Aloftis an upcoming sandbox survival game where players explore islands floating in the sky, and they can bring along a bunch of friends to do so as well. What’s interesting is how the mobile nature of these islands - you’re able to fly them - ensures that progress is not locked when someone else isn’t playing or that they aren’t left behind either. Everyone has their own home island, and they can bring that with them wherever they go. WhileAlofthas sky-high ambitions on the co-op front, it’s not coming up short on the core content for solo players either.
Game Rant saw a hands-off demo ofAloftduringSummer Game Fest, which gave us a small glimpse at the start of the game, combat, and what it’s like a little further in too. The overarching goal of Aloft is to maintain the environment and stem off corruption while cleaning up said corruption where it does crop up. Players are tasked with doing that, while learning about the lore of these islands, surviving among these islands, and eventually braving the hurricane at the center of it all.
Aloft is a Survival Game, First and Foremost
Players find themselves stranded on thefloating islands ofAloftwhen the game begins, and like any good survival game, they are first introduced to the crafting mechanics. It’s clear there’s some nuance and learning to the crafting system, as it requires a little experimentation to nail, but once something is learned, it’s learned. The opening of our demo walked through this, explored the nearby environment, and found an important lore marker. From it, the demoist learned how to craft gliders and it was into the sky they went. The customization options for the Gliders surprised us, with a handful of design, color, and other options, but it’s a good way to stand out in co-op gameplay, that’s for sure.
When the demo jumped forward, we were able to see the designs of a personal island, which was impressive. The gliding looks like a ton of fun too, and an interesting progression mechanic can be found in sketchbooks. Anything players see crafting-wise can be noted in a sketchbook and then, in-turn, crafted. We asked, and the developers confirmed, that players could even land on a friend’s island who is further ahead in the game and whip out their sketchbook to snag new recipes and the like. One thing that a lot ofsurvival co-op gameslose is the ability to progress alongside friends if they can’t play together, and that at least seems somewhat mitigated with the core idea of home islands that can be brought with players.
We also got a look at the cooking, farming, and a handful of animals players can collect, all of which operate more or less how one would expect a survival crafting game to. However, it’s worth noting that it’s also up to players to keep these sky islands healthy and free of corruption. The worse an island’s ecosystem becomes, the more likely it is corruption will take over. Players can fend offcorruption by making sure ecosystems are diverse and natural(with the game providing a checklist for each island), and making sure they are not abusing it. For example, after cutting down trees in Aloft, players are encouraged to plant more trees to grow over time.
Another interesting point we took note of was the overarching progression. The goal is to get through the hurricane, but early-starting islands are not powerful enough to do that. So, players are tasked with exploring, ending corruption, and traveling around various sectors of sky islands to find upgrades and the like to improve their home island. The sectors seemed quite expansive and like it’ll take a lot of investment in this progression to achieve.
Overall,Alofthas a lot of goodcozy crafting survival game vibesto it, and it seems players can go at their own pace without fear of being left behind. Gliding from island to island is a great way to encourage exploration, while the core survival gameplay looks cozy and enjoyable as well. Of course, it’s not purely a cozy game - there’s combat too.
Down with Corruption
Some islands in Aloft will be corrupted by the time players get to them, while degraded islands can also become corrupted. This forces players to purify them by taking out the source of corruption, which is obviously defended by enemies. The only ones we saw during this demo were all little Mushroom dudes, but they went down as expected and then the dev would attack the source, more enemies would spawn, and the loop ends with the island in a more neutral state. Aloft also treats tools as weapons, allowing for some multi-use, but this is obviously something that improves over time. Players will be prepared to take down corruption the time they craft their first tool, nonetheless.
Afterward, players are tasked with improving the ecosystem by planting or adding to it, while removing any dead trees, remains, or leftover bits of corruption. They can then use the island as they see fit, continue exploring, and improve their gear. At some point, players will want to return to their home island and improve its capabilities overall, including how strongly it flies. But they’ll want to move on to the next thing quickly too. If anything’s clear, it’s thatAloftis a living, beautiful world, and players need to keep it that way.
