Flying Amateurs is betting that action RPG players are ready to trade their traditional fantasy arsenals for something far more ridiculous. Above Land: Rhapsody, a three-player co-op roguelite headed for release, hands you everything from broadswords and katanas to yo-yos, electric guitars, folding chairs, and basketballs, all deployed in frantic 30-minute battles against waves of enemies and a final boss.
The game opens with you as a young child inhabiting The Invincible Bebe, a floating vessel that serves as your hub. Before each battle, you trade with an alchemist for potions, cook meals for combat buffs with the ship's chef, and visit a tailor to customize your avatar with witch hats and aviation goggles. The blacksmith is where the real magic happens, outfitting you with weapons that feel pulled directly from a grade schooler's fever dream.
Combat mechanics shift dramatically depending on what you wield. The broadsword triggers an automated turret as one of its special abilities, while the folding chair summons a wrestling ring to trap enemies and lock down their dodge patterns. The electric guitar demands precise timing, with a tempo indicator at the bottom of the screen rewarding rhythm-perfect strums with damage-dealing musical note projectiles that spray in all directions.
Each battle launches from a pop-up book left to your character by his missing mother, transporting you to a floating landscape of shattered terrain. Four waves of increasingly brutal enemies precede a boss encounter. Between waves, you collect randomized character modifiers that stack in real time, ranging from weapon electrification to buffs that make your character grow larger and more powerful at the cost of movement speed. Developers hint at nearly 1,000 total modifiers in the finished game, including absurd options like turning enemies into sheep or allowing you to vocally damage foes using a headset microphone.
The game's early build contained only 12 of more than 30 planned weapons, suggesting the roster will expand significantly before launch. Combat itself feels instantly rewarding despite its manic pace, though the sheer number of systems competing for attention during battle can overwhelm newcomers. Statues scattered throughout arenas offer health and elemental defense boosts, some requiring puzzle-solving or special key offerings. A companion creature called the Wobbo functions as either an autonomous bodyguard or a temporary transformation into a powerful monster form.
Multiplayer features remain under development. When fully implemented, players will trade ability modifiers and execute coordinated attacks. Two basketball-wielding teammates could pass the ball back and forth to generate a damaging whirlwind before finishing with an alley-oop dunk. The developers acknowledge that co-op synergies like multiple guitarists performing harmony solos or yo-yo wielders spinning attack webs are possibilities worth exploring.
Onboarding needs strengthening before launch. The combat systems are simple enough to grasp quickly, but the density of mechanics competing for player attention during actual battles creates friction. Flying Amateurs says an expanded tutorial will ship with the full release to address what preview attendees found overwhelming.
No release window has been announced. The game's story depth and arena variety remain unclear from early playtesting, but the core concept radiates energy and personality. If the studio can tighten the fundamentals, Above Land: Rhapsody could be the absurdist action RPG the genre didn't know it needed.
Author Emily Chen: "This is exactly the kind of game that shouldn't work but somehow absolutely does, as long as the developers can get players past the initial information overload."
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