Wing Of Darkness Review – Those Beautiful Killing Machines

Not all games are expensive ‘AAA’ epics. Tempting as it is to give coverage exclusively to big-budget titans, there are times when I’d rather use the opportunity to spread awareness of an unsung hero. Whilst Wing of Darkness has its fair share of imperfections, they never stop the experience being breathtakingly beautiful. It’s a game that’s exceptionally clever with its budget as it cuts back on non-essential elements and runtime to deliver something more mechanically refined and visually impressive.

Introduction

Wing of Darkness is an indie aerial-mech-shooter simulation game, released digitally on the PlayStation 4 on 2nd June, 2021, with a limited-release physical print following later on. The game was developed by elusive Japanese micro-studio Production Exabilities and published by Clouded Leopard Entertainment.

Story

The story is told as an internal monologue from its two leading ladies. The first is Klara, our main protagonist, who initially joins the military in an entry-level support role, only to be immediately promoted to the elite rank of Fraulein; a class reserved only for women with super-human reflexes compatible with the ‘Held System’, allowing them to pilot high-speed armed combat mechs.

Our second lead is Klara’s stoic wing-woman, Erika, and the plot revolves around the pair coming to terms with the fact that mere months ago they were girls living mundane lives whilst now they’re regularly facing death on the front lines, battling a mysterious alien threat known only as the ‘Blankers’, in a war that’s largely hidden from the public eye. It’s a personalised take on a much grander war story and a sad tale which highlights both the harrowing physical and mental damage such soldiers endure.

Gameplay

Many will come for the immersive combat, and what a treat it is. Your mech is already perfectly balanced for speed, firepower and accuracy right from the start and all optional weapons are available from the first mission too, meaning you won’t need to constantly learn how to use new weapons as the story progresses, unlike the game’s obvious inspiration, Zone of the Enders.

It’s immediately easy to experience the thrill of flight in any direction with the user-friendly controls. Even if you run out of ammo, it automatically regenerates itself over time, so you can throw yourself into the fray without having to worry about conserving ammunition. Switching between your weapons in sequence will allow you to continue the assault with little interruption, yet moments over vulnerability can also be satisfying as you take advantage of lightning-fast dash manoeuvres to escape danger or close gaps.

There is no damage penalty for colliding with enemies or with the ground, so it’s easy to let go and unleash dramatic moves while repositioning, and it’s easy to flank and decimate enemies with lock-on reticles which are generously accurate. The difficulty settings are also as accurate as they are diverse, meaning the game will only ever be as tough as you want it to be.

Graphics/Sound

Everything feels so detailed and realistically responsive as your mech, the ocean and even close-proximity enemies shimmer in the sunlight. You’ve also got heavy weapons with just the right amount of recoil to make the screen shake with realism without being a distraction and the glorious high-speed dashing adds a satisfying motion blur to the already stunningly detailed visuals.

The emotional cut-scenes between missions work well as internal monologues, with gorgeously detailed images and expertly delivered voice acting, yet it’s in these sequences where the game cuts the bulk of its production costs since scenes aren’t animated at all yet give the illusion you’re watching a bigger-budget 3D anime. The Japanese-only voiceovers are fine between missions however you’ll likely miss the banter during combat since you’ll be too busy piloting your mech to read the subtitles.

Replayability/Trophies

Wing of Darkness’ tiny 2-hour runtime and lack of customisation options or unlockables give little reason to return after the credits have rolled. You can select your own weapon loadouts, however the game tries to help by recommending specific ones for certain missions, which are usually fine anyway. This is the extent of your customisation options. There are no weapon mods, performance altering equipment or colourful skins to play around with.

If you want that platinum trophy, you’ll need to replay your favourite(s) of the six chapters to build up your kill counts and shots fired. To unlock every trophy, that 2-hour runtime will end up being closer to 6. Play through the campaign from start to finish without being shot down while shooting down almost everything that flies. It’s just 6 missions (and 1 mini training mission) you can play on whatever difficulty you want without penalty. You will need to grind kills, damage taken and bullets fired from your Primary and Tertiary weapons. Using specific chapters through chapter select can be more effective with the grind.

Be sure to do all the grinding on Smooth Sailing (very easy difficulty) as it will not only make you more damage resistant, but also make your weapons less prone to overheating, allowing you to attack with more efficiency. Unfortunately, there’s no way to track your overall progress, only the post-mission debriefing that shows your kills, ammo fired and hits taken in the said mission will give you some idea about your progression. Do note that you must finish the mission to save your grind, so the trophies will only pop on the mission debriefing screen.

Conclusion

As it stands, we’ve only got this one small chapter of a story that introduces a highly secretive and militaristic world (not unlike the real world then) with generous helpings of shiny sci-fi. Small as this particular exploration may be, it does at least offer some closure amongst all the carnage and tragedy, and for that it deserves both respect and praise.

It’s a shame that it’s all over so quickly. I think the reason for the hefty regular price drops to an already budget-priced game was down to word getting around about just how short the campaign really is. The game wraps up Klara and Erika’s story nicely yet there’s still more learn about the ominous Blankers and mysterious Frauleins after those credits role. I really do hope we get a sequel someday.

As enjoyable as it is, if we go for the old metric of spending a pound/dollar/euro for every hour of playtime, then even with the game launching at half the price of a full-priced retail release, then we’re still getting pretty lousy value for money, and also explains why the game (thankfully) is frequently deep-discounted in regular PSN sales. If the price is right, then the game is absolutely worth a go; just don’t expect to get longer than one amazing afternoon out of it.