This indie ‘journey flight’ recreation dares to ask, ‘What if Crimson Skies was about making beer?’

The Brew Barons is a recreation constructed on an thought that’s concurrently very odd and so completely aimed toward my particular pursuits that as quickly as I noticed the primary trailer, I needed to know extra. It is a mashup of old-timey Crimson Skies-style aeroplanes and beer, and as bizarre as that sounds, it truly comes collectively fairly properly.

The sport is about amidst a small group of pretty, faux-Mediterranean islands whose consuming habits are being squeezed by a gang of pirates not not like Dennis Hopper’s bunch in Waterworld—besides that as a substitute of floating in water, this bunch principally flies within the sky. These pirates aren’t pillaging and plundering, although, however are as a substitute making an attempt to determine a monopoly on booze manufacturing with overpriced, low-quality product, and so they do not take kindly to potential rivals.

Which is what you purpose to be: With a beat-up biplane and a run-down brewpub, your aim is to determine your corporation and construct up a clientele, make and ship high quality booze to sketchy dives and high-class inns scattered all through the islands, and do battle within the skies in opposition to the predatory forces of low-cost liquor.

The flight mannequin is all arcade—it pains the outdated flight-simmer in me to say so, however a mouse is completely superb for flying—and harvesting the elements you will use in your alcoholic concoctions is finished totally from inside your airplane, by taking pictures outsized crops with water, for example, or utilizing your propeller blade to cut down fields of wheat. Realism is unquestionably not on the menu, however hey, if I needed a practical expertise I might purchase Microsoft Flight Simulator and spend my time with this superb, doomed machine. (Which fairly frankly wouldn’t be in any respect misplaced in The Brew Barons.)

Brewing can be a really simplified course of: Dump a mixture of elements right into a vat, add some yeast, press a button, and bam—possibly you get one thing good (particularly should you use one of many recreation’s many recipes) and possibly, should you attempt to wing it, you find yourself with a gooey mess that is higher poured down the drain. Bottle it up and promote it at your individual institution, or promote it to one of many many different gin joints scattered all through the islands. 

You’ll be able to customise your pub in varied methods and serve different types of alcohol that can entice or discourage varied kinds of drinkers, incomes you roughly cash within the course of. But when, like me, you are primarily right here for enjoyable within the skies, a extra hands-off method additionally works, particularly should you handle to recruit an excellent bartender. It is a bit like Area of Goals: So long as you have received one thing on faucet, folks will present as much as drink it.

Likewise, your airplane could be modified in all kinds of the way to make it a greater fighter or harvester, and you will even have the chance to rent completely different folks to deal with the assorted features of your corporation: A brewer, a bartender, an accountant, a greater pilot, and so forth. Most of them appear to be roguish ne’er-do-wells in a technique or one other, however let’s be trustworthy, you are constructing a enterprise on drinkin’ and fightin’, and that is naturally going to draw a sure sort of persona.

There’s fairly a bit occurring nevertheless it unfolds at a gradual, manageable tempo, and that total simplicity of The Brew Barons is a giant a part of what I like about it. It is simple enjoyable, an old-time journey within the spirit of video games like Crimson Skies however with extra of an exploration/sightseeing angle (there are underwater wrecks to salvage, unique recipes floating in bottles, bits of lore to find, and different little sidelines that assist hold issues attention-grabbing) and, after all, making beer. Or no matter you want: You’ll be able to brew all kinds of alcoholic drinks, like cider, whiskey, gin, wine, rum, no matter, however because the saying goes, I am right here for the beer. It is the sort of recreation that is simple to leap into and horse round with, with out demanding a fantastic funding in time or psychological vitality.

The pre-release construct I performed was somewhat tough in some spots. Some features of the brewing system aren’t instantly intuitive, and a few occasions the mouse controls appeared to disconnect from the airplane, leading to a fast crash into the water. Landings had been additionally difficult: Regardless of the arcade flight mannequin, I needed to be very cautious and exact to keep away from doing harm to my airplane and priceless cargo whereas coming down on the water. Developer Lifetap Studios stated they’re nonetheless fine-tuning the sport, and harm thresholds are one thing they had been taking a look at for the ultimate launch.

I solely put a number of hours into The Brew Barons so I am unable to touch upon the way it holds up over the lengthy haul, however the time I spent with it was good enjoyable and I am wanting ahead to extra. The Brew Barons is out immediately on Steam.