[b]sky settlers[/b] is one of the many [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1046030/]islanders[/url]-likes, this time of the card-based variety, set on floating islands and utilizing wonderful hexagons. there are windmills too, a lesser fascination of mine but for some reason always glad to see them pop up in games. also has people loafing around. and bunnies and other animals. one of them fell off the island, so much for dinner.
the [b]separate tutorial[/b] teaches the basics. you should know the drill by now, place various structures and things strategically for maximum scorage. clicking placed stuff reveals their name, value and type. once an island is filled and if you have a token based on points, you can buy a new location, otherwise game over. [b]no undo and can't revisit old haunts[/b] but new islands come with [b]quest cards that grant higher tier structures and cards[/b] among other things.
quests involve creating certain tile configurations, not necessarily in the current location. the choice can be skipped by sacrificing some points. it's either not explained in the tutorial or I'm simply a fool but [b]place quest card first to mark empty tiles, then fill them ideally with those kinds of things[/b]. I kept trying to place them on pre-arranged stuff according to the instructions and kept getting denied. [b]disaster cards[/b] are another thing, gotta balance quest rewards somehow. when drawn, it has to be placed next and the pictured catastrophe will manifest somewhere. volcanoes are quite a nuisance.
besides the mouse, you'll be using hotkeys a lot. [b]rebindable controls[/b] help with that, showing bound keys, not always the defaults, but the mouse can do some of it too. the camera can be moved around, rotated, there's angle manipulation and zoom. the wheel rotates stuff before placement, not really necessary outside quests. right click to cancel is fine but maybe it shouldn't be necessary for card selection. they pop out on mouseover (necessary because their bottom is off-screen, so they cover less of the screen), but left click to select, right to cancel before another can be left-clicked is a bit tedious. also, [b]the mouse can't be used to completely handle camera duty, so it's not 100% mouseable[/b]. constant camera ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is why I don't particularly like 3d puzzlers, but in this case once it's set up, no real need to mess with it further.
even after an increase, [b]card text is pretty small but there's a zoom hotkey[/b], embiggens the one under the cursor to full screen, can read it from space. there's a [b]card storage chest[/b] in the corner, basically like a free cell (or 5) in freecell, if you're familiar with solitaire. you can hold a bunch of cards in your hand but a new one will only be dealt if there are fewer than 4. alt is the default for card zoom, tab for storage, not ideal but that's what rebinds are for.
only [b]endless mode[/b] was available on release. [b]saving is automatic when you quit[/b] outside the tutorial, which can still be continued until you get bored, fail or quit. the game over screen shows the final score and an [b]online leaderboard[/b] got patched in fast on top of the local high score. I'm not competitive but beating myself is not much fun. [b]endless is more on the relaxing end of the spectrum[/b], losing seems to be the real challenge (it's called endless but come on), so a [b]shorter and harder [i]quick mode[/i][/b] got added lickety-split with its own leaderboard and separate saves.
[b]I really like the presentation.[/b] not exactly cel-shaded (or maybe it is, what do I know) but has a nice hand-drawn feel to it and the 'hide ui' hotkey is good for clean screenshots. audio is functional, the unintrusive ambient type. [b]good amount of settings[/b] available anytime. separate volumes, resolutions, windowed mode, languages, v-sync, fps limiter, gfx quality, level of detail slider.
it doesn't reinvent the wheel and offers pretty much the same experience as other games in the genre, so it's just as recommendable if you yearn for more of the same. [b]I enjoyed it a lot, very moreish, just one more island.[/b] has some random events too, and while it was a bit rough on release, nothing major, and a couple of patches within a day or so smoothed most of it out already. [b]if you're looking for something to unwind with, this is a good choice.[/b] unfortunately, the demo got removed after release, but it's not too pricey like some other contenders.
