Skies of Chaos first popped up on my radar almost exactly 4 years ago when developer Broxcorp Games, which I think at the time was just two people, released a short demo of the game on iOS and Android. Absolutely fantastic pixel art complemented a very thoughtful vertical shooter that felt like it was purpose-built for mobile devices. I’d been following Skies of Chaos ever since, marveling at the short gameplay clips they would occasionally release, and always wondering to myself “Will this game actually ever come out?" The answer is “yes" and, to my surprise, the launch of Skies of Chaos came this week with almost zero warning and as part of the Netflix Games library.

Let me tell you, 4 years is a lot of time that could be spent adding in new content and features into what was already shaping up to be a great little game, and that is precisely what Broxcorp has done with Skies of Chaos. A whopping 50+ levels spread across 6 distinct worlds, 12 boss fights, and an almost unbelievable amount of weapon and plane upgrading and customization. I actually think that might be the real heart and soul of Skies of Chaos because it’s just so much fun to piece together different parts and make various types of builds that will suit a whole variety of play styles.

There’s also an intangible aspect to Skies of Chaos, one I always have trouble trying to explain, but it has to do with the level of polish in the game. This feels like a game I wouldn’t have blinked an eye dropping $40 on for the Nintendo 3DS ten years ago. It just feels very complete and well put together in a way that so few mobile games do, as sad as it is to say. From its visuals to its sounds to its story cutscenes, this feels like a major effort from a larger developer with perhaps backing from a major publisher. Instead it’s still mainly those two original creators, plus a handful of friends helping along the way. It’s just remarkable.

For a shoot ’em up, Skies of Chaos has a TON of content, but all the same I’m taking my sweet time with it all and trying to savor every moment, because a game of this caliber doesn’t come along all too often. Yes, you need a Netflix account to play it, and that might be a problem for some of you. But as the months have rolled by this year, Netflix has added SO MANY amazing games to their catalogue, it’s starting to go from “Well you probably have Netflix for the streaming shows already, and the games are a cool bonus" to “Wow, Netflix is totally worth the money for these games, and yeah the shows are a pretty cool bonus too I guess!" Let’s hope they can keep it up.