Skies Above Review: A Roguelike That Soars with Style | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Also on: Steam

Price: $7.99

A telltale sign of a good roguelike is that it keeps me coming back for just one more run—and Skies Above delivers on that promise. But it’s more than just the gameplay that had me hooked; the pixel art is gorgeous, and the progression system is thoughtfully designed. While there’s a bit of a learning curve, the game pulled me in for several late-night sessions with that familiar “just one more run” feeling.

It was the art that initially drew me in. Skies Above tells the story of leviathans—massive, whale-like creatures that once roamed Earth before leaving for the stars. Now they’ve returned, only to face a new threat: humans seeking to exploit the powerful energy these creatures possess. A small band of rebels has learned to harness the magic of the leviathans and sworn to protect them, guiding them safely back to space. I play as one of those rebels, leaping onto the back of a leviathan and fending off the robotic army sent by humanity. The leviathans themselves are stunning, dominating the lower third of the screen as my tiny character dashes across their backs, destroying waves of robotic orbs. The story leans dark, but the art is anything but—the vibrant, pixel-perfect visuals are a true standout.

There was a bit of a learning curve. I started with just a few abilities—a jump, a hook jump, and a slide—and unlocked more as I progressed (more on that in a bit). I’d throw my hook at one of the orbs hovering over my friendly transport, which would catapult me into the orb. From there, I’d jump from orb to orb, destroying as many as I could before landing back on the whale’s back. It doesn’t sound too bad when I write it out, but in the moment, I’d get impatient—especially when I saw my leviathan’s health dropping as bullets rained down. That impatience led to a lot of overshooting—sometimes missing the next orb, sometimes missing the transport entirely. Thankfully, there’s an ability that lets me throw my hook toward the whale’s center to realign myself. Still, the controls felt a little finicky, requiring more precision than I expected. Honestly, I never fully got over the overshooting.

After each run—and trust me, the first few were very short—I’d crash land with my leviathan back at our encampment. That’s where I could spend the currency I earned during my run. I used it to buy rune upgrades: boosts to my leviathan’s health, improvements to my jumping abilities, increased energy gain per kill, and more. At first, I focused on beefing up the leviathan’s health, but I quickly realized that upgrading the energy gain from kills helped me progress much faster.

During each run, there’s a bar at the bottom of the screen that fills with every kill. Once it’s full, the leviathan launches upward into the next layer of the stratosphere—one step closer to the ultimate goal: getting this creature home. The upgrades aren’t cheap, so I had to make some tough choices—either hoard my currency for something better later or grab a few cheaper runes to boost my chances in the next run. Every time I broke through to a new level in the sky, a fresh set of rune upgrades unlocked, forcing me to really think about where to invest. And since each rune can be upgraded further, the system kept pulling me in with just enough depth and variety to keep it interesting.

There’s also a fishing mechanic, though it’s not particularly deep. After each run, I can fish at the encampment and the catch I reel in gives my leviathan a boost for the next run. Different fish offer different perks—some help me gain energy faster, some grant extra health, and others increase the money I earn. The catch is (pun intended) that the fish I get are random, so there isn’t a ton of strategy involved beyond maybe holding on to a good one for a future run. And since I can only apply one fish per run, it’s more of a light bonus than a game-changing mechanic.

As I progressed, I unlocked a few more abilities—and even got a little robot buddy of my own. This little guy can overload enemy orbs, either making them explode and take out nearby enemies or letting me ride the orb like a wrecking ball, smashing through several targets in a row. It’s a satisfying mechanic that adds some variety to each run. The robot can be upgraded too, using a separate type of currency I earn along the way, which adds another layer of progression to chase between runs.

There’s also another currency I earn—tiny tokens that I can use to level up a tree back at the home base. From what I could tell, the tree unlocks things like cosmetics and optional goals that can be completed during each run for extra currency. It’s a subtle system, but it adds another layer of progression that gives me something to work toward beyond just surviving each run.

There are also spirit whales trapped inside massive orbs that I can free during each run. Collecting enough of these spirits earns me a spirit stone, which acts as a shield for my leviathan. I can upgrade the stone by freeing even more spirits over time. There’s a strong risk-and-reward element here—once I start attacking the giant orb, it releases energy balls that begin targeting my leviathan. Every time I land a hit on the orb, the energy balls reset but increase in number, ramping up the danger until I finally destroy it and free the spirit. It’s intense, and deciding whether to take on the orb mid-run adds another layer of strategy.

While there’s plenty to unlock, I never really felt like the upgrades allowed me to change how I played. Most of the improvements just made me stronger or more efficient, but they didn’t offer much in the way of customizing my playstyle. It’s something that I was hoping the game would offer, but it never came to fruition.

Final Grade: B+

Skies Above is a beautifully crafted roguelike with a lot of heart and some well-thought-out mechanics. Each run feels meaningful, and with multiple progression systems, there’s always something new to unlock. That said, I never felt like the upgrades let me truly customize how I played—most of them just made me stronger, not different. Still, the game is a lot of fun, and it kept pulling me back in for just one more run.

Review code provided by Flynn's Arcade