's just some random direction it wants you to look in. in sequences where it would probably be better to lock the camera sometimes, it just doesn't, and will let you look somewhere completely unrelated, or it will let you adjust and IMMEDIATELY jerk back to where it wants you to look. it is Hell. not even playing vr for a few hours straight makes me feel as sick as this game does. how am i supposed to slave away at candle grinding for cosmetics if i can't even play the game for more than an hour without wanting to throw up???
