Sky Rogue: its cell-shaded look gushes style, the original aircraft selection is wide-reaching, and its weapon options are more in-depth than expected. But I'd say the way it handles co-op on Steam remains a somewhat hidden strength that contributes to its lasting power even after it left early access on August 24th, 2017.
Before the time of the widely accessible online gaming we enjoy today, the couch gameplay experience was a definitive part of the way gamers spent time together. The same was true for some flight titles on game consoles as well. Even as high-speed internet spread and online multiplayer became a leading game feature, that fond couch cooperative gameplay experience remains something special that games continue to incorporate. The co-op of Sky Rogue has that same nostalgic feeling in spades with an important supplement via the Steam gaming platform. Something that makes it a fantastic flight game for any game library.
Sky Rogue's campaign is easy to jump into with a minimal amount of preparation, planning, or even context needed. Within a few minutes of booting it up, players can be dogfighting with enemy fighters, bombing boats, and pelting aerial warships with volleys of rockets. The spunky roster of original design fighters, bombers, and interceptors are coupled with a sizeable list of weapons, countermeasures, drones, and backward firing weapons. There's a decent amount of content driven by a pleasant fly, die and upgrade game loop which gives it significant replayability.
Thankfully, Sky Rogue does not have watered-down co-op. The entire campaign can be played with another person in either horizontal or vertical split-screen. There is no secondary, purpose built game mode that excludes content or only has a limited number of scenarios to play; a significant pitfall that many games from past and present have fallen into.
All progress that is made in either single-player campaign or co-op campaign is saved in the save file for player one. This means that player two will always have access to all the aircraft, weapons, upgrades, and other components that have been unlocked by player one. Player two will not be stuck using inferior equipment because of mismatched save progress or not logging in with their own user profile.
This is pretty great for couch wingmen, but for people playing on Steam, they can also enjoy the same split screen action via remote play. So long as Steam's remote play internet connection requirements are met, the game can be shared with a second player who also has a free Steam account. Using this method, the other player is not required to own a copy of the game to play. This makes Sky Rogue a flight game that can be shared with friends all around the world at no extra cost for the second player.
Some setting and resolution configuration may be needed to smooth out the desired gameplay speed and quality. But a few minutes of potential troubleshooting is a low price to pay for a solid go-to flight game for quick cooperative gameplay sessions. Sky Rogue is no stranger to Steam sales, so keep an eye out for the next one.
Note: this article is specifically about the Steam version of the game. Sky Rogue is available on Itch.io, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Xbox game services but I cannot tell you if those platforms support remote play or how remote play works on them, as I have not played this game on those platforms myself.
About the Writer
Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.
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