Crimson Skies (2000)
Genres:Shooter, Simulator
Themes:Action, Fantasy, Historical, Warfare
Game modes:Single player, Multiplayer
Story:The series is set within an alternate history of the 1930s invented by Weisman and McCoy. Within this divergent timeline, the United States has collapsed, and air travel has become the most popular mode of transportation in North America; as a result, air pirates thrive in the world of Crimson Skies. In describing the concept of Crimson Skies, Jordan Weisman stated he wanted to "take the idea of 16th century Caribbean piracy and translate into a 1930s American setting."Show more
Vote to bring this game to GOG and help preserve it.9 169
I bought a budget double-pack of Crimson Skies and MS Combat Flight Simulator years ago and while I didn't spend a lot of time in CFS, I did spend a lot of time in Crimson Skies. I had never heard of dieselpunk before and I must say I enjoyed the setting immensely. Flying around the skies of a completely different 1937(if memory serves) America and fighting sky pirates and occasionally foreign militaries and mercenaries was a lot of fun. I also remember there being a stunt mission having to fly a certain way that took me a while to nail, but it was rewarding. It was a very fun adventure with a nice mix of simulation and arcade. I wish we'd get a sequel or something similar to it.
Crimson Skies was the reason I became a real world pilot. As a kid, I remembered playing the demo version of it on a shareware CD my dad had brought home and I immediately fell in love with the story, the airplanes and dirigibles, and the overall gameplay. I've played countless flight games like it in the past, but nothing hit home like Crimson Skies. I ordered a copy and when I booted it up on my PC, I could never leave it. I wanted more and more like it. Eventually, the enjoyment of flying around is what I truly sought after, and I remember how this game brought me to it. Eventually I got my pilot's license, and to this day, it and other helpful things, made me the pilot that I am today.
Many people have fond memories of the Xbox classic "Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge".
Many didn't know, though, that High Road to Revenge is actually a sequel to THIS game, released only on PC way back when. This is a shame, since this original release had even more swashbuckling aerial flair than the Xbox game, a lot of plane customization, and decent story/voice acting. It even had multiplayer mode, with Zeppelin versus Zeppelin combat (though that was only provided via MSN gaming zone, so it hardly ever worked or had players).
It'd be great to see this title resurrected, not only so the xbox fans can experience the prequel story, but also since it's such a well done example of pulp genre fiction.
Microsoft has a huge back catalog of flight games for PC, but Crimson Skies is the one that deserves to be brought back the most. It has a cool, unique setting with great plane designs that encourage you to try them all out beyond just simple stat changes. What really makes Crimson Skies so great is the combination of relaxed physics that let anyone get into the game and the variety of missions and locations making every level memorable with plenty of objectives to do beyond just dogfighting enemies.
The only problem is that this game does not take kindly to modern hardware. It's very buggy and glitchy on Windows 10, and if you have AMD hardware it might not even boot even with fan patches. If GoG is truly dedicated to helping preserve old games and make them available to the common person then they could do a lot of good by putting their efforts towards this title.
I can't think of another game with a named and voiced protagonist, that makes you feel like you're living that adventure, I remember repeating missions over and over to see all the locations in the game.
The moment I started to play Crimson Skies, I became enthralled by it's alternative history world and style, from the wild designs of the planes to a soundtrack that included 1930s inspired instrumentals. It made sense that I made it the first game I've ever streamed. Mote people should get to experience not just this game, but the game world that inspired it.
A stone-cold classic aerial action game, with great retro vibes. Also an absolute chore to get working on a modern PC, if you can even find it. I can still hear its soundtrack echo in my head sometimes, and it'd be great to experience this dashing adventure again.
I wish Crimson Skies would be available on GOG so I could relive the thrilling aerial dogfights and captivating storyline on modern systems. It's a timeless classic! 🛩️✨
Crimson skies was amazing! Great story, fun flying and wonderful dogfights! It had it all. Some of the coolest airplanes as well. I ended up with a copy of it because my original disc died. Was always a fan of the Disney cartoon TaleSpin, and this is the video game that fell right with it. Sky pirates!!
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