The upcoming open-world puzzle adventure game from developer Cicada Games has quite a bit of hype behind it. The visual style and island-hopping theme brings to mind classics like Link's Awakening, and the puzzles promise to be both plentiful and high-quality.
You may know the game by the name Akurra, but a few weeks ago during the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase on Steam, a big name change was revealed: Akurra is now Isles of Sea and Sky. Developer Jason Newman has written quite a thoughtful and thorough explanation of the reasoning behind the change, which you can read in full here. Here's an excerpt summarizing some of the points discussed:
Now, after a lot of consideration and thought, I believe that taking the name Akurra and using it for my own myth would be a form of cultural erasure. For most people in the Western world, their only exposure to it would be through my game. (...) Changing the name might have a small negative impact on me and my game, but not changing the name could have a huge negative impact on an entire culture. The potentiality of overwriting what people understand is the story and meaning of the name Akurra is not acceptable to me.
Along with the new name, we got a very impressive new animated trailer. It's one of my favorite indie-game trailers I've seen in some time: gorgeous artwork that feels like a throwback to classic anime, interwoven seamlessly with gameplay clips, all set to some wonderful music. Check it out below:
The final piece of this bundle of announcements was a big update to the game's demo. If you've already played it in the past, the demo now features "more areas, puzzles and secrets to explore in Stoney Cliffs!" and has received at least one more significant update since. You can download the demo free here on the game's Steam page.
Isles of Sea and Sky does not yet have a planned release date, but we'll be sure to let you know when that changes; we're eager to get our hands on the finished product. If you want to keep tabs on the game and stay up to date with more announcements and updates, you can wishlist the game on Steam and join their mailing list and Discord via their website: IslesofSeaandSky.com.
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