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The sky fortress is probably bad, because nothing that moody is going to be good news. It sits in the rain-swept skies like an oppressive monolith, covered in missile turrets and gun emplacements all ready to decimate any airship foolish enough to go up against its might. There’s no reasonable hope that a bomber could survive an attempt to blast the fortress from the skies, but that’s still better than no hope at all. Plus every dodge and risky maneuver re-arms the bomber, so the closer to the edge of disaster it flies the quicker it can rain down explosive retribution and put an end to the sky fortress once and for all.
No Guns, No Shield, Only Bombs and Flying Skills Allowed
Herringen released its demo today on Steam (get it here), showing off a single level of the free-flying low-poly bombing run against a aerial fortress that’s far better armed than the attacker trying to take it down. Starting at one of a number of pre-set points around the massive airship, the bomber needs to release several payloads to wear down its life bar, and be careful doing so because there’s enough empty space that it can be surprisingly easy to miss. All the bombs in the world do no good if they fall into empty air, and the reload time is long enough that, without split-second dodging, it could take forever to reduce the fortress to scrap.
Fortunately there’s always the option of insta-reload, earned by evading incoming bullets and missiles with a tap of one of the shoulder buttons. A quick spin out of the way earns both a reload and a massive boost of speed, which is great in open air and a serious problem in tight corridors. You can fly anywhere using standard flight controls, rotating left and right then pulling back or pushing forward to turn, with nothing on rails to keep you from flying right into a wall. While the bomber can take a fair amount of hits from enemy fire, one crash destroys it instantly and if you aren’t used to the flight model that’s going to happen on a regular basis. Playing safe is how you start, but it’s not going to earn a great spot on the leaderboard.
The goal of Herringen isn’t just to take out the fortress but to do it as riskily as possible to earn the best ranking. Flying near walls and dodging enemy fire is the best way to rack up the score, while taking down the fortress at top speed with as little damage as possible gives a nice bump to the ranking as well. It’s not just about survival but learning the controls well enough to pull off an intense series of maneuvers, never letting up on the pressure despite the open skies promising an easier run and time to get your bearings. And when that doesn’t work, a restart is an instant button-press away.
The Herringen demo isn’t an easy one even when playing it safe, thanks to the flight controls requiring a gentle touch, but it’s still incredibly playable and rarely feels unfair. It takes a bit to get used to the dash that kicks in when performing a successful evade, and it can be particularly tricky to manage when flying through a tunnel, but nobody said you had to take the hardest route so there’s nothing to blame but one’s own personal overly-ambitious score chasing. It’s a hostile fortress dominating the moody skies and even just taking it down is a challenge, but with a little care and a whole lot of practice you can do it with a near-constant rain of bombs from flying with style.
