After the resounding success of Alto’s Odyssey, its developers bring us Laya’s Horizon, a game that aims to offer us a new perspective on the world of mobile video games and that has quickly positioned itself as one of the most anticipated games of the year. The title is released today, May 2, but at Softonic we have had the opportunity to test it before its release and, without a doubt, we can say that we have loved it.
Game design and experience: multiple games within one world
Laya’s Horizon immerses us in the world of Laya, an intrepid girl who descends and explores an island full of mysteries and details, using her shiny cape to glide down its slopes.
In addition to being able to fly freely exploring the environment and its well-hidden secrets, we can also complete missions, pass levels to obtain rewards in the form of talismans and new capes that give us more abilities, and accompany other characters on their adventures through this curious new world.
During the interview given to Softonic by the people in charge of the team behind the project, they told us that one of the most important aspects of Laya’s Horizon is its control system, which is based on movements that are as intuitive as possible and kinesthetic. It is something that is already appreciated from minute one that you spend in the game, but that clearly has its reason for being. What child hasn’t run across the garden with a towel or cloak on his back and swings his hands to spin as if he were gliding? The control dynamics is, in this sense, very similar. With a double control, one for each hand, we can move Laya’s arms to take her where we want. We can tilt one or both arms, pick them up to accelerate or open them to use our cape as a kind of parachute.
I have to admit, maybe at first the idea of using two hands on the controls to do, let me put it like this, same thing, it’s a little weird. You have to imagine as an axis of symmetry in front of which to act. Then you realize that you are actually moving your arms and it all makes sense.
And it makes sense from the tutorial. Something to which, according to what Ryan Cash himself, CEO of Snowman, told us, they spent a lot of time. Explaining the controls in person is as easy as raising your hands, but doing it on a screen is another story. Here the game places us in a safe environment, in the middle of the sky, so that, individually, we learn the dynamics of it. First the horizontal movement, then the vertical and then the tricks that combine both. Being ready, we descend from the clouds and land in the new environment of the game.
In Snowman they are known for pampering every last detail of all their games and for doing it on all fronts. One that draws attention is the music. It adapts to each of the biomes in which we fly, it adapts to the speed at which we move and it also adapts to our proximity to the ground. As if that were not enough, the voices of the characters have been provided by the same team that created the game.
Challenges and challenges: a dream come true
One of the most attractive features of Laya’s Horizon is its intricate island, which offers multiple exploration options while also providing a quick start to the game. Not too many menus, not too many options. Even the graphic design and its loading is designed with the power of the devices on which we are going to run the game in mind.
Unlike Alto’s Odyssey, Laya’s Horizon introduces a more elaborate narrative and a whole new world. The developers wanted to create a game where players could retreat and explore. The initial idea came from the team’s love for the world of aviation, and also because of the amazing sport of base jumping, in which, with only a suit and a parachute that doesn’t open until the last moment, you descend a mountain of a single jump.
With a development of more than five years, the team started with just a few people to reach more than 30 participants. They overcame having to work remotely in 2020 and went on to deliver a truly exceptional game.
Alto’s older sister, so to speak
When Snowman considered working on the project, they were clear that Alto was already an entity in itself. Rather than evolve a title that already has its own journey, they wanted to face a new challenge. But not without the seeds of the experience learned snowboarding on the mountain chasing llamas and among cities lost in the desert.
The same wingsuit as Alto, is a tribute to the love of flight that manifests itself in Laya’s Horizon. The idea of biomes. adaptive music. For those of us who have followed the trajectory of the studio and its games, it is easy to see the origins, but also to appreciate how development has been completely turned around, as if in a spiral, to reach a higher level.
In my experience, Laya’s Horizon has managed to captivate me from the first moment I tried it. Its design, intuitive controls and immersive narrative make it a game that we enjoy to the fullest. We can dedicate several hours to it, passing levels or wondering where to find the 10 stalactites near which I have to fly to complete the challenge —a real case—, or play a game of just three minutes. we will enjoy it equally.
You soon find out which parts of the island are your favorite and whether to visit the snowy cliffs or the high mountains to overcome a certain challenge and complete the challenges of the NPCs in the game. Having completed the challenges, so to speak, there is still a lot to do. The dynamics of the game leads you to explore, to discover and to do everything by planning. Always with the right layer, of course.
The game has a certain part of strategy, planning. It is seen in the abilities that the different objects of the same offer us and how these are keys to complete certain tasks or overcome certain levels. It is also seen in the simple possibility of landing in certain places within the environment to take out the map and continue planning the descent. Like a good pilot or an experienced climber, you have to know what lies ahead and how to deal with it.
Laya’s Horizon is a game that has already captivated those of us who have had the opportunity to try it before its launch. Its world full of details, its innovative game mechanics and its simple, but complete narrative, make it a unique and highly recommended experience. Now available on the App Store and Google Play for free, all we have to do to play it is log in with our Netflix account. While you are downloading it, I still have to find two of the four caves that happen to be hidden on the island to complete level 35. What do you enjoy planning!
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