Lila's Sky Ark

Developers Monolith of Minds strike again with Lila’s Sky Ark, a touching and atmospheric adventure game that serves as a prequel to one of the most charming pixel adventures made in recent years. Join Lila as she embarks on a journey to try and save her psychedelic world from sure destruction.

An eclectic adventure that rewards exploration and hides deeper lore than what might immediately seem, Lila’s Sky Ark is a much more competent game than its predecessor/sequel, resulting in a satisfying — yet slightly flawed — gaming experience that is sure to captivate just about any kind of gamer.

Poetry in Motion

As we mentioned before, Lila’s Sky Ark acts as a prequel to Resolutiion. The game is set in the same colorful yet disturbing world as its sequel, with the twist here being that the player will get to explore Lila’s world in much deeper detail.

Musically influenced and with a rich, poetic narrative thrown into the mix, Lila’s world is a marvel to explore and discover. Players will find a healthy amount of puzzles and secrets scattered along their journey, but the star of the show in Lila’s Sky Ark is, for sure, the well-written and fascinating characters.

Fans of the EarthBound series and the many games inspired by it will surely find some thematic parallels in Lila’s Sky Ark. The fact that the game uses music as its main source of inspiration offers the developers a huge degree of freedom when it comes to designing quirky and entertaining characters for Lila’s world.

Throwing will be one of your main ways of attacking in this game. However, as you progress through the game, you’ll also find alchemic recipes to craft new weapons to use against the bosses. It’s a bit disappointing to see that one of the game’s most interesting mechanics — throwing — is completely ignored for the game’s boss battles.

Throwing Woes

As good as the game’s progression feels, there are some glaring issues with the controls and the clunky combat that get in the way of the game’s otherwise fluid gameplay.

Aiming your throws gets noticeably more difficult using a controller compared to using a keyboard and a mouse. The limitations of a joystick guarantee that you’ll miss most of your throws, making the game feel much more difficult than it really is.

Despite the shortcomings regarding the game’s projectile system, players looking for an exploration-based adventure might still find tons of potential in Lila’s Sky Ark gameplay structure. However, the gimmicky controls usually get in the way of the game’s colorful visuals and endearing story, which might be a detriment for those players who are just looking for a nice and relaxed game to chill to.

Flaws aside, Lila’s Sky Ark is a game that’s rife with potential, especially for players that love the immensely successful Undertale formula. All in all, this is a step in the right direction for the developers and complements the world and characters of Resolutiion rather well.

Pros

• Gorgeous 2D visuals
• Satisfying exploration
• Quirky and well-written characters

Cons

• Odd controls
• Flawed throwing mechanic
• Cumbersome user interface