Apple Event 2017 – thatgamecompany Reveals Airborne Adventure ‘Sky’

Apple’s announcement event today was primarily focused on new Watch and iPhone hardware, but a few games snuck into the mix as well. During the Apple TV 4K reveal, the co-founder of thatgamecompany, Jenova Chen, took the stage to announce …

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Apple’s announcement event today was primarily focused on new Watch and iPhone hardware, but a few games snuck into the mix as well. During the Apple TV 4K reveal, the co-founder of thatgamecompany, Jenova Chen, took the stage to announce their next game: Sky looks similar to the developer’s relaxed and atmospheric Journey, but focused on sky travel over desert trekking.

The red-cloaked hero is able to fly through the air among birds and tantalizingly fluffy clouds, traveling with up to eight players at a time and optionally working together to reach temples and solve the mysteries of this skybound civilization. The world is built on the opposition of light and dark, with shadowy dungeons illuminated by lighting candles and juxtaposed against the bright and endless horizon outside.

Thatgamecompany has compared Sky to “visiting a theme park where lasting memories are made,” and noted the “romantic” experience emphasizes sharing with loved ones, tagging it as “a game about giving.” Yet the gameplay they showed off at the Apple event today retained elements of a narrative-based adventure, with powerful spirits able to be discovered and summoned in order to progress further—it’s more than cooperative open-ended wandering across a beautiful location.

Sky is currently in development but is slated to launch on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV later this year.

Jillian will play any game with cute characters or an isometric perspective, but her favorites are Fallout 3, Secret of Mana, and Harvest Moon. Her PC suffers from permanent cat-on-keyboard syndrome, which she blames for most deaths in Don’t Starve. She occasionally stops gaming long enough to eat waffles and rewatch Battlestar Galactica.