Skyward

Skyward is a free launch-and-upgrade distance game you play in the browser. One run is simple: line up the ramp, catch the power at the top of its swing, and see how far across the valley you can get. One run is also short — twenty to forty seconds — which is exactly the point, because the real game is the long curve of upgrades that makes the next attempt further than the last.

Everything runs off a single control. Tap the screen, or press the space bar. The first tap locks your launch angle while an arrow sweeps up and down; the second locks the power while a bar swings back and forth, and catching it near the top gives the hardest shove off the ramp. From then on the same control is your burner: hold it to spend fuel and push along your current heading, let go to save what is left. Because the burner pushes along the direction you are already travelling rather than steering you, the angle you picked at the ramp still matters ten seconds later — it is a commitment, not a suggestion.

The air is not empty. Balloons throw you upward and top up a little fuel, coins pay straight into your workshop tin, and birds knock a hard chunk of speed out of you if you fly through one. That turns height into a real decision. Skimming low is safe and predictable; climbing into the balloon lanes pays far better and puts you where the birds are. Hitting the ground is not the end either — with enough spring in your boots you skip along the hills like a stone on water, and a good skipping run can add hundreds of metres after your fuel is gone.

Six upgrades sit in the workshop and each answers a different question rather than all nudging the same number. Launch Rig is the shove off the ramp. Burner is how hard you push in the air, Tank is how long you can push, and Glide Wing is how slowly you sink when you are not pushing at all. Spring Boots turn a landing into another hop. Lucky Charm widens the reach that pulls in coins and balloons, which quietly makes a messy line pay like a clean one. Because they all cost from the same tin, every purchase is a choice about the kind of flight you want.

Holding the control is only half of it. A quick tap in mid-air makes you dive: the nose drops and height turns into forward speed. You want that in three situations and each is a genuine decision — dropping into a lane of balloons below you, getting under a bird that is about to take a quarter of your speed, and cashing in whatever altitude is left when the fuel has gone. Height does not come back, so diving too early puts you into the ground.

The zones are not just a change of colour, because each one asks a new question. Warm columns rise off the Cliffs and carry you if you thread them. A crosswind runs through the Highlands, sometimes behind you and sometimes across you. The Cloud Sea hides what is ahead until you are almost on it, and the thin air over the Aurora barely pulls you down at all. Further out it gets rougher: storm cells over the Storm Front press you down wherever the rain falls, and lightning kicks you forward when it strikes. On the Sunset Sea the water skips you like a stone, so Spring Boots matter again late in the game, and in Starfall you thread golden star rings for a burst of speed and fuel. Three of the six workshop upgrades stay locked until you reach the zone that unlocks them, so arriving somewhere new hands you a new tool rather than just a new backdrop.

The journey is cut into legs, and every leg ends at a landmark you can see from the air: a Windmill, a Lighthouse, a Watchtower, a Sky Buoy, an Ice Spire, a Rod Tower, a Harbour Light and the Sky Harbour gate at 12,000 metres. The pennant in the corner of the screen always tells you which leg you are on and how far the next landmark is, and the first time you fly past one you earn a leg bonus on top of your distance pay. You start over green Meadow, cross the sandstone Cliffs, climb into grey Highlands, break through a Cloud Sea, pass under the Aurora and the Storm Front, skim the Sunset Sea and reach Starfall. The Sky Harbour is a stop, not the finish: past it the legs keep coming, each a little longer than the last, and the sky keeps changing between the cloud tops, the aurora, the storm and the stars, never the same twice in a row. Your coins, upgrades, legs and best flight are all saved on your device, so you can chip away at it over several visits. If you like Skyward, try Stunt Rider or Redline Run next.

One control does everything: tap the screen, or press Space. The first tap locks your launch angle while the arrow sweeps, the second locks the power as the bar swings — catch it near the top for the hardest launch. In the air, hold the same control to burn fuel and release to save it; a short tap dives. Balloons throw you upward, coins pay, birds knock your speed down. P pauses.