Get ready to fly high in the skies of Black Skylands! The launch of Black Skylands is just around the corner, and we can't wait for our community to experience all the incredible changes we've made to the game. From streamlined gameplay mechanics to a more immersive narrative, we've pulled out all the stops to ensure that this is the best version of the game yet!
Since Early Access launched in 2021, we've added a ton of new content and features to the game with a series of updates which introduced new weapons, abilities, and expanded areas to explore.
Treasure Seeker Update: With our first update, we introduced a treasure-seeking feature, side quests, and rewards to Black Skylands. We also unleashed 6 new types of Swarm weapons, and 60 new weapon mods for players to enjoy. And that was just the beginning!
The Ice Kraken Update: This update brought some serious firepower with the Ice Kraken aerial event boss. We also introduced random aerial encounters with big enemy ships to raid, opportunities to help civilians, and even a heart-pounding race to avoid an erupting volcano. Plus, we added new active abilities for Eva to keep the gameplay fresh and exciting.
The Raids Update: With the addition of roguelike mechanic raids, this offered a new challenge to players who had already completed the main storyline. But we didn't stop there - additionally, after listening to player feedback, we made significant quality of life improvements, making it easier than ever to enjoy Black Skylands.
The Aerial Update: Our latest update brought Black Skylands to new heights with the addition of new aerial enemies. The aerial combat system had undergone a major revamp, providing players with a more dynamic and engaging experience. And with a new damage model for enemy and friendly ships, every dogfight now felt like a life or death struggle!
New Features
Story
Black Skylands has undergone some significant changes to its story and plot, and we couldn't be more excited to share them with our community! We've reworked the narrative to create a more immersive and memorable experience that we believe you'll love.
Eva is now a skilled and brave young marshal, fighting to protect her people from the invading Falcons and Swarm. With a wide range of new enemies and characters to encounter, as well as redesigned versions of classic foes, every battle will be a fresh and exciting challenge. And with new islands to explore, players will be able to delve even deeper into the rich and immersive world of Black Skylands.
Gameplay
In Black Skylands, the skies are yours to conquer - without the distraction of factions brawling for power. This means you'll be able to focus on exploring the world, upgrading your ship, and taking on thrilling battles without any external interference from faction warfare.
A crew won't be joining you on your airship, but that's okay - you'll be the one calling the shots and making the tough decisions! You'll have to use all of your skills and cunning to succeed in the skies, but with a variety of upgradeable weapons and abilities, you'll be more than up to the task.
The Fathership is no longer stationary! To move the ship, you'll need to attack the enemy fleet of Falcons at specific locations marked on the map.
We've also streamlined base-building to create a simpler, more enjoyable experience. While you can still upgrade your base with new structures, none of them will produce resources. Instead, you'll gather resources as you explore the world and embark on adventures.
New Upgrade Systems
The factory on the Fathership is now capable of turning ore into steel, which can be used to upgrade weapons and ships. However, certain upgrades are only available once you've upgraded your base buildings. By investing in your base and unlocking new upgrades, you'll be able to take on even tougher challenges and enemies.
We've also added a new feature that allows players to upgrade their weapons right from their inventory. By spending Steel or Gold, you can improve your weapons and make them even more effective in combat.
Amulets
There are 30 different Amulets to discover. These unique items grant Eva a variety of passive and active abilities. Whether you find them hidden in the world or earn them as rewards for completing quests and liberating islands, Amulets offer a new way to enhance your gameplay experience and gain an edge in combat.
Plants
To give Eva a boost in health, players will need to seek out and gather special plants scattered throughout the world. These plants can be found in various locations, from hidden corners of the floating islands to enemy-controlled territories.
New Enemies
Players can expect to encounter a host of new enemies, each one more challenging than the last. From vicious new Swarm creatures to the heavily armed Falcons, players will need to stay on their toes to survive. And with new islands to explore, there's no shortage of new challenges to tackle!
Difficulty Level Options
We've introduced four different difficulty settings in the game. So whether you're an experienced captain or a newcomer to the world of Black Skylands, there's a difficulty level that's just right for you. And best of all, you can change the difficulty at any time to suit your needs.
It's been an incredible journey getting to this point, and we're so grateful to our community for their support and feedback along the way. Keep an eye on our social media for the latest updates and an official release date announcement. Thanks for joining us on this adventure - we can't wait to see you in the skies of Black Skylands!
Yours truly,
• • •
Join our community to discuss the upcoming launch and to chat with other captains:
The time has come to embark on another epic adventure, and we want YOU to be a part of it! Black Skylands is nearing completion, and we're looking for explorers to join our latest playtest.
The playtest will take place for one week, and we invite all interested players to participate. We encourage you to explore every aspect of the game, report any bugs you encounter, and provide feedback to help us improve everyone's gaming experience. Your input will be invaluable as we work to make Black Skylands the best it can be before its release this Summer!
Please note: You must already have the game in your Steam library to participate in the playtest.
HOW TO JOIN
The playtest will start on March 27th (17:00 CET) and end on April 3rd (17:00).
To join the playtest, please go to our official Discord server and then open the #assign-role channel. Follow the channel instructions if you wish to participate. As soon as you do, you will be assigned a special Playtester 4.0 role on the server and gain access to private playtest channels where you can share observations, give feedback and report issues.
After playing, please take a moment to fill out the feedback form that will be available on Discord.
Fair winds, Captains!
Yours truly,
• • •
Join our community to share feedback and chat with other captains:
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing major gameplay developments, story changes and new features that will be available on release. Keep an eye on our socials for the official launch date!
You have been cordially invited to join the Black Skyland's closed playtest!
Over the last few months the team has been hard at work improving the key features of the game. By joining the closed playtest, you will be able to try out the brand new features that are still in development, and give important feedback to the developers so that we can improve everyone’s gaming experience.
Please note: You must already have the game in your Steam library to participate in the playtest.
HOW TO JOIN
To join the playtest, please go to our official Discord server and then open the #assign-role channel. Follow the channel instructions if you wish to participate. As soon as you do, you will be assigned a special Playtest 3.0 role on the server and gain access to private playtest channels where you can share observations, give feedback and report issues.
After playing, please take a moment to fill out the feedback form available on Discord. As a community-orientated studio, your feedback is extremely important to help us improve the game.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Hungry Couch!
Thank you all for supporting us throughout the year - we really appreciate it. May this holiday season be filled with good cheer, joy, and of course, plenty of gaming.
See you all in 2023, Captains!
Yours truly,
• • •
The Winter Sale
Greetings, Captains!
The Winter Sale begins – from today to January 5th, you will have the opportunity to purchase Black Skylands with a 35% discount ☃️
Fair winds and happy holidays!
Christmas has come to Black Skylands!
Greetings, Captains!
We've just released a little update to get you into the Christmas spirit. Update your game and remember to check out Turtletown before you embark on your new journey through the lands of Aspia!🎄
Yours truly,
• • •
What’s New
Greetings, Captains!
We’ve got some freshly cooked updates and inside info for you today, so grab a cup of tea and make sure you’re sitting comfortably.
It has now been over a month since our last Aerial update (look here if you somehow missed it) and we are now gradually moving towards the last and largest release update of Black Skylands. HOWEVER, there are still a couple of small patches that await you before that (spoiler: one of them is already coming this month 😉).
Our main priority now is to add more depth to your experience as you complete Black Skylands: making changes to player progression, redesigning certain systems, reworking or even removing certain frustrating mechanics and working on convoluted / overcomplicated systems, mainly by simplifying them.
The last update for the release will include land and air opponent balance improvements and also completely new locations, new bosses... and a new plot! But we will tell you about that a bit later 🤫
For now, we want to thank you for all of your comments, suggestions and criticism from the bottom of our hearts, as well as sharing info about some of the latest game updates, while trying to avoid spoilers as much as we can.
So
As we wrote earlier, we are working on lots of new content that awaits you in the final update right now. For instance, one of the new locations is below — it’s been said that the place looks very harmless and even cozy at first sight... or does it? 👹
We’re not forgetting about improvements for Eva either and we will tell you about one of them — you can now use amulets. These are new items which provide various bonuses and you will be able to equip several of them at the same time.
While the artists were distracted with coffee and talking about art, we immediately managed to sneak a picture of one the new heroines away from them. What role do you think she’ll play? Share your ideas!
There is also something new from the world of flora and fauna.
In addition to creating new content, we’re not forgetting to update what we have already — for instance, we have changed the battle against the first boss so that it now consists of two parts. There’s a clip of the updated first part below.
In future, you will also be able to smelt Red and Blue Ore into Weapon and Ship Steel at the Factory.
In addition to all of that, we continue working on changes to weapon and ship component upgrades.
That’s it for today. Thanks for staying with us and see you soon!
Oh, and one more thing — if there are any aspects of the game that you want more details about, share them with us. We read all of your comments!
Yours truly,
• • •
Join our community to share feedback and chat with other captains:
Nominate Black Skylands for the Labor Of Love Award!
Greetings, Captains!
First of all we want to thank each one of you for your continuous Black Skylands support. Your passion gives us energy to improve the game further and tailor it in the best possible experience.
Throughout the Early Access stage we managed to deliver several big updates, but they would have never been as good as they are now without great and detailed feedback you provide to us. And we want to ask for your support again.
We would really appreciate, if you could dedicate several minutes of your time and nominate the game in the Steam Awards 2022 ‘Labor of Love’ category. This will mean a lot to us.
Thank you for staying with the game and for your help in developing it.
