Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire aims to scratch that Skies of Arcadia itch this October

If today’s RPGs don’t have enough airships for you, one developer hopes to rectify that in style. Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire wants to bring folks back to the “golden era of classic JRPGs,” and we’ll see how it fares the skies starting on October 10, 2024.

Publisher PQube and developer Octeto Studios announced the date along with the new trailer below. You can spot some real Skies of Arcadia vibes at first glance. When this one launches, it’ll be plundering the skies on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. 

You might have already taken these wings for a spin yourself at this point. Sky Oceans had a demo during Steam Next Fest in June, offering up a brief taste of the life of a dogfighting sky pirate. The aerial battles themselves are turn-based, giving you the option to attack or evade enemy fire when necessary. If your crew’s gear isn’t cutting it, you can take some time outside of battle to reinforce equipment, boost your arsenal of weapons, and improve overall agility.

The story has you traversing the world above the clouds as Glenn Windwalker, who certainly has a name suited for adventure. The actions you and your squad take throughout the narrative can shape the future of communities around the world, each providing their own unique characters, dilemmas, and related sub-quests.

Whether or not Sky Oceans lives up to its inspirations is still, if you’ll pardon the expression, up in the air. Personally, we don’t have nearly enough sky-faring RPGs featuring rag-tag pirate crews, so the more the merrier.