Crimson Skies

About Crimson Skies

The game is loosely based on the 1998 board game of the same name, set in an alternate history of the 1930s in which the United States has fragmented into a number of smaller sovereignties, and in which air travel has become the primary mode of transportation in North America. The game centers on Nathan Zachary, an adventurous air pirate seeking to rob the affluent of their wealth and power. Throughout the campaign, Zachary leads his gang of air pirates, the Fortune Hunters, on a quest to gain fame and riches.

The Crimson Skies universe is set in an alternate history of the year 1937. According to the game's backstory, factors such as the growing strength of the "Regionalist Party", the division between "wet" and "dry" states, and a quarantine caused by an Influenza outbreak resulted in a general shift in power from federal to state and local levels. After the Wall Street crash of 1929, states began seceding from the United States. A number of independent nation-states form from the fractured United States; hostilities between these sovereignties eventually escalate into outright war.

After the breakup of America, the former nation's railroad and highway systems fell into disuse as they crossed hostile borders. Consequently, the airplane and the airship became the primary modes of transportation in North America, which in turn gave birth to air piracy. Although air militias formed to defend against the air pirates, continuous brushfire wars between the nations prevent the established governments from effectively repelling the pirate threat.

The player character is Nathan Zachary, a man well known in the game world as a reputable ladies' man and a notorious air pirate. He is the leader of a group of air pirates, the Fortune Hunters. Zachary dislikes the wealthy and privileged, seeing them as selfish and insensitive towards the less privileged; as a result, Zachary and his gang have a penchant for stripping the rich of their money and influence. Zachary's "articles of piracy" insist that his gang are not to harm the innocent, and that they steal only from those who can afford the loss. IGN stated that the Fortune Hunters are "wonderfully ambiguous […] in the moral sense", qualifying that "it's always great to see heroes […] who aren't too good to be true."