I wasn’t expecting the next big thing from ‘Sky Break’ [Steam], but from the trailer I did expect a competent open-world sci-fi game. What I found was a shallow husk of a game, and not the polished fun experience I was hoping for.
Disclosure: Key provided by the developer.
It’s another open-world adventure game, but it’s not a sandbox experience as you do have a storyline to follow. I love the setting and the style of the game, but the actual gameplay and UI needed a fair bit more polishing.
I also debate the use of the term ‘open-world’ the developer claims it is. There’s nothing all that open about it, as you’re basically forced down a linear path since there’s nothing else to really do. Big areas to run around in sure, but nothing to do in them.
The combat introduction was extremely disappointing, as the first enemy I encountered got stuck:
This put an instant downer on the experience, as this was my first chance to hack a mecha animal too. I had to save the game and re-load it for my new friend to become unstuck.
The AI is terrible too, instead of being my ally, my hacked companion decide it would just run at me and constantly headbut me and confuse me thinking it was an enemy when we found another mecha animal moments later.
The amount of times my companions just got completely stuck was ridiculous, I ended up just leaving them behind because I got bored of trying to fix their pathfinding issues with taking easier routes. The AI is just—crap.
There is a small amount of craftables, like more ammo, but even the crafting system is annoying. If you try to craft more ammo, but your inventory is full, it will just waste the resources instead of not letting you do it.
I feel like sandbox games should always let you save whenever you want, but Sky Break, for whatever reason forces you to go to a Station Dock, or an ionizer to bring up a menu to save the game. I’m sure there was a development reason behind it, but I found it a damn nuisance every time I wanted to stop playing.
You essentially go around fighting mechanic “mecha” animals, hacking them once you defeat them to become allies and hop from island to island.
The hacking mechanic is so insanely simple, I wonder what the point of it is. You rotate lines in circles to match up to a static line on the outer edge. There’s no challenge in it and it’s not fun to do. If it had some sort of timer, or just something to it, it might have been cool. The idea of hacking them to become your ally is nice though.
I really, really wanted to like the game, but it’s so full of annoyances it feels like an Early Access game, not a finished product.
Bringing up some of the menus will end up leaving the system mouse cursor in the middle of the screen, which is annoying. You can solve it by bringing up a menu again, but it’s a real nuisance.
It’s quite obviously inspired by No Man’s Sky, both in graphical style and how the game feels. The big two-legged mecha unit looks like it was almost taken out of No Man’s Sky directly. Some of the other props also look like they are heavily inspired by No Man’s Sky, like the “ionizer” tower which allows you to save with loot boxes around it, which is exactly the same as No Man’s Sky.
You also activate beacon towers, just like you do in No Man’s Sky. I played this game wondering if any ideas it had were original at all.
Honestly, this whole game essentially felt like a cut-down version of No Man’s Sky. I didn’t find it all that fun. It suffers the exact same problem, it looks a bit fancy, but has a severe lack of actual content and excitement.
I’ve seen videos and forum posts from people saying a lot of content was cut during development of Sky Break. Some of the cut features were even more similar to No Man’s Sky that I’m not surprised some was cut out of the game, but still, it feels very shallow.
Comparisons to a game I felt it tried to emulate in certain ways aside, it just wasn't all that great at anything.
I don’t often say this, but I would honestly give this one a miss. I haven’t been this bored and annoyed with a game in a while. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Disclosure: Key provided by the developer.
It’s another open-world adventure game, but it’s not a sandbox experience as you do have a storyline to follow. I love the setting and the style of the game, but the actual gameplay and UI needed a fair bit more polishing.
I also debate the use of the term ‘open-world’ the developer claims it is. There’s nothing all that open about it, as you’re basically forced down a linear path since there’s nothing else to really do. Big areas to run around in sure, but nothing to do in them.
The combat introduction was extremely disappointing, as the first enemy I encountered got stuck:
This put an instant downer on the experience, as this was my first chance to hack a mecha animal too. I had to save the game and re-load it for my new friend to become unstuck.
The AI is terrible too, instead of being my ally, my hacked companion decide it would just run at me and constantly headbut me and confuse me thinking it was an enemy when we found another mecha animal moments later.
The amount of times my companions just got completely stuck was ridiculous, I ended up just leaving them behind because I got bored of trying to fix their pathfinding issues with taking easier routes. The AI is just—crap.
There is a small amount of craftables, like more ammo, but even the crafting system is annoying. If you try to craft more ammo, but your inventory is full, it will just waste the resources instead of not letting you do it.
I feel like sandbox games should always let you save whenever you want, but Sky Break, for whatever reason forces you to go to a Station Dock, or an ionizer to bring up a menu to save the game. I’m sure there was a development reason behind it, but I found it a damn nuisance every time I wanted to stop playing.
You essentially go around fighting mechanic “mecha” animals, hacking them once you defeat them to become allies and hop from island to island.
The hacking mechanic is so insanely simple, I wonder what the point of it is. You rotate lines in circles to match up to a static line on the outer edge. There’s no challenge in it and it’s not fun to do. If it had some sort of timer, or just something to it, it might have been cool. The idea of hacking them to become your ally is nice though.
I really, really wanted to like the game, but it’s so full of annoyances it feels like an Early Access game, not a finished product.
Bringing up some of the menus will end up leaving the system mouse cursor in the middle of the screen, which is annoying. You can solve it by bringing up a menu again, but it’s a real nuisance.
It’s quite obviously inspired by No Man’s Sky, both in graphical style and how the game feels. The big two-legged mecha unit looks like it was almost taken out of No Man’s Sky directly. Some of the other props also look like they are heavily inspired by No Man’s Sky, like the “ionizer” tower which allows you to save with loot boxes around it, which is exactly the same as No Man’s Sky.
You also activate beacon towers, just like you do in No Man’s Sky. I played this game wondering if any ideas it had were original at all.
Honestly, this whole game essentially felt like a cut-down version of No Man’s Sky. I didn’t find it all that fun. It suffers the exact same problem, it looks a bit fancy, but has a severe lack of actual content and excitement.
I’ve seen videos and forum posts from people saying a lot of content was cut during development of Sky Break. Some of the cut features were even more similar to No Man’s Sky that I’m not surprised some was cut out of the game, but still, it feels very shallow.
Comparisons to a game I felt it tried to emulate in certain ways aside, it just wasn't all that great at anything.
I don’t often say this, but I would honestly give this one a miss. I haven’t been this bored and annoyed with a game in a while. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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To be fair this was in early access long before NMS was out.
They're both completely unoriginal is all.
They're both completely unoriginal is all.
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To be fair this was in early access long before NMS was out.Being out earlier in some form doesn't mean it didn't copy things, developers have done far worse things before. I wouldn't put it past anyone to copy stuff from trailers.
They're both completely unoriginal is all.
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NMS is just another procedural crafting game. There were a ton of these long before NMS.To be fair this was in early access long before NMS was out.Being out earlier in some form doesn't mean it didn't copy things, developers have done far worse things before. I wouldn't put it past anyone to copy stuff from trailers.
They're both completely unoriginal is all.
It just got a tonne of hype.
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It used to be rather interesting in early stages, it had a very cool plasma/whatever sword that made the combat challenging enough to keep you motivated (if the rest of the game didn't). Later on it was replaced with some boring gun (and the sword itself totally removed from the game).
I doubt that the sword would've saved the game, but that damn sword was the only reason I bought the game while in EA. Without it (at least for me) the game feels useless.
I doubt that the sword would've saved the game, but that damn sword was the only reason I bought the game while in EA. Without it (at least for me) the game feels useless.
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GustyGhost 1 Nov 2016
Even though they reached final release, what are the chances that this game can turn around? I really would like to see an "ARK in space".
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The point is how much this resembles NMS directly, not that other games also populate the genre.NMS is just another procedural crafting game. There were a ton of these long before NMS.To be fair this was in early access long before NMS was out.Being out earlier in some form doesn't mean it didn't copy things, developers have done far worse things before. I wouldn't put it past anyone to copy stuff from trailers.
They're both completely unoriginal is all.
It just got a tonne of hype.
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My point is that they both rip off the same things. of course they resemble each other.The point is how much this resembles NMS directly, not that other games also populate the genre.NMS is just another procedural crafting game. There were a ton of these long before NMS.To be fair this was in early access long before NMS was out.Being out earlier in some form doesn't mean it didn't copy things, developers have done far worse things before. I wouldn't put it past anyone to copy stuff from trailers.
They're both completely unoriginal is all.
It just got a tonne of hype.
Not every FPS is ripping off Half-Life because is has a silent protagonist, zombies and guns.
They both rip off Ubisoft, Minecraft...
None of the things listed were new to NMS, even within the genre. It's a really homogeneous genre. Boring grind, janky combat mechanics, activities put in to make it seem like more than it is...
90s dumb (though fun!) shooters didn't ripff Duke Nukem, necessarily. Some drew from it (Blood comes to mind), but just having a levels, enemies, snarky protagonist and a sense of humour doesn't make it a ripoff of that game. It makes it "another 90s shooter" (Blood comes to mind again...)
Last edited by TheGZeus on 1 Nov 2016 at 2:21 pm UTC
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You seem to be missing my point, I've actually played NMS, and I am making a direct comparison to it for this game. I am not generalising about the genre, I've obviously played many sandbox, open-world and adventure games.
You just seem to be trying to ignore my criticism of it based on "there's lots of games like it around".
This game almost carbon copies elements from NMS.
You just seem to be trying to ignore my criticism of it based on "there's lots of games like it around".
This game almost carbon copies elements from NMS.
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This article perfectly describes my feeling about this game. Putting aside the frustrating controls (steam controller/gamepad was almost impossible to play with for me), and the mouse cursor constantly appearing in the middle of the screen, the fact is that the game isn't very fun to play! You die frequently, and often find yourself simply repeating what you did before - not because you wish to overcome what killed you, but because you literally have no choice! And yes, the friendly AI is horribly buggy. Also, I can never tell who is my friend and who isn't - they don't even let you change the name of the creature you're using, so when they die (amid a pile of similar creatures) all the hardwork you put into them is lost, because you end up resurrecting the wrong one!
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You seem to be missing my point, I've actually played NMS, and I am making a direct comparison to it for this game. I am not generalising about the genre, I've obviously played many sandbox, open-world and adventure games.aaaand NMS carbon copied them from other games.
You just seem to be trying to ignore my criticism of it based on "there's lots of games like it around".
This game almost carbon copies elements from NMS.
That's my point.
I think you should have generalised.
Because they're all the same bloody thing.
They could have copied there mechanics from any number of grindfest games that flood steam early access every week.
Last edited by TheGZeus on 1 Nov 2016 at 7:20 pm UTC
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They aren't all the same thing, most games generally have their own feels to them. Sky Break did not, you're still missing the entire point.You seem to be missing my point, I've actually played NMS, and I am making a direct comparison to it for this game. I am not generalising about the genre, I've obviously played many sandbox, open-world and adventure games.aaaand NMS carbon copied them from other games.
You just seem to be trying to ignore my criticism of it based on "there's lots of games like it around".
This game almost carbon copies elements from NMS.
That's my point.
I think you should have generalised.
Because they're all the same bloody thing.
NMS did things in a very specific way, which Sky Break seems to copy extremely closely. It copied it even closer during the earlier versions which ended up being cut down for the final release.
I should not have generalized, because I am trying to make a point that this game specifically copied one other games for look, feel and general interactions.
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NMS did things in a very specific way...o.ó I've seen nothing from NMS that hasn't been in dozens of other survival crafting games.
I seem to remember you comparing a linear, fixed design action MMO to Terraria, as well. "They're 2D multiplayer games with exploration" when Terraria can be played alone, and that MMO had no exploration. It was very confusing.
I think maybe you should just report on gamer based on their own merits. This game has few. That's all we needed to know.
You generally do a very good job reporting things, but when you compare things I've often said "what do these have in common?" or like now, they may be similar, but one doesn't need to be a copy of the other for that.
Hell, this game isn't open world. NMS is open galaxy. All the planets are the same save whicn survival mixer is going up/down faster, but you can explore what little is there...
This is like calling Dark Souls a ripoff of Ocarina of Time because of elements of the combat system.
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So if something blatantly copies elements from another game I should just ignore it in your eyes? Good one. I think I shall continue doing things my way ;)
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to be honest, i had doubts about this game myself... to me it looked like nothing more than a cross between destiny / horizon: zero dawn and no man's sky... i mean it really seems as though if they spent more time working on it adding a ton of more content it would be at least kind of fun
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I'm saying they both took those things from other games that existed before NMS was even announced.
There are as many differences as similarities.
I'm saying that things can be similar to each other without one copying the other.
If two authors have similar influences and write similar books that doesn't make one a ripoff of the other.
I really dislike this strawman argument you're making. You're better than that.
A linear game about hacking robots on a island is a ripoff of a game about exploring an open galaxy and naming things.
A linear action RPG is similar to an open world mining game.
It's genuinely confusing to me. I see few similar beyond things that exist in a wide variety of pre existing properties going back years.
Does this game have any original ideas? NO.
Does NMS have any original ideas? NO.
They're just more of the same.
Get resources to make resources to get more resources. Also-ran Minecraft redux.
You take things too personally, as well.
There are as many differences as similarities.
I'm saying that things can be similar to each other without one copying the other.
If two authors have similar influences and write similar books that doesn't make one a ripoff of the other.
I really dislike this strawman argument you're making. You're better than that.
A linear game about hacking robots on a island is a ripoff of a game about exploring an open galaxy and naming things.
A linear action RPG is similar to an open world mining game.
It's genuinely confusing to me. I see few similar beyond things that exist in a wide variety of pre existing properties going back years.
Does this game have any original ideas? NO.
Does NMS have any original ideas? NO.
They're just more of the same.
Get resources to make resources to get more resources. Also-ran Minecraft redux.
You take things too personally, as well.
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I'm saying that things can be similar to each other without one copying the other.As the reviewer who has played both games, it is my personal opinion (as it is many others looking over reviews), that this game has gameplay aspects and style very close to NMS directly.
If two authors have similar influences and write similar books that doesn't make one a ripoff of the other.I never said anything was a ripoff, I said elements were, and to quote myself here "inspired" by NMS. There is such a thing as plagiarism you know, but again, I said "inspired".
You take things too personally, as well.No, people take me too seriously when debating things, especially when my opinion is different to theirs.
Anyway, I've entertained you long enough on this I think, back to work for me :P
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I said elements were, and to quote myself here "inspired" by NMS. There is such a thing as plagiarism you know, but again, I said "inspired".SIIIIIIIIIGH split a curly one next time.
Anyway, I've entertained you long enough on this I think, back to work for me :POK, that's got to be intended to get my ire up.
That uncalled-for, and unbecoming.
I'm taking you too seriously? You're raising strawman arguments, treating this like an attack... Chill.
"This could have been a coincidence"
"No, I'm right. You'll never change my mind. How dare you tell me to ignore games blatantly copying each other!"
Great attitude.
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*sigh* since you won't give up...
This was my whole point about people taking things too seriously. I'm not raising "strawman" arguments about anything, our opinion just differs completely on this subject, that's all.
Chill out.
You claimed I said something I clearly did not, it's quite simple dude. I don't want people going around saying I said they ripped content, being inspired by another game is entirely different. Wording is important at times.I said elements were, and to quote myself here "inspired" by NMS. There is such a thing as plagiarism you know, but again, I said "inspired".SIIIIIIIIIGH split a curly one next time.
No, it was meant as a lighthearted "I should really be doing more work right now".Anyway, I've entertained you long enough on this I think, back to work for me :POK, that's got to be intended to get my ire up.
That uncalled-for, and unbecoming.
I'm taking you too seriously? You're raising strawman arguments, treating this like an attack... Chill.
"This could have been a coincidence"
"No, I'm right. You'll never change my mind. How dare you tell me to ignore games blatantly copying each other!"
Great attitude.
This was my whole point about people taking things too seriously. I'm not raising "strawman" arguments about anything, our opinion just differs completely on this subject, that's all.
Chill out.
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*sigh* since you won't give up...You said I was telling you to not report a game copying another. I did not. That's a strawman argument.
You claimed I said something I clearly did not, it's quite simple dude. I don't want people going around saying I said they ripped content, being inspired by another game is entirely different. Wording is important at times.I said elements were, and to quote myself here "inspired" by NMS. There is such a thing as plagiarism you know, but again, I said "inspired".SIIIIIIIIIGH split a curly one next time.
No, it was meant as a lighthearted "I should really be doing more work right now".Anyway, I've entertained you long enough on this I think, back to work for me :POK, that's got to be intended to get my ire up.
That uncalled-for, and unbecoming.
I'm taking you too seriously? You're raising strawman arguments, treating this like an attack... Chill.
"This could have been a coincidence"
"No, I'm right. You'll never change my mind. How dare you tell me to ignore games blatantly copying each other!"
Great attitude.
This was my whole point about people taking things too seriously. I'm not raising "strawman" arguments about anything, our opinion just differs completely on this subject, that's all.
Chill out.
You can't say I "won't give up" then post another comment yourself. You have no high ground.
This game has changed little since before NMS was released. All listed features were in other games before.
It could be coincidence.
That was my point. To claim that to be impossible is bizarre.
You also need to remember that in text one cannot hear how you would have said something, and furthermore, in the words of my Mexican neighbour, "don't talk to me like you know me".
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Nice atmosphere. Remembers me a lot on Phantasy Star Online. Don't have played it much yet. There seems to be a segfault when you quit the game. This indicates unclean programming.
I absolute don't get this memory of Phantasy Star Online when I watch videos from NMS. NMS is a no atmosphere Game for me. It does not take me. I hope that Elite: Dangerous appears for Linux some day.
Also I hope they will make Sky Break even better. Because the atmosphere they have done great. It is certainly not one of the games that one plays hundreds of hours. But I like it.
Just my personal view.
I absolute don't get this memory of Phantasy Star Online when I watch videos from NMS. NMS is a no atmosphere Game for me. It does not take me. I hope that Elite: Dangerous appears for Linux some day.
Also I hope they will make Sky Break even better. Because the atmosphere they have done great. It is certainly not one of the games that one plays hundreds of hours. But I like it.
Just my personal view.
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