Sky Noon

Written by Eric Hauter on 6/25/2018 for PC  

Sky Noon, the new Early Access 3D brawler title from New Zealand developer Lunar Rooster, has a great backstory. Originally developed as one of three prototype games by a group of friends at university as part of the curriculum, Sky Noon (originally named “Sky Force”) was deemed interesting enough that the small team agreed to keep working on it in an attempt to turn it into a retail title.

Over two years, the team continued working on the game (now re-christened Sky Noon), picking up an Unreal Dev Grant and a publishing deal with Reverb Triple XP, and gaining additional support from Steam Greenlight. Somewhere along the way, Lunar Rooster ditched their original visual style in favor of a fun futuristic Wild-West motif. Suddenly, player characters were all cowboys (or cowgirls), and the weapons were all retro-future spins on classic old-West armaments.

In April 2018, the team at Lunar Rooster held their first closed beta, using the data gathered to refine gameplay mechanics and rebalance maps, weapons and abilities. The game released into Early Access on June 14, 2018.

The core of the Sky Noon is a new take on an established and beloved gaming genre. In “Super Smash”-style brawlers, multiple characters with various abilities and weapons gather on a grouping of platforms high in the sky, and proceed to pummel each other in an attempt to knock opponents off the edge. The difference with Sky Noon, of course, is that normal brawler games are in 2D, offering a side view of the action. Sky Noon is a fully 3D game, taking first person shooter mechanics and applying them to the brawler template, creating something wholly original and fresh-feeling.

Taking the place of the genre’s standard flat platforms are groupings of 3D floating islands, kept afloat by jet engines and connected by series of suspension bridges and train tracks. Players bounce from platform to platform, blasting each other with air-filled weapons. Player characters do not have health bars, so the only way to defeat an opponent is to knock them off of the island in the sky with a burst of air, sending them falling to earth below.

This is easier said than done, because in addition to air-guns, each player has a couple of other tools at their disposal. The first is the grappling hook, which players can use to grab onto surfaces, pulling themselves across the field of play. This leads to some great visual moments, where you see the silhouette of multiple players swinging in every direction like a bunch of cowboy Spider-men. The key benefit to the grappling hook, aside from transportation, is the ability to latch onto the side of an island while you are in the middle of being blown off of it. If you are quick enough when an opponent knocks you off of a platform, you can catch yourself in mid-flight, reversing your trajectory and flying right back into an opponent’s face. While I wasn’t able to pull off this particular maneuver very often, it is so very satisfying when you come swinging  back onto the map from below, blasting someone who is still gloating at your defeat, blowing them off of the island in your stead.

Another great tool at every player’s disposal is the lasso. Weapons are scattered about the map in crates, with players picking them up by running over them. Weapons are all randomized, so if you don’t have your favorite, you have to keep grabbing crates until you get what you were looking for. This is made much easier with the lasso. Instead of coming out of cover in order to switch weapons, you can just shoot your lasso out and pull a crate to you. Very skilled players can also snag opponents with the lasso, pulling them in for a coup de grace. (Side note:  I am NOT a “very skilled player”, so while this was done to me on occasion, I was never able to pull it off against others. Sad times.)

In addition to the standard firearms, players can pick up crates with supplemental weapons and gadgets. There are mines, dynamite, a teleporter, and my personal favorite, jet boots. The entirety of Sky Noon requires players to be aware of verticality, but the jet boots are trickier than the grappling hooks, allowing players to hover over opponents and then drop in behind them for a cheap (and hilarious) kill.

There are a few different game modes, including the expected team deathmatch and free-for-alls, but also including a fun mode where teams compete to push a mine cart towards their respective goals. This elevates the whole “push and pull” play dynamic to a higher level, with teams’ fortunes swinging wildly as they jockey for position around the mine cart. There is also a nice practice map that allows players to goof off to their hearts’ content, learning the controls and getting their Sky-legs.

Lunar Rooster have posted an Early Access Roadmap, detailing new features that they hope to add over the next several months. These include 1v1 duels, expanded customization options, new game modes, and a new Bounty system, which will allow players to pursue long term, tiered goals. Nothing on the roadmap, though, indicates that there will ever be paid content beyond the base game.

I can’t state clearly enough how pure and fun Sky Noon is. Players are in constant motion, bouncing around the map, swinging in every direction, getting the drop on each other. This is arcade madness at its best, with little of the clutter that junks up similar titles these days. There is a progression system, but gaining levels only unlocks cosmetic options. Nothing currently in the game ever gives one player an unfair advantage over another. The playing field is always kept completely level, with players needing to rely on their own skill to succeed. There are no microtransactions, so the extremely reasonable entry price of $14.99 gets you the whole enchilada.

Sky Noon is the sort of game that can eat up hours at a time. “One more match” can quickly lead to an entire afternoon disappearing in a haze. But the more you play, the better you get, so putting in those hours can be extremely satisfying when you suddenly realize that you are pulling off trick moves when only hours before you were struggling with basic controls.  

Lunar Rooster has stated their intention to move Sky Noon through Early Access and into full release in eight or nine months. In its current state though, the core of Sky Noon is already a stable and polished experience. The development team’s plan seems to be to continue adding new features leading up to final release. If you are at all curious about Sky Noon, I would encourage you to just jump in right now. Sky Noon already delivers an injection of unique arcade thrills, and a competitive experience unlike any other I have seen on the market. Warm up those twitch skills, because Sky Noon is ready to get you hootin’ and hollerin’ with the best of ‘em.