Multiplayer games have been a great source of social interaction for mankind since the dawn of the gaming medium. Playing games while sitting on the couch with friends was one of the main forms of entertainment for many years. Eventually, with the dawn of online multiplayer, we began to see a decline in the production and demand for and of games that featured local multiplayer modes. Recently, however, there has been a resurgence among the gaming community, especially on PC, which has led developers to begin adding local multiplayer to their games or even designing games that are completely based around the local experience. While we all know about games like Castle Crashers, Towerfall: Ascension, and Mount Your Friends, there is a new contender for game night: Skyhook.
Having just recently entered Steam Early Access, Skyhook is a game that immediately caught my attention, honestly as a result of what I felt was a striking resemblance to one of my favorite games: Towerfall: Ascension. The fast-paced action-platforming gameplay reminded me so much of Towerfall that I felt the need to have a look at the game to figure out exactly what made it stand out when compared to other titles in the genre.
Immediately, Skyhook provided a unique pirate theme, with character selection taking place on a pirate ship as well as characters that featured nautical themes. With four characters to choose from, all the same apart from their appearances, the game provides a decent amount of variety, but plans on adding more characters as they progress deeper into the development cycle.
The gameplay is Skyhook is all based around a grappling hook that each player has in their possession. This hook can be used to grab onto platforms, jump through platforms, and kill your opponents. Holding down the button that casts your hook allows it to travel further, which is useful when trying to catch a fleeing enemy. One point of much disagreement that arose during my game night was that the hook was able to kill on the return back to the player. We felt that the hook should only be able to kill on the initial trip, and should not do any damage while it was coming back. Other than this, there was absolutely no problem with how the hook controlled, and I found this control to be very simple to understand and entertaining to utilize.
Skyhook currently features three game modes, the best of which is known as Steam Tank. Steam Tank limits players to only 3 grappling hooks, which take time to regenerate. This prevents spam and also encourages more tactical and accurate use of the hook. While there is fun to be had in deathmatch and team deathmatch, Steam Tank is definitely the strongest of the three game modes that are available as of right now.
During each match, various chests will fall from the sky, containing random power-ups. Some of the power-ups include a doppleganger mirror that makes all characters look like whoever picks it up, as well as a shield that protects the player from damage for a short time. One of the most frustrating power-ups is a volley of sorts that rains cannon fire from the sky. This fire is extremely unpredictable and difficult to dodge, so we agreed to not use this power-up if we saw it drop based on the fact that it seems to be in the need of some balancing.
Speaking of dodging, it is the main way to avoid being grappled. Pressing the dodge button allows you to dodge hooks, as well as functions as a double-jump of sorts to help you reach higher areas. There is definitely a bit of discrepancy with the dodges, as sometimes there were issues with dodging and still being hit by grappling hooks. However, considering that the game is in Early Access, there is plenty of time to make small tweaks to the controls.
Skyhook already has plans to implement a single-player mode with over 40 levels, each featuring a unique and challenging puzzle to solve with the use of your grappling hook. There are also plans to implement more features, add more characters, environments, power-ups, and more. While the implementation of a single-player is nice, I feel that the focus should definitely stay on the game's multiplayer mode, which I can without a doubt say is extremely entertaining. With a bit of polish and some additional content, Skyhook will be able to hold its own against the competing games in the local multiplayer genre.
Skyhook is currently in Steam Early Access, and can be purchased for $9.99.
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