I’m sure I’m not the only one who looks at the lo-fi graphics of arcade flight sim Sky Rogue and is reminded of older games in the genre such as Star Fox and After Burner.
That seems to be part of the purpose behind the game, to hearken to those arcade classics in order to deliver a “feel good” vibe. It’s a simple game with simple pleasures, mostly found in blowing up planes and turrets across procedurally generated land, sea, and air. It features big orange fiery explosions, volleys of missiles with huge streaks of light behind them, and low-poly aircraft streaking across frazzled blue seas.
Considering the bright, retro-style look of Sky Rogue, it didn’t come as much of a surprise to find out that the lead artist on the game is Charles Blanchard, who is also working on the similarly retro-fresh racer Drift Stage.
As with Drift Stage, Sky Rogue is currently in the alpha stages of its development, but unlike it you can play Sky Rogue right now. You can download it for free or pay-what-you-want for it on itch.io, where it’s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
If you’re going to grab it then doing so as soon as possible would be wise as on January 2nd 2015 Sky Rogue will only be available after paying an entry fee of $10.
