The Skies

About

The Skies is a multiplayer open world role playing shooter game with horror and post-apocalyptic themes. It was developed by Eforb and was released on April 16, 2016. It received negative reviews from players.

The Skies is a unique combination of post-apocalyptic MMORPG and FPS with a non-linear storyline, in which you follow your own path or join other players to conquer the wasteland.

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35%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,808 reviews

graphics40 positive mentions

story31 negative mentions

Free-to-play with a lot of potential as a post-apocalyptic MMORPG with FPS elements.
Large open world to explore with various quests, crafting, and PvP options.
Developers frequently release updates and listen to community feedback.

Game is currently very buggy and unstable; frequent crashes and disconnects prevent reliable play.
Poor optimization with low frame rates even on high-end hardware and lag spikes, especially in towns.
Unintuitive UI and quest system with minimal tutorial guidance, confusing objectives, and broken quests.

story
257 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
78%
12%
The game's story and quest system are widely criticized for being unengaging, poorly designed, and fraught with bugs that hinder progression, including unclear objectives, missing quest markers, and broken quests. Players report a lack of narrative direction and coherence, frequent quest failures, confusing mechanics, and overall a shallow, frustrating experience that detracts significantly from enjoyment. Despite some potential and occasional praise for the world concept, crafting, and voice acting, the story aspect remains underdeveloped and difficult to follow.
- “The complex and emotional story had me in awe.”
- “The skies is a unique combination of post-apocalyptic MMORPG and FPS with a non-linear storyline, in which you follow your own path or join other players to conquer the wasteland.”
- “Good story (an MMO that doesn't wash you on the shores of some generic world/island, and actually starts really normal like).”
- “The devs obviously do not care about producing a quality game at all; the story is all guesswork and the text boxes are only 'ummm.....what?', 'ummm nuh uh' and similar. The controls are sloppy and overall there is a complete lack of any narrative or anything resembling a story period.”
- “Big map with depth of a puddle, nothing to do but fetch quests and running around in a town all day; only server that works is a Russian cancer server with no one in it.”
- “No story motivation, no PVP motivation (unless you like paying to win), not even any PVE motivation. The NPCs are mediocre, and the combat system is below par.”
graphics
144 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
56%
16%
The graphics are generally described as outdated, clunky, and poorly optimized, often evoking early 2000s or even older styles, with frequent bugs and performance issues regardless of settings. While some appreciate the atmospheric and detailed post-apocalyptic environments, many find the visuals unimpressive compared to trailers, with frequent lag, glitches, and inconsistent quality across NPCs and effects. Overall, the graphics show potential but require significant improvement to meet modern standards and provide smoother, more immersive gameplay.
- “The graphics are smooth and the large post-apocalyptic map is very detailed.”
- “Graphic and the wasteland representation are very good, kinda remind me of a mix of Mad Max and Fallout New Vegas.”
- “The graphics is very modern and pretty, my eyes are glad to see such landscapes.”
- “The graphics look like I made the game with a Commodore 64!”
- “When you try and lower the game to the lowest graphics it looks terrible and still lags; also, when you set the game to maximum graphics, it doesn’t look like the trailer.”
- “The graphics are pretty awful for a game coming out these days, and the load times take a loooong time to log in.”
stability
114 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
98%
The game's stability is notably poor, plagued by frequent bugs, glitches, crashes, and server issues that significantly hinder playability. While some updates have mitigated certain problems, many users report persistent NPC, quest, and UI bugs, as well as severe lag and freezing, especially on specific servers. Despite its promising concept and potential, the current early access version remains rough and unstable, requiring substantial fixes before being fully enjoyable.
- “So far I am really enjoying this great game. I am crafting clothes and it's very fun. Gameplay is flawless at these specs using ultra settings at 2k, with very few to no glitches. Took a few minutes to figure out how to log in until I changed servers to EU, then it worked perfectly.”
- “Runs great on my PC which isn't too expensive.”
- “Imagine playing Rust but with 100x more glitches, and that's what this game is.”
- “The skies, what could have been a great nuclear apocalyptic game turned into a laggy horror made from a surplus of bugs and glitches. It feels like an unfinished sculpture waiting for its master to come back to finish it.”
- “Game freezes at "authorize" screen on startup, and the developers don't even care. A lot of people have this same problem.”
gameplay
103 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
61%
10%
The gameplay receives mixed reviews, with many praising its potential, open world, and combat mechanics but frequently pointing out numerous bugs, clunky controls, and lack of tutorials that hinder overall experience. While some find it enjoyable and promising for an early alpha, others criticize its jankiness, unfinished features, and occasional pay-to-win elements. Overall, the gameplay is described as having solid foundations but needing significant refinement and polish.
- “Good fun, good gameplay with friends, fast 3D engine for old computers, free.”
- “Gameplay is amazing, as well as the graphics and storyline.”
- “There are many pros of the game such as good PVE, loot, items, crafting, and gameplay.”
- “Make no mistake: I think that new content is great and all, and the fact that the game is being revived is awesome, but don't rush to add new things when the game's mechanics are still so shaky.”
- “The game was left unfinished by its developers with serious bugs and gameplay issues.”
- “Quests are still buggy and gameplay is very wonky with movements and getting around the map. My timer won't update to reflect actual game hours which is somewhere around 20ish, but I'm done with it just like the devs are.”
optimization
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
48%
36%
The game's optimization is widely criticized for poor performance, especially on mid to low-end PCs, with frequent lag, low frame rates, and stuttering notably in busy areas. While some acknowledge developer efforts and slight improvements over time, overall it remains badly optimized and often unplayable, impacting the enjoyment despite promising content and visuals.
- “The game is pretty well optimized.”
- “With the recent updates to the game improving performance and such, I say the devs are trying.”
- “Runs smoothly at 60 fps.”
- “Poorly optimized i5 2GB DDR3 GPU was not enough.”
- “Terrible optimization at the date I'm writing this.”
- “Game is unplayable (bad stuttering, framerate 1-5fps) in the next town.”
grinding
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
Grinding in the game is widely seen as tedious and time-consuming, often requiring extensive farming of mobs, materials, and currency to progress or craft equipment, with some players describing it as a "grinding simulator." Crafting is particularly slow and frustrating, sometimes involving hours of idle waiting, which diminishes the overall enjoyment. While the game has potential and offers challenging enemies, many feel the grind-heavy design, combined with limited content and buggy moments, detracts from the experience.
- “I hope you devs fire this guy because it is just the stupidest thing I have ever heard of... you spend about 1 hour farming the required material to craft your new piece of equipment in order to advance but then they tell you that it will take 45 minutes to craft your boots... and you need to craft boots, pants, chest piece, helmet, weapon... so after 5 to 6 hours you can actually advance to the next quest... yep don't play this game unless you want to idle for a day... if you could actually play the game it would be one of the best MMOs ever released but you just cannot play it you can wait in the game though (basically the only thing you can do).”
- “They won't increase map size, the game is abandoned and you can tell that they made it so you spend too many hours farming in the current map (or pay real money) to get the best gear.”
- “Apart from farming certain mobs or grinding money for better gear there's a small bit of extremely offputting PvP with 'conquest points' which really don't matter so you will see some high geared dude going around the map trying to get all of them for hours on end.”
humor
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game largely stems from unintended sources, such as amusing voice acting, bugs, and glitches that players find funny despite their disruptive nature. While some quest dialogues and character animations prompt laughter, the comedic value often arises from the game's flaws rather than deliberate wit, making it an entertaining experience for those who appreciate so-bad-it's-good humor.
- “Tutorial quests are alright, voice acting literally makes me burst out laughing.”
- “I can't stop laughing at how close the scripts must have been to these voice actors' faces because sometimes they read things literally, and sometimes, normally the better voice actor, will sort of paraphrase.”
- “-the voice acting is either meh or just downright hilarious - the game would be better with no voices at all, but you can skip through the bad voiceover.”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
17%
25%
The game features a well-crafted post-apocalyptic atmosphere reminiscent of Fallout and Borderlands, with immersive wasteland level design and a living world that enhances player engagement. Its stylish visuals and detailed environment effectively pull players into the setting, making exploration enjoyable despite some early bugs. Overall, the atmosphere strongly captures the essence of a decayed, dynamic world that fans of the genre will appreciate.
- “Atmosphere was created so well, pulls you in and doesn’t let you go.”
- “It has an amazing atmosphere and good basics of MMO FPS, feels like Mad Max had a baby with Fallout 2.”
- “I've only started the game, and so far it's great. This is probably the closest to an online Fallout game you can get, almost identical in atmosphere with a wasteland, a character you shape, crafting, scavenging, a story, and a living world where NPCs act realistically.”
- “-post-apocalypse atmosphere is decent.”
- “-decent atmosphere that really gives the apocalyptic vibe”
- “I've only started the game, and so far it's great but buggy. The atmosphere is almost identical to Fallout's: a wasteland with a character you can fully customize, crafting, scavenging, a story, and a 'living world' where NPCs perform activities like stirring food on the oven, walking around, and sitting.”
monetization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The game features microtransactions, leading some users to view it as pay-to-win or a cash grab, though being free-to-play somewhat offsets this concern. While criticized for bugs and a low-budget feel, players appreciate the lack of aggressive ads and hope the developers will improve performance and support for a better experience.
- “That being said, it is a free-to-play title so this balances things out somewhat but microtransactions are in the game.”
- “No ads (from what I saw) that are consistently trying to sell you paying.”
- “Cheapskates fallout with microtransactions, glitchy as hell, budget engine, seems like every voice done by one person, yet I always wanted fallout online, so recommended for actually giving people what they want.”
- “I heard rumors that the devs set this up in early access for a quick cash grab and moved on to another game, identical in all aspects; to release again in early access.”
- “Not even worth downloading, the trailer just hypes the game too much for what it truly is, and the game has microtransactions which means it is pay2win for sure.”
- “Please don't go microtransactions or pay2win, these styles are slowly dying in today's gamer age... you are the next thing, don't cling to the past.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
The music generally fits well with the game's setting and enhances the overall atmosphere. While some users felt it was fairly standard or generic, most found the soundtrack and sound effects to be satisfactory and complementary to the gameplay experience.
- “Music suits the overall setting.”
- “Character, story, combat, RPG, weapon, world physics, costuming, sound, music, addictive bosses, and gratuitous violence elements are pretty much all spot on.”
- “The music and sounds are ok too.”
- “Downloaded, started, read the word authorize for a few minutes with some cheap music that sounds like it was stolen from War Z... 4 times and nothing. Not worth the time to download!”
- “The music and sounds are just okay.”
- “+soundtrack.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Replayability is currently very poor, as the game fails to launch properly and is plagued by connectivity issues, making it unplayable in its current state. Users express frustration and hope for improvements in future updates before reconsidering their opinions.
- “Trash, it won't even go past the server menu. It keeps saying exemption then disconnects. It's frustrating; they should at least make a game that works. I'm sad I wasted RAM and time on this POS game. Even in pre-alpha, it should at least start up. Go back to the drawing board and watch how other developers launch their games. At least they launch and are playable, but you guys can't even get past that. You should just stop trying to make a game that's obviously too complex for your small team that can't even code a proper launcher.”
- “This game needs to be more playable!”
- “The developers seem to have no idea how to create a more playable game.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is praised for its complex, moving story and impactful voice acting that deeply resonates with players. However, some gameplay quirks, like unintended character movements, may slightly detract from the experience. Overall, the narrative and dialogue effectively evoke strong feelings and immersion.
- “The complex and emotional story had me in awe.”
- “The voice acting truly brought tears to my eyes, and the dialogue from my character truly made me feel the depth of the emotion.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development received mixed feedback, with some appreciation for the custom character design, though technical issues like loading screen problems hindered overall experience and engagement.