Airborne Empire
Release Date: January 13, 2025 Early Access
Strategy, fantasy, economic, RPG elements, indie games, city builder, singleplayer
Steam
A spin-off of Airborne Kingdom and a cross between a strategy game and an RPG. Airbore Empire tasks us with governing a floating city, completing quests for other settlements and fighting off invaders and plunderers.
Airborne Empire is a spin-off of a 2020 city builder, Airborne Kingdom. It was developed by The Wandering Band, emphasizing RPG elements and combat. The game was published by Stray Fawn Publishing.
Plot
Airborne Empire is set in the same fantasy world of Airborne Kingdom. We play as the governor of a flying city, tasked with turning it into an empire. The player must establish relationships with other cities, both flying and grounded ones, and defend their land from sky pirates and hostile settlements.
Mechanics
Airborne Kingdom makes use of the top-down perspective. We'll spend most of the game taking care of our floating city as it traverses the vast open world.
We'll encounter many friendly settlements we can visit and talk to their people. This unlocks various quests, completing which grants valuable, unique rewards.
While traversing the world we gather resources to unlock better city defenses, weapons, more advanced tools, buildings and various upgrades, such as elevators and stronger engines. The latter are especially important, as we must pay attention to our city's weight, making sure the engines can keep it in the air.
Aside from economic aspects we must also successfully defend the city from danger. As we expand, we draw the attention of pirates and hostile cities. To survive aerial battles we must fortify our city with towers, cannons and assault ships.
These aren't the only threats we'll face - we must also deal with fires, illness and the people's dropping morale. Overcoming these problems will gradually turn our fortress into the capital of an airborne empire.
Technical aspects
Airborne Empire retains the first game's low poly artstyle.
Videos and Screens
[1:30] Airborne Empire Airborne Empire - Trailer
[1:25] Airborne Empire Airborne Empire - Gameplay Trailer
The main pros of the game
- Unique Concept: Players appreciate the blend of city building, exploration, and RPG elements, especially in a flying city context.
- Engaging Gameplay: The mechanics of balancing lift, resources, and city management are well-received, with many finding the gameplay addictive and enjoyable.
- Visual and Sound Design: The game features decent graphics and sound design, with a charming art style and a soothing soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
- Community Engagement: Players commend the active and responsive development team, noting that bugs are addressed quickly and there is a clear roadmap for future updates.
- Content Variety: The game offers a mix of quests, resource gathering, and combat, which many find appealing and engaging.
The main cons of the game
- Performance Issues: Users report framerate drops and high hardware demands, making the game less accessible for players with lower-end devices.
- Lack of Depth: Some players feel that the game lacks depth in terms of lore, writing, and variety of quests, leading to a sense of repetitiveness as they progress.
- High Price Point: Several reviews mention that the game feels overpriced for its current content, suggesting that it might be better to wait for a sale.
- UI and Camera Controls: Some users find the UI cumbersome and the camera controls unintuitive, which can detract from the overall experience.
The features or elements that are missing from the game according to users
- Improved Lore and Writing: Many players desire a richer narrative and more engaging lore to enhance the storytelling aspect of the game.
- Enhanced Combat Mechanics: Suggestions include reworking pirate combat and improving the functionality of combat units, such as allowing for more automated or streamlined combat options.
- Quality of Life Improvements: Users express a need for features like the ability to automate worker assignments, relocate buildings easily, and manage research queues more efficiently.
- Additional Content: Players hope for more biomes, quests, and gameplay features to expand the game’s longevity and replayability.
Summary
- Overall, while "Airborne Empire" is praised for its unique concept and engaging gameplay, users also highlight areas for improvement, particularly regarding performance, depth, and content variety.
Summary generated on:
Airborne Empire Summary
Game Series: Airborne Kingdom
Platforms:
PC Windows
Developer: The Wandering Band
Publisher: Stray Fawn
Age restrictions: none
Airborne Empire System Requirements
PC / Windows
Minimum: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 2 GB GeForce GTX 660 / Radeon HD 7870 or better, 2 GB HDD, Windows 10
Recommended: Intel Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz / AMD Ryzen 7 1800X 3.6 GHz, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 3 GB GeForce GTX 1060 / 4 GB Radeon RX 580 or better, 2 GB HDD, Windows 11