I’ve survived dinosaur-infested jungles, I’ve survived barbaric deserts, I’ve survived hostile oceans. I’ve even survived, nay, thrived in frightening alternate dimensions. Despite playing almost every game the survival/crafting genre has had to offer me, I’ve never been tested in a potential future of my own planet, one where even the very air around me is toxic enough to put me down quicker than I can craft a pair of fibre pants. So, when Zach asked me to come back to WellPlayed to check out Forever Skies (which also happens to be one of my most anticipated games of this year), it took all of my power not to immediately send back the gif of Morty saying, “You son of a bitch…I’m in”.
For the uninitiated, Forever Skies will have you returning to Earth hundreds of years after an ecological disaster destroyed human civilisation as we know it. In order to continue living, you’ll need to explore and scavenge what we left behind, using it to build and sustain not only your body, but also your shiny new high-tech airship, which will allow you to soar through the clouds. More importantly, it will help you stay safely above the toxic dust layer that blankets the ground below. After watching the trailer earlier this year, I immediately thought, “This is Subnautica in the sky, hell yeah!” but after getting my grubby mitts on an early build this week, I now know that it is so much more than that.
The sky is meant to be green, right?
Although my hands-on experience with the game was limited to the opening act and then a brisk 20-minute jaunt in my airship around the open world, I was very impressed with what I saw. Fans of the genre will be happy to know that the familiar gameplay loop is there in spades. Breaking down elements within the world to turn them into food, water, crafting materials and eventually better equipment, is how you will be spending most of your time in Forever Skies. It also became apparent almost immediately that there is a mystery for you to uncover surrounding your return to Earth and the cataclysm that turned the planet inhospitable in the first place.
The note on the desk says “In case of apocalypse, clear my browsing history”
Even in this early build, there were a few elements that stood out as points of difference to other survival crafting games. Namely the discovery, repair, and eventual expansion of your airship. One of the hardest things to decide when playing a game like this is where you’ll put down some roots and expand your little pocket of the world. Do you build a base in the starting zone, where essential resources are easier to gather, or do you build an F.O.B. deep into hostile territory, so that you have somewhere to hang your hat while gathering rare materials required for progression? Having an ever-enlarging dirigible that you sail through the sky means that you can explore the bones of civilisation above the clouds WITH your base, eliminating the distress of outgrowing what you build.
She’s no “Highwind”, but she’ll serve you fine
Along with catching and cooking your food, collecting and purifying your water, harvesting derelict skyscrapers for scrap metal and laser blasting chunks of synthetic material out of the sky, you’ll also have to manage your slowly accumulating viral load (this is a dangerous world after all). Although not present in this build, when the full game launches you’ll also be able to descend below the dust cloud, engage in combat with hostiles, access further cosmetic and functional customisation of your airship, find more tools to build and build with, and even gain the ability to research and modify the viruses present in the world to use them to your advantage. The developers have also mentioned that they are designing and aiming to include co-op play during Early Access.
*Insert fart joke here*
My time with Forever Skies was brief, but very enjoyable. A delicious taste of a cake that I am incredibly keen to devour when it finally appears in front of me. If you liked Subnautica, Green Hell, The Forest, Ark: Survival Evolved, Chernobylite or anything similar, you should be very excited for your upcoming adventure.
Developers Far From Home are aiming to launch Forever Skies into Early Access on PC later this year and consoles further down the track.
Previewed on PC // Preview code supplied by publisher
