Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom
Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom
Game
Game2024
Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire
Developer Octeto Studios
Sky Oceans: Wings For Hire is a homage to JRPG classics! Set in the open skies, experience adrenaline-filled turn-based dogfights as you take the role of captain and unite a party of rag-tag sky pirates setting upon an unforgettable, touching journey. From the Steam store page
84 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 2, 2026 · last updated Nov 2, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
65
Fresh
31 positive · 17 negative
95% range 50–77%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 31 | 17 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 21 | 2 | 10 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
33 of 50 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
65% recommend · 32 yes, 17 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 49 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (48 of 70 positive).
Many players see it as a love letter to Skies of Arcadia. [1][2][3] Some reviewers praise the art style, story, and characters. [4][5][6] Others criticize bugs, repetitive combat, and lack of polish. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
As Version 1.0, I would not recommend this to anyone until patches are made. TL;DR, this game isn't bad. You can see that a lot of love was put into it, but love alone isn't enough to cover up the issues. And there are a TON of issues to the point where it feels like an Early Access title. Some examples include: the controls are janky, in-game sound often overlaps which then glitches, then dies out and you end up …
- [19]
I wanted to like this game so much. I'm yet another Skies of Arcadia fan and loved the trailer. Waited for a 50% discount so I'd have that much less expectations. After nearly 2 hours I had spent more time wandering around an empty town or flying in empty spaces. 2 fights, with 1 of those being a boss encounter. Combat is somehow both boring and frustrating at the same time. I easily spent 75% of the time playing …
- [5]
I don't usually write reviews, but I truly admire the developer's ambition in creating this game, and the passion that is clearly evident in the project. The characters are interesting, the writing is good and the story kept me hooked for 7 hours straight. The character and ship design is great. The UI reminds me a lot of Persona, which is a good thing, there is a lot of attention to detail in the UI. If I had to …
- [3]
I love this game.It is a love letter to skies of arcadia. *Solid combat. *good visuals * good soundtrack *fun characters
- [1]
This game is like a love letter to Skies of Arcadia. I love the combat and the story is lighthearted and fun.
Summarised from 34 of the 84 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire sits at 65% positive across 48 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 84 · most liked firstReview by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/lists/] Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam. Is this game a masterpiece? There are countless pirate games, but few have been able to capture the pirate feeling as authentically as Sid Meier's Pirates (Microprose, 1987) or Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (Ubisoft, 2013). With Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire, a new game is trying to follow in the footsteps of the great classics. We take…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sky Oceans: Wings For Hire remind me alot about the classic JRPG, Sky of Arcadia, the unique artstyle graphic itself is the game highlight (i was basically drawn by the artstyle, before playing the story). its has all those typical JRPG mission like escorts, hunting materials, fetching items etc in various terrain locations settings that you can only explore after upgrading your main flying ship. I was enjoying myself for the first few hours, however in the later stages, more and more bugs…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As Version 1.0, I would not recommend this to anyone until patches are made. TL;DR, this game isn't bad. You can see that a lot of love was put into it, but love alone isn't enough to cover up the issues. And there are a TON of issues to the point where it feels like an Early Access title. Some examples include: the controls are janky, in-game sound often overlaps which then glitches, then dies out and you end up playing a completely silent game, the sound effects of what you're walking on…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Full Walkthrough: https://youtu.be/obDSE6wyAdU ★★☆☆☆ Gameplay: Decent Story: Epic Graphics: Good PC Requirements: Fast Here I will leave the cat, friends who pass by can pet it and give it a thumbs up ／＞ フ | l ／` ミ＿xノ / | / ヽ ﾉ │ | | | ／￣| | | | | (￣ヽ＿ヽ)__) ＼二つ
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Skies of Arcadia is one of the most memorable, creative, visually and aesthetically pleasing JRPG's ever made imho. It was the game that cemented my love for the genre. SquareSoft games generally rank up at the top of the heap for me, but Skies was something else. Why am I talking about a 20+ year old RPG on a long dead gaming platform? Because when I saw the trailer for Sky Oceans it was clearly an homage or tribute to that game. With all that said, Skies of Arcadia deserve a MUCH BETTER…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't usually write reviews, but I truly admire the developer's ambition in creating this game, and the passion that is clearly evident in the project. The characters are interesting, the writing is good and the story kept me hooked for 7 hours straight. The character and ship design is great. The UI reminds me a lot of Persona, which is a good thing, there is a lot of attention to detail in the UI. If I had to criticize something, I can say that the character animations could be improved a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game could be a real gem, but as it stands right now, it's a flawed one. Nothing deadly, nothing that kills the game outright, but the game is SORELY in need of further polish. Dangling plot threads, hooks that go missing, dialogue trees that stop or are broken, a control system that is desperately in need of a tuning and cleaning, equipment lists that are bugged and broken... but under all that there's the potential for a real winner. An interesting and classic "jrpg quest" type story, a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like a love letter to Skies of Arcadia. I love the combat and the story is lighthearted and fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really wanted this to be good because I loved Skies of Arcadia but this is deadly dull, with empty towns, no characterization, tedious combat... definitely not worth it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its good but sorry, not for me, there's something with the graphics that making me dizzy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This track is called "Escape from Blossom"! Sky Oceans was an awesome game! The turn-based combat was a ton of fun, and it was super cool to explore the skies and towns in the game! The game had a pleasant art style as well, and the soundtrack had a ton of fantastic tracks on it! It was a good time!
positive · AI labelView post →Sky Oceans : Wings for Hire is a giant love letter to the classic Sega Dreamcast game known as Skies of Arcadia. From its retro style Graphics, animation, gameplay and adventure you'll feel as if your playing an old classic from the Dreamcast/Gamecube era. The game is a lot of fun but is also rather repetitive in its battles. The game has a lot of Grind to it and unlocking other skills takes a long time. As a result you just end up doing the same actions over and over again in battle until…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this game so much. I'm yet another Skies of Arcadia fan and loved the trailer. Waited for a 50% discount so I'd have that much less expectations. After nearly 2 hours I had spent more time wandering around an empty town or flying in empty spaces. 2 fights, with 1 of those being a boss encounter. Combat is somehow both boring and frustrating at the same time. I easily spent 75% of the time playing doing nothing. There is so much potential here but the combat system is terrible.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great concept, wonderful world, charming characters, but terrible execution. I've been playing through this game with my stream community, and we've been delighted at the world and the music, but the gameplay and bugs have let it down so incredibly much. From infinite item glitches, enemies that won't stop healing every single turn erasing all your progress and dragging out the fights, accidental sequence breaking by following developer placed breadcrumbs, ally spell targeting being unreliable…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the concept... But the combat is so boring. Combat goes like this: You choose an attack, and then you miss, and then you select an art and miss some more. Eventually you hit something, but the enemy selected a healing move just in case you tried to had fun. Selecting the harder dificulty just seems to make the enemies into damage sponges. Please, i really REALLY want to continue the story, but its so hard to continue.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game.It is a love letter to skies of arcadia. *Solid combat. *good visuals * good soundtrack *fun characters
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm just at the beginning, but there's already a lot to like about this. The flying exploration is great, the combat is visually great, and I really love the whole feel of it so far. Before buying I'd heard about a few bugs and glitches, and as of writing there are indeed some, but I think this is the kind of fix that the devs will be able to work out in a patch. Looking forward to seeing everything the game has to offer!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →We've got another promising week, and hopefully a brighter one at that 💚 5/5💙7pm - Aurelia~ 5/6🟣12pm - Neo: TWEWY! 5/7🟣12pm - Sky Oceans w/ PageCartoons! @ 7pm💙Cult of the Tippy~ 5/8🟣4pm - Poppy Playtime Ch.3 w/ MadMarnin! 5/10🟣2pm - Left/Right Game Pt.2 w/ Hidden_Tome! @ 7pm 💙Romancelvania~
neutral · AI labelView post →A game inspired by Skys of Arcadia while not walking the same path that Nostalgia on the DS did. There is some fun to be had but in the first 20ish min of gameplay... -Walking sound effects stay after some dialog. Metal sounding grass and grass sounding metal floors are annoying to hear. Resets once in another dialog on a different ground type but it will be stuck with the new sound till the next dialog. -Selection moves on its own when pulling up the Save Screen, the back button saves the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This scene is so good, oh my goodness 😭 the framing is immaculate! The music, planes flying overhead, people running around frantically, so many things capture the intensity of the situation so perfectly! Game: Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire by Octeto Studios (Nintendo Switch version)
positive · AI labelView post →Love the look and feel of this game it reminds me so much of Skies of Arcadia man it is so good to have a game like this again!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sky Oceans is a wrap! Took around 10 hours to beat. This was a fun game! The take of an RPG with airships for dungeon crawling and combat was cool! I also like the unique graphics and the OST was surprisingly banger! There were some hiccups, but nothing that detracted from my enjoyment of this game!
positive · AI labelView post →Great premise, great promise, I mean there's a real little gem in here, but it's like it's not finished yet. It's clunky and unpolished and it would probably end up being very, very repetitive if I had continued. It's a shame really.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I forgot to share this here, and I really like the end result of this experiment. Now I'm working on some stickers, and I cannot show you how deranged my favourite design looks, at least until december. So, se vienen cositas. Also! Check the game "Sky Oceans"! I did some concept art for them 💛✨️
neutral · AI labelView post →Finally! A game that scratches my Skies of Arcadia itch!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sky Oceans! Chapter 12, 7 hours in! I'm so confident the in-game timer is lying to me, but I can't prove it lmao the game has opened up tho! The first few hours are linear, but after that they give you freedom to roam the world! It still stays fairly linear, but you do get to explore and do quests!
positive · AI labelView post →A combat demo for Sky Oceans! The combat is similar to a traditional turn based RPG, but the presentation is very unique! The sound effects are also really good, the plane sound effects are cool and guns sound impactful! Game: Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire by Octeto Studios (Nintendo Switch version)
positive · AI labelView post →Next game is Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire! From what I remember from an early gameplay preview that I saw, it's a turn based RPG with the combat being done in fighter planes, which ngl sounds sick af lmao I think it'll be fun!
positive · AI labelView post →I played this for 19 hours and I got to say the controls are janky and overly sensitive during navigation. There are times where you have to fly super close and through narrow structures and terrain and its not very good. The field of view is absolutely narrow. You can't see what around you. I just played in the area where you got to retrieve the red ore and the game prompt said to fly through and find gaps in the ore to find Admiral Venier. Bumped into several walls, and died. I wasted about…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Banger OST time! This is the final boss theme in Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire! Oh my goodness, it's immaculate 🥹 from the beautiful strings and vocals, to the trumpets and guitar having awesome solos, as well as the drums adding nice accents, it nails a final boss theme and ends the game with a bang!
positive · AI labelView post →Oh my goodness, it's another immaculate OST 😭 I've heard so many amazing OSTs this year, it's insane! Game: Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire by Octeto Studios (Nintendo Switch version)
positive · AI labelView post →Sky Oceans! Chapter 5, 4 hours in! This game is very cool and unique! The dungeon crawling and turn based combat is done in airships, which tbh I've never experienced before in this type of game and it's been fun! The graphics are cool as well, and the OST is solid! I'm enjoying it so far!
positive · AI labelView post →Characters are charming, and the story is heartfelt. Soaring through the skies with my crew of misfit sky pirates has been an absolute joy. Highly recommended!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been diving into Sky Oceans for a few days now, and I'm honestly hooked. The art is stunning, and the story just keeps pulling me in. Every new town and setting feels like a little gem, crafted with so much care that it practically begs you to explore. One of my favorite things about Sky Oceans is how it balances this beautiful, almost relaxing art style with a pretty intense storyline. The characters are deep, and they each have so much to share—it feels like there's always something new…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is an homage to the classic turn based JRPG with a twist, the story is fun, a colorful cast. Very recomended to loving JRPG players out there.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The weathering on the airships in the trade-ports alone are worth the price of admission. Also there's a whole JRPG happening?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From what I've been able to play until now, this game has me absolutely in awe for an indie. The graphic style is really cute and everything I got to see feels so alive and vibrant. Maybe the main menu UI could be a little more complex overall, but it's easy to understand. The story so far is pretty interesting and intriguing, and the dialogues will have the characters (which, by the way, are extremely adorable and unique, kudos to the art team) changing expressions using portraits (like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has an interesting and unique aesthetic, really great character design and 2D animation, the menus and UI are fantastic, and the opening movie is a delight. It's another indie RPG where those are the best things about it. Visually, the 3D portions don't really stack up to its ambitious design choices and end up making the experience disjointed and meandering. Artifacting in cell-shaded character textures in the final release of a game is pretty egregious. It would literally have…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A cute little indie RPG that pays homage to the classics, specifically Skies of Arcadia. Basically a great catastrophe cased the land to explode and turn into islands in the sky. Now, as some of the few humans left in the world, you and your people explore the islands and forage for relics from the old world. Your world is turned upside down when the Alliance attacks your home island, searching for your father and mother. Now, in a race against time, you and your companions set out to stop the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been following this game for some time because of character design (I didn't know that game that everybody talks called Skies of Arcadia) and now that I got to play it I fell completely for Glenn and company. I'm loving them and the story behind. Core mechanics (battles) are fun enough but there's only one thing that creeps me out a little bit: 3D characters have no expression on their faces withing gameplay, even if the world is falling apart haha. But it's ok, I can understand the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Live now with some Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire! This game looks pretty neat twitch.tv/aussiegrif
positive · AI labelView post →Good idea and beautiful arts, but interaction should be optimized, a lot. =========================================================== 20241027 Feedback of dev team is fast and active, pending further updates.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playing Sky Oceans... the game is supposed to be inspired by Skies of Arcadia one of my favorite RPG games of all time. But the more I play it, the more I want to replay Skies again, the game sadly fails to live up as a spiritual successor to the game. Numerous bugs, lacks gameplay depth...
negative · AI labelView post →I'd definitely recommend everyone who enjoyed classic JRPGs from the 90s and 2000s to check it out. It's a fun little experience filled with heart-warming moments and cool characters. It's a little rough around the edges, but it has a soul, and you can tell the team put their hearts into the project.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a massive fan of Skies of Arcadia and was super excited for a "spiritual successor" since SEGA doesn't seem to want to do anything with the game. The game is somewhat buggy but I haven't had major problems, but the main problem is the only thing that feels like Skies of Arcadia is the setting of a world with floating islands and sky instead of oceans. It feels really misleading to to call it a successor. If they had been more honest I would have probably enjoyed the game more but if you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I cannot recommend this game strongly due to certain content design decisions and because of how boring and pointless delaytastic the RPG battles are. Only from the steepest discounts. The most annoying part of the designs are the character face designs. The faces have no black outlines, so they are very difficult make grasp with the glance. Also most of them have identical shapes and are incredibly samey, meaning I forget the faces immediately after seeing them again and again. The shapes of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is my fault for getting this game. I thought it was an interesting arcade flight sim. But no! It is a full-on JRPG with turn-based combat, and you only fly between fights. The art is nice, the story is so far interesting, but the game is just boring, the spacing is just wrong, and it has no voice acting to make it somewhat bearable, at least the first couple of hours, when I gave up. The fights are all the same: activate skill and wait for your turn. You auto-heal in the end, so it doesn't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →played with my pc controller and the flying sections controls were weird thoght i will have to get used to this then later put the cloud save on to my steamdeck and the conrols felt natural and fluid no keybinding it just loaded like that and tbh it feels better to play. im not too good at reviewing games and i have only just started just wanted to mention the differene
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried to play game again. It is coming up on its anniversary. The problem the CONTROLS ARE STILL A HORRIBLE MESS. Horrible in every way. I can not play game because it feels like I am driving a 50 ton tank through the air. Cant give a review of game play because i cant get passed the controls, even after a waiting . So this game is a big NO.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Welp, I finally have the green light to say it. You can catch me as Dillon in the game Sky Oceans: Wings For Hire. Special gracias goes out to @octetostudios.bsky.social Studios for bringing me aboard to fly with this amazing cast. See y’all in the friendly skies!
neutral · AI labelView post →Damn solid RPG, large and innovative with its combat design. There's still some bugs, but I've been enjoying my playthrough so far!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire Steam Game Key (Steam). 🎁 Gaming freebie: Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire Steam Game Key 🏪 Store: Steam ⏰ Ends: Featured now 🔗 Claim/check: https://www.alienwarearena.com/ucf/show/2173948/boards/contest-and-giveaways-global/Giveaway/sky-oceans-wings-for-hire-steam-game-key-giveaway 📱 App Alerts: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lootradar.loot_radar #gaming #freebies #pcgaming #videogames #steam #giveaway
neutral · AI labelView post →Very buggy, sky box visible in the house, game crashes.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good story. Boring combat. Controls and UI are janky.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just started to play and it has been quite fun! The game looks very retro and there is something nostalgic to it that is hard to find nowadays. It feels it was made with love, although you can see it's an indie product with limited budget. Story is interesting and the world building looks promising.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think this game is very charming and I like that it's a sky pirate game with an interesting story plus turn based combat. It's different and I can see myself playing more of it for the story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire demo is a turn based airplane rpg about a new pilot for the local militia, who's home gets attacked by invaders and must survive. The story is engaging that the demo ends on a cliffhanger. The game mechanics are well balanced around using abilities and regular attacks.
positive · AI labelView post →Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is a sky-faring turn-based RPG developed by Octeto Studios and published by PQube. Designed as a heartfelt homage to classic Japanese role-playing games, it transports players to a fractured world of floating islands suspended in endless skies after a cataclysmic event known as the Big Scattering. Blending airship exploration, character-driven storytelling, and strategic dogfight combat, the game aims to evoke the spirit of nostalgic JRPG adventures while introducing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Steam] (Game) Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is free! See the /r/FreeGameFindings thread below. #FGF #FreeGameFindings #Free https://redd.it/1r182u5
neutral · AI labelView post →Enjoying it so far, endearing like an old ps1 or gamecube rpg
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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