The Brew Barons is a solid game with some rough edges. The flying is genuinely fun and that's the piece that had to be done right, so it helps one look past some of the janky bits. It's arcade-y but does have a degree of proper physics to contend with. It strikes the right balance of not feeling like a space ship, without going into full, onerous simulation. Drag, mass, momentum, and stalling are all things and your guns are not hitscan, nor do they have unlimited ammo. It does take a little practice to get the feel for everything but once you do, there's enough there to be engaged and find satisfaction, without crossing into stressful territory.
It's good the flying has a strong foundation, because this game is all about near-collisions. Your weapons and boost are water-based and you refill the tank by flying low over water. You shoot fruit from trees, bomb plants free from the ground / seabed, and even cut wheat with your propeller. The resources you extract pop only a short distance from where you liberated them, so you'll need to fly close to the ground, water, trees, etc., and then dodge a hill or building on the other side. You fly a seaplane, so while you there are no waves to contend with and can therefore land just about anywhere and taxi to dock, you have to slow, level off and nose up a bit to avoid damage and broken goods in the process. It all takes a degree of skill, but you'll develop that quick enough. I used a controller for flying and found it to be spot on.
The brewing is decent and it's nice you can get fancy with the bottling and naming of your brews. It's certainly picky about having recipes though. You can find them frequently in bottles floating in the water (there's that flying low stuff again) for free but while they say guessing is fine, just don't, it's not worth losing the materials making a batch of sludge. The key is to use only ingredients listed and make sure you keep the one listed with the most as having the most, the actual ratios after that don't matter as long as you hit your minimums. Thankfully, any brew you've made once is saved and you can make again with a pair of clicks, so if customers keep asking for something in particular, it's easy to oblige, provided you have the materials on hand.
Now the jank. There's the odd bug like fatigue not displaying correctly and your pilot passing out, but that was the worst thing I encountered. Otherwise it's minor stuff, like the wrong portrait being displayed when a character is talking, the wrong music track getting stuck playing, scroll bars displaying weird, and some typos so egregious, they're frankly embarrassing. Controller support in menus is clunky and inconsistent, to say the least, but use a mouse in the brewery, bar, and settings, and life's good. In the beginning, one fellow blinks bottom-up, which is hilariously uncanny. I pissed him off and shortly after all but chasing me from his bar, he radioed in of his own accord to helpfully teach about salvaging wrecks. All the while red-faced, shaking with rage, angry vein on the forehead and bottom-blinking. Goofy as all get out but also one of the funniest NPC interactions I'd had in a while, so he gets a pass for making me laugh.
On that note, the overall tone of the game is light-hearted and relaxing with some environmentalism vibes. Even if you crash the plane, it's pretty forgiving about it, you wind up back at the nearest shipyard / HQ needing repairs, yes, but not having lost your cargo or killed anybody. Indeed, for all the dogfighting and explosions, nobody dies. When you beat foes, they flee. Even if they crash, they talk so you know everybody's OK. You use water-based gear, while the pirates use smog-based tech that causes longer-lasting environmental damage. The dialog is often campy, as are many of the pirate personalities in general. It's all in good fun. Honestly, were it not for all of the alcohol references, it'd be a fine game for kids. Even then, it doesn't lean into it in a problematic way, there's even a quest where an alcoholic sees the error of his ways and turns it around.
You made it to the end so some quick tips. Despite all the art showing the zeppelin boss, not all zeppelins are enemies, only the ones with black smoke coming out the bottom are pirates. The others are markets you can buy recipes and materials at, so if you want to start swapping parts on your plane, be sure to visit to get the materials instead of relying on boxes or picking fights you may struggle with on the default plane. Also do the character quests. One will add the locked trait, but the other will replace the negative trait with a positive one. The quests themselves are varied, fun, and worth it on their own but those trait improvements are quite important.
So there you have it. The Brew Barons was apparently a Kickstarter game and made by a tiny team of 3 people. I think they did a fine job and the scales weigh in with a lot more being done well than not. I wouldn't mind trying what they brew up in the future.
