Buy Forward to the Sky

Adorable Game. Though the boss fight was easier than the levels itself.

Forward the the Sky is a very simple game. The controls are easy to understand. Left and Right mouse buttons to attack, keyboard for movement (You can use a controller as well).

Combat: Combat in this game has no depth. All you are going to be doing is spam clicking left or right mouse (doesn't really matter which) until the enemies are defeated. There is also no blocking function. The only "defense" you get is a back flip which you will never use.

Puzzles: All of the puzzles in the game are very simple, with exception to level 4's main puzzle. It took me a minute or so to finally realize how to complete it, which is a good thing. The rest of the puzzles focus on switches and platforming that anyone can complete with ease.

Music: The soundtrack in this game is nice to listen to, and fits the Fighting/Platforming/Puzzle gameplay the game has to offer (with exception to the final battle).

Voice acting: Not best, but it's ok. (The main character sounds cute, so that's something).

Overall, the game is something you would beat in one sitting, it consists of 6 levels, all which take around 20 minutes to complete MAX. I do recommend this game, and it would be a good game for casual players and some hardcore gamers. If I had to rate the game, I would give it a solid 7/10. The game is surely there, just not put to it's full potential.

Forward to the Sky is an action adventure where you take role of the loli princess who decides to venture to the sky tower to kill the evil crystal witch. But... something happened there and things may not be as people say.

This game is a great relaxing platformer, as it is pretty easy overall and anytime you fall down the tower that you're climbing, you'll get back up immediately. I loved that every level, a new gameplay mechanic is brought into the game, so each level has different gameplay. The bad thing is that there are only 5 levels and a bossfight, which you'll beat in about 2 hours, getting 100% achievements meanwhile.

I think the developers could actually squish more out of the game, at least every gameplay mechanic (gravity changes, wind rings, elevators) could get more levels that would just grow in difficulty by the progress. Anyway, the game, even when is short, is entertaining and worth buying - though it's up to you to decide if you'll pay the full price or wait for (another) sale.

- Relaxing and entertaining. Your brain (or fingers) won't melt there, don't prepare to die. You'll just be jumping and slashing with your sword.
- Cute protagonist. You'll be happy if you are into cute loli princesses.
- Delightful environment of the sky tower. Also, things around you are destructible! (I might've spent about tenth of my playtime just destroying walls and columns.)
- Voice acting. Though it's not something coming with extra quality, it was still a nice surprise to hear conversations of princess and witch.
- Controller support.
- Steam achievements.

- Short length. Considering the soundtrack, visuals and the amount of gameplay mechanics, I'd still consider that the price of the game is reasonable.

Forward to the Sky is an Action J Style platformer.

STORY: 7/10
Personally, the story is short, sweet, and to the point. It kept me engaged as there is not much filler, or flutter, but it felt as though I was playing through a story, and my actions were of the princess. I genuinely wanted to complete the level to find out the next part of the story. As with anything, there is room to improve.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10
You play a princess in a 3rd person action platformer. The controls on the keyboard are tight, and tapping keys allow for finite jumping and a great experience. I personally had issues using the gamepad from the start, so I have no opinion if it works properly or not. The goal is to complete the level, and optionally collect all of the crystals.

DIFFICULTY: 7/10
If you plan on being an achievement completionist, you should expect this game to last you 2-3 hours for the genuine most. For me, the puzzles were not too difficult, or too easy, and I found myself having to go back and forth in some areas a few times to completely understand some of them. When you complete the puzzle, you will feel positive for completing it and continuing on. The combat of the game is lacking; you will face a handful of different skeletons with varying abilities, all will prepare you for the final boss; but the combat is weak and leaves a lot more to desire.

TECHNICAL: 8/10
When first launching the game, the menus confused me, clicking each one of them takes you to a different part of configuration or tutorial, and eventually will start the game. I would have personally liked if the menus were a bit more intuitive. Performance was fine with a full 60fps and no dips in graphics. Some of the sounds, like a whistle for the balloon when you die can get annoying; I would prefer something a bit more lax.

CONCLUSION
Recommended gameplay for a simple platformer, with cute graphics and an engaging story. Nothing to write home about, but something you will remember playing. 7/10

I would recommend this game for the following reasons:

1. The graphics are pretty nice. The game hovers around 60 FPS at 1080p. It is vibrant and colorful. The main characters looks great and animates well. Enemy animation, however, isn't as smooth as I would like. I liked the grand scale of some of the levels which are floating in the sky and have you traversing higher up as you progress. You can see parts of the tower floating in the background. They are detailed enough that it creates a cool 3D effect. It's cool to start at the bottom and work your way up only to look all the way down and say, "hey, I was just there." Unfortunately, much of the first levels look similar. I haven't seen the later levels yet, though.

2. The gameplay is fun and pretty unique for PC. It is an adventure game where you play as a princess trying to discover the mysteries of a massive tower. There are six levels and the increase in complexity and scale as you progress. There doesn't seem to be any power-ups or collectables other than crystals that you are required to find in each level. Crystals are gotten from beating enemies and breaking statues. They can be cleverly hidden so finding all the crystals is a challenge. Enemies don't vary much and they're pretty easy to dispatch. The real star of the show is the level layout, puzzles and traps that you must get through. The puzzles are what you'd expect from this type of game (move boxes to jump higher, throw switches to move platforms) but they fit well with the whole massive tower-floating-in-the-sky theme. The traps can pose a bigger challenge and I was supprised to find that I just barely made it out of the first level alive because of all the traps.

3. The price is right. This isn't a big game, but it's a nice diversion and it's something different than what we are used to on PC.

4. Trying to 100% each level is a fun achievement. I don't know if it will make a difference in the game or ending, but finding all the crystals is a nice challenge.

Some other things: this game works with a controller (although I noticed the controls were a little spotty and unresponsive a few times). There's not much music variety in this game and sometimes sound effects are missing, but there is voice acting. The voice acting is what you'd expect from the genre (cute little girl voices).

I would recommend this game, especially if you are a fan of the genre (Japanese style adventure/action games). It is a budget title but it is very playable and enjoyable at a reasonable price.

This Game took me like 1,6 hours to 100%
It's not very hard but it has some nice mechanics.
The Visuals are really great.

Not alle the Animations are as smooth as I would like them to be.
I would recommend to get this Game when it's on Sale.

Since this won't be the only review you read I'll simply break this review down into a list of pros and cons and then I'll explain why I feel that this game isn't worth recommending.

• The game has a nice art style and is pleasnt to look at.
  
• The puzzles aren't too bad although they're nothing too spectacular in the way of puzzles
  
• If you aren't too concerned with stories the one here is short and sweet albeit very predictable
  
  There's honestly no other positives unless you include the music which is "ok" but it get's repetative rather quickly

• No optimization, this game runs horribly
  
• The platforming isn't fun, it lacks any kind of features that would make it fun there's no sprinting or double jump and you can't even change how high you jump based on how long you hold the jump key down
  
• Put simply the combat is awful it's far too basic, it lacks challenge and feels awful to play
  
• Controller support is ♥♥♥♥♥
  
  You could say the games too short although the game would be worse if it was longer as you would have to spend more time with the bad platforming and horrible combat

What is comes down to is that this game isn't fun to play. On your first playthrough you may find your self enjoying the game somewhat but if you were to step back for a second to take a more objective look at the game you would see that it's rather bad.

The combat in Forward to the Sky could be completly thrown away and nothing would be lost expect for a couple of sales because they wouldn't be able to feature it in promotional images and videos. It's awful, pointless and adds nothing to the experience other then frustration at how little range and "AOE" you have in your attacks.

The platforming is trash and only has one mechanic to it... the jump key and movement keys... you get no double jump, sprinting varying height nothing. You can jump and move that's it for a platformer these mechanics are far too simplistic.

The puzzles are ok however with that said this isn't a puzzle game it's a 3D collectathon puzzle platformer with combat elements. The collectathon part of this game is pointless and is only there to make sure that you kill all enemies and solve the "optional" puzzles. Honestly though if you skipped the collectathon part of this game you could probably beat this in under 30 minutes.

In conclusion
Forward to the Sky feels like a foundation for a better game as it has ok ideas it's just that they're executed poorly. If the developers were to take these mechanics and improve on them in a new game I wouldn't complain even if it was of the same length because that's the thing I prefer quality to length but with Forward to the Sky you don't get quality or length.

So do I recommend Forward to the Sky?... No, it's not bad but it's not good even if it were free I wouldn't recommend it as the mechanics aren't good but I've said that several times.

I also did a video review if you want to watch that but I doubt you would want to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tG_W3szkDc

You're game isn't awful but you need to expand upon and improve the mechanics you have because when your being out matched by old PS2 games your not in a good position.

Forward to the Sky looked very appealing with its cute graphics, seemingly interesting story, and simplistic playstyle. With the price, I expected a bit more than what I got (luckily, I got it at a cheaper price). In terms of characterization and story, simple and "cute". Overall, not all that outstanding. I expected the puzzles to be a bit more challenging, but they were simplistic at best. The only times I got stuck were when I got lost due to my sense of direction.

The writing was "cute" but the voice acting didn't match well with it and seemed rather force. When zooming through the map, there were points where the sound would get cut off which was very distracting. There is no option to turn off the voices nor an option to skip the cut scene with the air balloon when you fall off. There were also points where I ended up jumping onto places where I shouldn't have landed (like standing in midair), getting pushed back and forth between spikes, somehow getting trapped between walls. In short, the game is still buggy.

I do appreciate the hard work put into it and would give it a neutral review if there was one but with the price at 7.99USD and gameplay of 1~2hrs, I can't recommend it.

I'd probably give this a neutral if I could. Leaning toward "Yes" because it is a pretty charming and enjoyable experience.

The two main flaws are the length and simplicity. I 100% completed this in just under 2 hours and I goofed off a bit at some parts. The game is also very simplistic. The combat is basic 3D swordplay like something out of Ocarina of Time but without any of Link's gadgets. There aren't many enemies, though, so the lack of complex combat isn't a huge deal, IMO. The levels are like 20% fighting and 80% puzzling/platforming.

The story and voice acting are pretty amateurish but at the same time they're kind of charming so, again, not a huge deal for me but my finding them charming is subjective so I wouldn't fault anyone for hating on them.

The mechanics are pretty basic but not braindead. In a few of the latter levels I found myself having to go back and forth to find things I missed or to figure out a puzzle. Each level adds like 1 new enemy type and 1 or 2 new puzzle/platform mechanics so it does stay fresh as you progress. There are some interesting mechanics you don't see very much in puzzle/platformers.

Overall, I had an enjoyable 2 hours but for $8 some might have a problem with the length, the simplicity or both. In that case it might be worth it when it goes on deep discount during a sale.

First, take a second to appreciate that the developer has included a free demo for this game. It's on the store page; no review (not even my stellar, first-rate, excellent, incomparably fantastic review) can match what you'll get from the demo, so if you're on the fence go download it and try it out.

My opinion is that this is a very charming, simple game. I enjoyed the game thoroughly (with a few slight misgivings), and I hope to see more from the developer.

I'll cut right to the chase and tell you that this game is EXTREMELY short. My gameplay stats list it at an hour, but I did play the first few levels without running Steam so it's actually about twice that at 2 hours (I did go back and replay the first 3 levels in Steam to get the achievements, but at that point I remembered the layout and basically just speedran them). There are 6 levels (5 levels, really; the 6th is just a boss fight), so that puts it at right about 20 minutes per level on average. I bought it on sale so I wasn't put off by the lack of playtime, but it is something you should consider.

This game is mostly platforming, with two or three combat setpieces per level between platforming sections. I have absolutely no problem with the platforming beyond the fact that every level introduces a new gimmick, and none of these gimmicks are ever repeated, meaning that the skills you get in one stage never carry on to the next. As an example, the third level introduces wind gust tunnels that you have to navigate to get to different sections of the level, but no other stage has these tunnels. Every stage is mechanically completely different from the next. However, that's really just kind of a nitpick. If the game ever gets a sequel, I'd love to see stages that incorporate the gimmicks from previous stages. Level design does incorporate the gimmicks well, though, and overall each level is pretty fun. Thankfully, the camera is completely controllable and the princess controls great, so there's really no major gripes from me about this portion of the game.

Combat, though, is a little boring and really just amounts to a button masher. You have left-click attacks and right-click attacks, but the difference is minute enough that you can go in swinging either way and it doesn't have an impact on combat. There is also a backflip button, which acts as a dodge, and that's fairly useful late in the game against the mage enemies, but they only appear in the last two platforming stages. Earlier stages can be beaten by literally just tanking every hit and whaling away on the mouse. However, the stages are mostly focused on platforming and like I said there are at max about 3 major "battles" per level, so it's not unbearable.

During each stage you have to pick up the various crystals you find. Small enemies drop one when defeated, big enemies drop three, and statues you break apart are each worth 25 crystals for a total of 100 in each stage. Typically, the split is 25 crystals from enemies and 3 statues. For every 33 crystals you pick up, you unlock one section of that stage's story; if you only collect 33 crystals, for instance, you'll only get 1/3 of that stage's exposition. Honestly, it's kind of a non-issue. If you have absolutely ANY sense of exploration you'll easily find all of the statues (some later stages have statues hidden behind puzzles, but all of them are rather simple, and the statues have a very noticeable glow that is visible even through solid objects) and enemies are NEVER off of the beaten path so it's very rare you'll ever finish a stage without getting all 100 crystals. I don't know what happens if you don't get all crystals from each stage; there might be two different endings depending on whether you get all of them or not, but like I said, it's simple enough to get all of them.

I did have a slight problem with the voice acting. None of it is awful, but none of it is good, either. I would describe it as "endearingly mediocre." The princess and the witch, the two main voices you'll be hearing throughout the game, are both fine, but I really didn't like the third voice actress.

The story is just a setpiece, really. It's there to justify the fact that you're a cute girl jumping around in a tower in the sky. There's nothing wrong with that; the story fills its purpose, and even though it's about the simplest and most cliched story you can think of, it's amusing enough that it doesn't get on your nerves. Though I enjoyed the game and wish it had been longer, I think that if I had had to listen to either the voice acting or the story for much longer it might have started to drag the experience down. As it stands, though, the game is short enough that neither are too grating.

The characters are rendered in a cel-shaded chibi style, which fits the tone and is pretty cute. The early levels are rather plain and bland, but later on there are glowing crystals and colored fogs and other visuals to help keep things interesting. The music is enjoyable and, again, mostly fits the tone of the game.

One thing I WOULD like to complain about is the presentation of the menus. There's no text; everything is done via pictures. This isn't a terrible thing, but I did twice accidentally end the game because I couldn't tell which button was supposed to take me back into the game. I will chalk that up 90% to personal idiocy (just hit the Esc/start button again to get out of the menu, idiot), but even just a single word "Resume" or "Close" would have been helpful. The buttons for camera inversion are also a little awkward. However, this is another tiny nitpick and the game itself is not in any way negatively impacted by this.

Overall, I think this is a thoroughly enjoyable game. Bear in mind the cost when deciding if you want to buy it now or wait for a sale, and above all, since the developer was nice enough to include a demo, play that to see if you want the full product. My guess is that you'll enjoy it.