Sin & Punishment: Successor Of The Skies

How Treasure came out all guns blazing for its last big game

- Jon Bailes

Over a decade on, it’s alarming to realise that Treasure’s sequel to Sin & Punishment is still one of its most recent releases. In fact, Successor Of The Skies was the Tokyo developer’s last new release in the west before Bangai-O: Missile Fury, and its last new physical console release anywhere. Back in 2010, who would have guessed we would go so long without a fresh release from the studio?

Perhaps the signs were there. After the turn of the millennium, the company had increasingly fallen back on licensed titles and sequels – and while quality remained high, that was a far cry from the string of originals that had catalysed its reputation for bold yet tightly crafted action. But more than that, in retrospect Successor Of The Skies (Star Successor in the US) has the air of a last hurrah. It’s the equivalent of a suitcase overpacked to cover every eventuality, its contents poised to burst out the moment they’re unzipped. Even compared to Treasure’s usual exuberance, this feels like a game designed like there’s no tomorrow. And as sad as it might be to think that in a sense there wasn’t, it all makes for some leaving do.

Successor Of The Skies isn’t a numbered sequel, and that seems right given the gulf between it and the original