If you are into survival games, you will currently find a large selection of really strong titles on Steam. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has sampled one of the new games: Aloft, which does not want to adhere to survival rules at all. But the feeling of freedom that the game conveys convinced him nevertheless – that is why he presents it to you here as part of Find Your Next Game.
With cozy games, I can usually be hunted. Occasionally, I play something that I really like – like Sun Haven. But usually, I need action, loot, and leveling, and above all, dark and rough worlds. Post-apocalyptic games are exactly my thing.
Accordingly, I prefer the tough survival games. And recently, I discovered two really good gems:
- ASKA, where the first boss already gave me several respect blows.
- The Tribe Must Survive, where I couldn’t even get through the tutorial.
Now the developers have offered me the demo of Aloft, an open-world crafting game, in which you control flying islands and fight against mushrooms. Visually, the game somewhat resembles Zelda, with a bit of Harvest Moon.
Nonetheless, the first images have intrigued me. I wanted to know what this huge world is about and why so much open sky is visible. The game really surprised me.
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Aloft feels like a “survival light”
Aloft is completely different from the survival games I know and otherwise play. There are still typical features as you know them from the genre, such as:
- a “naked” start with nothing, first of all, stones and wood must be collected
- crafting leads to the first workbench and archaic tools
- new resources unlock new recipes and gradually enough comes together for a small base
After this point, however, the similarities with the genre largely end. Eating and drinking are not essential for survival but provide buffs, similar to Valheim and other modern survival games.
In Aloft, it is less about your own survival than about getting to know the world and saving it in a certain way. Because it revolves around exploring flying islands and discovering what our predecessors left behind there.
Even better than Enshrouded: I feel the freedom in the air
The biggest feature of Aloft is the movement, and it makes the game really grand. After just a few minutes, I get the first recipe for a glider stand, where I can build myself a glider, and from here on, it takes off.
With a few leaves on my back, I fly from island to island in the world. There are rune stones and frescoes that tell the story of the game and unlock new recipes. I often find new resources only elsewhere.
However, while I am playing, that quickly becomes secondary; just flying around in the air is excellent. Even Enshrouded, the somewhat hidden survival hit from Germany, has a glider. But Aloft takes it a step further.
Gliding here is virtually endless – or at least up to the demo’s limits. And if that is not enough, you can simply convert one of the flying islands into your own airship. All you need is a steering wheel, a rudder, and sails, and you can control your own floating rock.
This is only possible with “small” islands, but even those are large enough to build your own little house and a farm on it, and maybe take a few animals along.
A detail that I particularly like: Buildings that are somewhere on deserted islands can be learned as a blueprint through a sketchbook. With a little paper, I can learn how to build planting boxes for plants myself.
Out with the mushrooms!
However, Aloft is by no means a peaceful farming simulation. Many of the islands are infested with … something. The boulders are not friendly, green overgrown, but dark, black, and muddy.
When landing, there are mushrooms and strange plants with the info: If I want to do anything here, I have to destroy the “nodes” first. These are nasty giant mushrooms that contaminate the islands.
The battles take place, at least in the current state, quite linearly:
- cutting a few pustules
- dodging tentacles
- attacking the “head” when it appears
- then fighting adds – small mushroom people that hit back
- repeating until all mushrooms are gone
With each victory, I learn new combat moves and can now jump on enemies, throw them in the air, and chop them up coolly while sliding. It is not an absolutely wild combat system, but it is a nice contrast to the otherwise peaceful exploration.
Nice demo, but too lean
As much fun as Aloft has given me in the first hours, it currently lacks depth. Exploration is definitely the core theme of the game, and unfortunately, the demo sets quick limits here.
In the middle of the really huge map is an ugly-looking whirlpool that you cannot reach. There also seem to be other biomes, but I could not discover any of them. After a certain time, the game simply says: “You have reached the end of the demo.”
Currently, I do not know what the long-term motivation here is supposed to look like. If there is a certain story that simply ends at some point, like in Raft, that would already be enough.
Flying through the skies with up to eight people in co-op sounds like enough fun and entertainment for many hours. But only if there is enough to discover – which is currently lacking. At least building and farming are already there, and that will please some of my acquaintances.
By the way, there is also the option to create your own islands or play in creative mode. So, if you are not as goal-oriented as I am, you will surely find more to do here.
I cannot give a proper conclusion yet. But anyone who generally likes big games with a lot of exploration and especially wants to fly should definitely keep an eye on Aloft. Just flying around has fascinated me from the very first moment. The game is set to enter early access on Steam in autumn 2024 and offers a free demo at the Steam Next Fest. If you are looking for something else until the release, you can find the best survival games for PC, PS5, and Xbox here.
