Games worth discovering

Laya's Horizon - COMPLEX FLYING Mechanics, But is STILL VERY ENJOYABLE

2K View2023-05-05

Laya's Horizon is another netflix subscriber only game. So in order to play this game, you do need an active netflix subscription in order to play it. Please keep that in mind if you are considering playing it. Laya's Horizon is a game that I recently tried out, and while it looked pretty and kind of reminded me of games like Sky: Children of the light, but also the Alto series, which isn't surprising since the developers of Laya's Horizon also made the Alto series.

I felt that the flying in this game, while trying to be different, was maybe a bit too different. Well, at least for my liking. The flying in this game reminds me more of flight simulators. You have to use your thumbs and drag up to go down, and drag down to go up, and you have to do specific thumb movements in order to do a soft turn, or a hard turn, and even to do a boost. It's pretty complicated for someone who maybe isn't really into flight simulator type games. And it will take a bit of getting used to before you may be able to get a hang of the flying mechanics.

The way to fly in this game is from the use of capes. And you can earn many different capes from leveling up and also from completing challenges. This seems familiar, and that's cause in Sky: Children of the light you also get many different capes. I think that's pretty much all the comparisons between the two games though. Laya's Horizon also has a trinket. And you can also earn different types of trinkets from challenges. These trinkets will give you various benefits, as with the capes. The challenges in the game are scattered around the open world. There's races to complete, flying challenges to do, and they will all test your flying skills.

Some of them are pretty challenging, forcing you to really boost as fast as you can, swoop under bridges and through trees, and if you fail you can just retry or move on to something else. The world felt pretty open to me. You could just fly around and just enjoy the sights. Which is also encouraged, there are various open world tasks you can complete as you explore, or you can just enjoy the flying, and explore the vast open world.

If you can get a hang of the flying, this is a truly entertaining experience. Visually this game isn't the most graphically intense. Going for a more cartoony vibe, with not a lot of details in the textures. But it gives off a very nice artistic aesthetic that you can enjoy. It definitely has its visual moments. And I think it will be visually appealing to many.

Overall I'd say that Laya's Horizon will probably turn off a few people with its somewhat complicated flying mechanics, and if you stick with it, it will definitely take a while to master. But if you can push through that, and figure out the flying, there is a pretty fun game in there. I don't think I could say you can enjoy a relaxing experience in this game with the flying.

Compared to games like the developers Alto series that was simple to play and was pretty soothing in its gameplay, this one is not as soothing or relaxing since there's many thumb movement mechanics in order to fly well. But it's still an interesting experience. While it did throw me off at the beginning, I managed to grow to enjoy the flying experience overall, and I still think you should give it a try. This game is pretty good.