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When life gets a bit too stressful, do you ever wish that you could build yourself your own little utopia away from all the chaos? Do you wish that utopia was on a floating island above that you can gracefully pilot through the clouds? And do you wish that you could co-habit that island with alpacas? Well, you’ll soon be able to (virtually) make those wishes a reality with Aloft, a brand new survival game from Astrolabe Interactive and Funcom, which just announced its early access launch date.
Combining the levitating islands of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, the thrill of sailing in Sea of Thieves, and a No Man’s Sky approach to sandbox survival, Aloft combines a lot of inspirations and elements from elsewhere to create something that feels really fresh. While Funcom has a major MMO survival game in the works with Dune Awakening, it’s got a second bullet loaded in the chamber with Aloft, and it looks great.
At the core of Aloft, you become the proud owner of your own floating isle where you can build yourself a mighty settlement. However, each island must be treated as its own fragile ecosystem that must be protected – not just from over-harvesting resources, but from a force of corrupted fungi that aim to spread their plague across the skies.
Your island is not just static and hovering in the same place – by building sails, rudders, and helms, you can harness the power of the wind to fly your base around Aloft’s sandbox world. Discovering other players’ bases and new locations will be the key to learning new skills (there are No man’s Sky-style knowledge stones that you can find scattered around) and finding more resources. The wind is also a vital source of power for your base, as windmills can generate electricity that you can spread around your island with wires.
Similarly to many of the best games like Stardew Valley, building a sustainable farm on your island is also pivotal. You can grow crops that you can harvest and create recipes with – the meals you eat will grant your buffs to aid you in combat and exploration – and you can also keep a variety of animals, including some very adorable alpacas.
Aloft doesn’t have to be an isolated cozy experience either, as it supports multiplayer co-op for groups of up to eight players. Collaborative crafting is also in the game, letting your whole squad contribute to base building.
Aloft has already racked up over 300,000 wishlists on Steam, pushing it comfortably into the top 100 games on the platform’s wishlist charts – it’s even ahead of major upcoming PC games like Fable, State of Decay 3, and Judas right now. Thankfully, there’s not much longer left until you can play the full experience.
Aloft’s early access release date has been confirmed for Wednesday, January 15. If you really can’t wait that long and want a taste of the action immediately, there is a Steam demo available right now. Head over to its store page to learn more about it, play the demo, and wishlist it.
For more experiences like Aloft, be sure to check out the best sandbox games and the best farming games.
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