Airheart: Tales of Broken Wings – PS4 Review

Airheart is a weird and fantastical game that sets you a simple objective. reach the stratosphere with your plane. Simples. Set in a stunning dieselpunk world full of pirates, planes and sky fish… yep, sky fish! Airheart is a shining example of indie games at their finest.
Story
Welcome to Granaria, a flying city in the clouds. Meet Amelia – a young pilot and fisherwoman wishing to reach the abundant world’s edge. Sky fishing became a really dangerous job, with pirates roaming around everywhere. So start your engines, arm your airplane and get ready to make the catch of a lifetime!
You start your journey in Airheart in amelia workshop with a standard plane and your goal is to fish, fight, scavenge and loot in order to buy and create improvements for your plane in order to achieve your goal of reaching the stratosphere and hooking the catch of a lifetime.

Gameplay
The twin-stick controls in Airheart are simple and take little time to adapt to. Allowing you to dive straight into the dieselpunk delights that occupy the skies above Granaria. When you first take off you will instantly admire the new world you are playing in and automatically test out its boundaries.
The first couple of levels are all about catching fish (the in-game currency) and getting back home unscathed. As you progress up the levels you will come across pirates and engage in dogfights that will result in loot drops that can be used in the games crafting system to upgrade your plane and therefore prepare you for the higher levels.
This doesn’t mean you can simply grind the lower levels and buy any upgrade you wish as the game has its own stocking levels. If you overfish on the first two levels, for example, its gonna take a while for the fish stocks to replenish on those levels. So not only do you have to catch fish for currency you also have to fish responsibly.
Be sure to always maintain a close eye on your health and be fully prepared before venturing to the next level above though as Airheart also features permadeath.
If you fail to return home safely you will crash back down through all the previous levels at an alarming speed whilst fighting against the forces as you aim to land on your runway. failure to land back home will result in you losing everything you took out with you so venture forth bravely and considerately.

Graphics
The dieselpunk world of Airheart is beautiful, Often times I found myself simply going out for a leisurely flight on the lower levels and just appreciating the beauty and splendour of Granaria.
One of the most impressive things about Airheart is as you progress further and further up into the sky you can see the previous levels below you through the clouds. It’s a wonderful addition that really adds depth to the game and a sense of climbing higher on your journey.
Airhearts bright, vibrant colours mixed with its dieselpunk contraptions and fantastical flying fish all blends together seamlessly to create a wonderful world in which you love to play and explore.
Overall
Airheart: Tales of Broken Wings is a shining example of why indie games are so popular. It takes a tried and tested genre such as twin-stick shooters and adds a refreshing and original concept to it.  Not only breathing new life into the genre but create stunning and wonderful worlds in which you want to play.
The addition of being able to overfish the fish population is a beautiful environmental message as well. It really helps you understand how easy it is to overfish a species and the massive amount of time it can take for the population to recover.
The biggest problem with Airheart is that at times it can feel a little too grindy. Doing run after run waiting for the one drop for crafting or gaining enough money to purchase that upgrade. Has an RPG fan I love a good grind but this seems somewhat repetitive at times.
All in all, Airheart is a cute yet intelligent game that you can pick up for 5 mins or play for 5 hours. I heartily recommend it to any indie game fan.
Overall score – 7/10
 

Badger

Life long gamer and Geek, Considered by most to be of doubtable sanity. never seen without my trusty Stetson

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