Hands On with Lost Wing at Play Blackpool 2018

By Ashley Woodcock,

As always with the various Play Expo events held throughout the year, indie developers come along in droves to showcase their games to the masses in attendance. At this year's Play Expo Blackpool event, developer BoxFrog Games was in the building with their title that's making its way to the PlayStation 4, Lost Wing. This fast-paced, procedurally structured title comes with a "neon sci-fi aesthetic", and aims to be quick and easy to learn but tough-as-nails to master. I strapped on my flying gear, took hold of the controller plugged into the PC, and headed out into space.

Off the bat, the controls were very easy to get to grips with. However, what I was and wasn't supposed to be shooting was a bit unclear, especially with how fast everything started to come at me. In terms of "everything," I mean different structures in various sizes including objects that looked like vents, turbines, and small bridges. I could either shoot, dodge or jump over these obstacles, but shooting those that could be destroyed would reveal bonuses including points and powerups.

Even when I slipped up and partially hit an obstacle, I was able to recover one of my lost wings thanks to the repair powerup I managed to find. I only played the first three or four levels and didn't come across any enemies or types of bosses — there were just more obstacles and higher speeds. The game will come with different boss battles and also different ships from which to choose. Eventually, my run came to an end but one of the developers said it was the best first attempt he'd seen during their time at the weekend event.

Lost Wing is a single player title, but players can compete for the best scores thanks to the leaderboards. Even though the game may appear as a simple shoot 'em up, the challenging difficulty to be had will keep players coming back for "just another attempt" with its catchy gameplay. The title is easy to pick up and play but only the most determined will be able to set some truly impressive scores and eventually bag the game's achievements.

The neon sci-fi visuals looked slick and the original electronic soundtrack fits well with the gameplay. If you've never seen the game in action before, check out this Early Access trailer for a look at the fast-paced action:

Lost Wing will be coming to the PS4 but a release date is yet to be announced.

Written by Ashley Woodcock

Hounding news for TrueTrophies ever since the site first launched. Lover of completions, tough achievements, shooters, action, adventure and racing titles, hip-hop, NBA, and my Scooby. I own an Xbox One and Xbox 360. If I ever get my gaming room back, and a whopping amount of constant free time to go with it, I may get a PlayStation console too.