Developer: The Wandering Band LLC
Publisher: The Wandering Band LLC
Reviewed on: PC
Purchased.
Imagine a massive flying city slowly creeping over the horizon. Think BioShock Infinite’s Columbia, but instead of spectacle (and questionable values) it brings with it hope. Now imagine you’re the one in control of that city and it’s your job to live up to the promise of reuniting a dying, fractured world. This is the premise of Airborne Kingdom, a real-time city builder with lofty ideas and chill vibes.
The idea of a city builder where your city is mobile is a unique twist on a pretty standard formula. Instead of worrying about geography and resource proximity, you have to worry about weight limits and balance. Construction rewards symmetry and consolidation, all things I do anyway when I play a city-builder. It’s quite easy to fit all the pieces together to make sure your citizens are happy, but your city also needs to be productive. As your city grows your inhabitant’s needs also grow, so you’ll have to make adjustments on the fly. This can lead to one side of your city being too heavy, causing it to tip. It’s a never ending game to keep your people happy and your city afloat.
To achieve this you’ll need to collect resources, which is both cool to watch and distressing, at first. As a mobile city it’s very easy for you to just float around and pillage the land of natural resources. I initially thought this was going to be a commentary on resource conservation and the environmental impact of such a city. However, nearly all the resources you collect eventually repopulate. This makes sense for trees and fruit bushes, but I’m not sure how clay and coal deposits reform themselves after a few hours. It’s actually a little disappointing that resources aren’t finite because it makes resource collecting a low stakes game. Very rarely did I find myself low on supplies, and it was usually because I wasn’t paying attention. Then it was as simple as floating over to the nearest oasis or thicket, sending my gliders down, and taking what I needed.
The underlying theme of Airborne Kingdom is one of hope and unity. It takes place in a dark age, after the fall of a mighty empire that resulted in many independent cites spread throughout the land. Legends talk of a floating city that will unite these city-states and bring hope to the hopeless. Then you arrive on the scene and are tasked with fulfilling that prophecy. It works to make your actions have some meaning, however, the interactions with the people of the world become repetitive over time. The objectives rarely deviate from “go here, find this, and bring it back”. You’ll also see most of the point of interest variants in the first hour or so. It’s little disappointing because the concept of a floating city bringing hope back to the masses is great, it just never feels like you’re helping real people.
All in all the real fun of Airborne Kingdom is in the city building and slight challenge around resource management. While the world is interesting from a macro perspective, your actual dealings with it and the things you find are lacking. I found myself spending most of my time just wandering around, admiring the landscape, listening to the music, and rearranging my city. Eventually it felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, so I put it down. Maybe that’s the real draw, and folly, of a city in the sky; why worry about anything else when you’re already on top of the world?
