Developer: Monolith of Minds
Publisher: Graffiti Games
Platform: PC, Mac, Switch
Tested on: PC
Lila’s Sky Ark – Review
Lila’s Sky Ark is the second game made by Monolith of Minds, an indie dev studio that was founded by two twin brothers. Their games show some similarities, both being pixel action-adventure titles with vague storylines and beautiful graphics. They’re technically even set in the same universe, with Lila’s Sky Ark having several references to their debut game Resolutiion (which we reviewed here). Though the two games are not exactly comparable, which is something that became clear quickly when we started playing the game.
Story
Just like in Resolutiion, the game doesn’t hold your hand and explain things. After a confusing opening cutscene, you’re dropped into the shoes of Lila. Lila seems to have a peaceful life on an idyllic island, but since she woke up with a bad feeling she consults The Doctor asking him what to do. Upon closer inspection, something is definitely amiss and you’re sent on a series of quests to figure out what’s wrong. What little you get in terms of plot is mainly vague character dialogue and a lot is left open for interpretation. While you don’t have to play the dev’s first game to understand Lila’s Sky Ark, some characters and terms do reappear with little explanation.
Graphics
Lila’s Sky Ark has some really good art, utilizing the pixel style to its full potential. Because there’s a constant colorful overlay, the visuals are more dynamic than most pixel art games, with the colors changing depending on location. There are lots of fun designs here for creatures, bosses, and settings too, with foreground and background elements using different levels of sharpness to really give the game a dimensional effect.
Sound
Once again Gerrit Wolf composed the music for this game. With his previous experience, it’s no surprise we ended up enjoying a solid soundtrack all throughout this game, including the boss themes. The atmosphere is a lot more whimsical and calm compared to Resolutiion, and the music plays a large role in conveying this mood. The game has no voice acting but makes clever use of sound effects, including during character interactions.
Gameplay
Lila’s Sky Ark is an action-adventure game that uses a simple premise and equally simple mechanics to let the gameplay shine. Following a series of quests, you explore the map and unlock new areas, though the overall world isn’t as big as it looks at first glance. On top of that, there’s even a fast travel mechanic in place. Most quests are as easy as fetching items or going from point A to B so you can talk to somebody new. Along the way, you fight monsters, and sometimes bosses.
The fighting mechanic in this game isn’t what you’d usually expect though. Basically, you can only harm enemies with projectiles, which in this case are items around the map you can pick up and throw at them. The map is absolutely littered with them so you’ll never run out of ammunition, though you also have a backpack with ten slots where you can keep projectiles for future use. This is important because not all of them work the same. Some do only a low amount of damage while others are way more powerful. Some also only harm one enemy, while others lock onto multiple targets. The fact that you always need to pick up objects to fight with, while also dodging enemy attacks, makes the game a lot more challenging than you’d expect, especially since taking stuff out of your backpack can be finicky. Aiming is also a bit of a hassle, and rolling away from enemies will make you drop your projectile.
There are also a bunch of collectibles and secrets to uncover in Lila’s Sky Ark. Even with all of these, the map makes exploring easy, and thus the game will never take longer than six or seven hours in total if you want to 100% it. One thing of note is that you can’t save wherever you want, and there’s no proper auto-save function. Combined with how tricky the combat can be (especially for later bosses) and the rather vague approach to storytelling, this game feels more like an interesting concept that never got to be fully developed rather than a complete game.
Conclusion
Lila’s Sky Ark definitely proves Monolith of Minds has a solid grasp on what they’re doing, and they know what style of games works for them. Visually and with its stunning music this title doesn’t disappoint. Sadly, in terms of gameplay and storytelling, things could definitely be improved. It worked better in Resolutiion, since that game had a cohesive theme, but here it falls apart and the annoyances become a way bigger issue than they need to be.
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