Skygard Arena

Set in a fantasy world with five unique factions and an ancient crown pitting them apart, Skygard Arena is a tactical turn-based strategy game that already holds a lot of charm in its Early Access state.

- By Alyssa Rochelle Payne

Whether you want to play through a solo campaign, battle chess-like AI in Arena mode, or utilise your best strategies against others in PvP, there's a lot to try out during Skygard’s journey to its 1.0 launch.

The campaign begins with one of your first Champions, Na Jima, preparing for Skygard’s Tournament of the Ancients, a competition in which contestants battle one another to win the Crown of the Ancients. Being a talented, young fighter from the Clouds Clans, Na Jima was chosen to represent her faction and dons her clan’s sacred bow in battle. I originally thought the tournament would occupy a bulk of the adventure, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the story expands into an even grander romp through Skygard, as you'll embark on a chase for a thief, meet many friends and foes, and venture into dangerous territories.

Through each mission, the picture of a large, complex world started coming together. That said, the way characters went about discussing inter-faction politics and other lore did get confusing, doing so in a way that already assumes you're familiar with this world (kind of like the splurge of vocabulary in a fantasy novel's opening). The core conflict and goal never get lost in the mix, but much of the current dialogue does read like an early draft. Even so, the writing quality doesn’t interfere with the enjoyable gameplay.