Idle Skies review

Idle Skies presents itself as one part educational entertainment, and one part idle game, combined together to create an aviation delight. The reality is somewhere in between the two – a little bit less luxury airline and a little bit more waiting in coach with a few snacks to tide you over.

The game is all about advancing your way through the history of aviation. You'll start out with a little paper plane, and from there, you'll earn gold to build up an arsenal of more complex planes, and make your way through the ages all the way to the space era of flight. As you unlock each plane, you'll receive a short bite of information about it, and its place in the history of flight. There's just enough here to call the game "educational." You might learn a little about each individual plane, but this is not a game that's going to be deeply instructive.

That same simplicity carries over to many of the other elements of the game as well. The graphics and sound are clean and well done, but they're also quite minimal. The animation at the top of the main screen simply loops without ever changing, as does the background music. Before long, you'll likely find yourself ignoring both, particularly in the case of the music.

The main drawback is that there simply isn't much to do, even by the standards of an idle game. There are some upgrades you can buy, but the main way to advance is simply by buying more planes and accumulating more wealth in order to move to the next age. Your wealth builds quite slowly – especially at the start – and while it's possible to reset your progress in order to get a speed boost, the amount it takes to reach the next age is quite hefty.

It's also worth pointing out that Idle Skies is a purely idle game – there's no clicker element here. There's no way to add to your pile of gold by tapping the screen. The only way to advance is by upgrading your planes and purchasing new models – and then waiting. Occasionally there will be a bonus to give you increased profit for a time, and if you're willing to watch an ad you can spin a chance wheel to earn additional bonuses.

Overall, though, Idle Skies is all about waiting for your wealth to pile up and occasionally interacting with your planes. While it's a decent enough option for a game you want to be able to check on minimally, for most of us, it's likely to seem a fairly lackluster experience.