Skycadia - Switch Review

Skycadia is a world under siege by hundreds of sky pirates, however there's profit to be made in the sky and three hot-ace bounty hunters know it! Take flight, shoot down the bugs and earn huge bounties in the process in this lighthearted shooter!

The Good

To start, you can only select from one character who is the leading bird of this bounty hunter brigade but there are two more pilots available to unlock; Big Bucket the chicken has a larger health pool but is slower than the others and then lastly, Lord Yolka the hawk has a smaller health pool but is the fastest. There are also three weapons types to select from, including: rapid shot, scattershot and chargeshot but again, only the rapid shot is available from the get-go and the other two need to be unlocked by earning enough bounty.

Skycadia's combat is fast-paced and smooth as you fly around different themed areas in either first or third-person view. The primary focus is to shoot enemy bases and engage in dog-fights above the clouds. Enemies come in different varieties, such as floating bases which act like respawn points for a constant flow of enemies, smaller crafts that ram you and medium-sized vessels that fly fairly close and fire their cannons at you.

The Story mode has 24 stages spread across 8 islands which get progressively difficult as you progress, and the final level of each island sees you fighting against a boss. In addition to the Story mode, there is an Arcade mode that acts like a survival mode where you simply try to survive the onslaught of approaching enemies, and finally there’s a Free-Flight mode. Apart from the main modes, there's a bounty book which shows you all of the enemies you’ve killed.

TL;DR

• Three game modes
• Selection of characters and weapons
• Fast-paced shooting action

The Bad

Skycadia features a main story mode but I use that term loosely as apart from a few descriptions at the beginning of a stage, there is no other plot to actually speak of.

After the fourth island, Skycadia begins to replicate a bullet-hell shooter as the skies are filled with multiple respawn bases and floods of enemies, to a point where the frame rate takes frequent hits. The screen being littered with bullets and enemies to the point where it hinders the player’s ability to take aim causes frequent frustration, where you’ll often need to fly away and hope that the enemies crash into each other just to get a breather.

One thing that is lacking here is any multiplayer or co-op. Having a friend helping you to deal with the onslaught in either Story or Arcade mode could have provided Skycadia with some more substance.

TL;DR

• Bare-bones story
• Too many enemies effects frame-rate
• No co-op or local multiplayer

Final Score: 7/10

Skycadia shows a lot of potential as its flying and shooting is smooth and enjoyable, however after a certain point, the game lacks staying-power. Its lack of multiplayer and co-op, or even just a good old fashioned dog-fighting mode to keep players invested. This is made worse when the screen becomes too busy, making what was a lighthearted dog-fighter into a bullet hell 3D shooter that some may enjoy but others may become frustrated with. Skycadia was created by a single developer whose dream was to release a game on the Nintendo Switch. Props to him for doing just that; I can only hope he can expand on this release and possibly update it in the future with new ideas. Skycadia is a fun shooter, it just needs that extra push to send it soaring!  

Thank you for checking out our Skycadia Switch review, thank you to Studio Nisse for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
• Bel Cubitt
• NintenVania Podcast
• Rachelle Suri-Tucker

For more reading, check out our PAC-MAN WORLD: Re-PAC review.