There's a huge trend I've been noticing in the gaming world that's quickly becoming a genre all of its own, and that's floating islands. I don't know when the gaming community all agreed that floating islands are cool and that we wanted more and more of our games to include them, but it's probably because they're such an unnatural phenomenon that can't truly be explained and one that can't be experienced in the real world, so they're an enigma for some. Now, I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong... it's just something I've found in a lot of upcoming games as of late.
My opinion on the topic of floating islands is that they're marvelous. The idea of hopping between land masses over the air instead of water gives me this sense of exhilaration I can't explain. Maybe it's the fact that I'd never go sky-diving in real life so it's as close to experiencing the open sky as I'll ever get, but regardless, it's something that Aloft pushes to the center of their game, and it's so hilariously fun I can't wait to have more of it.
For those who don't know about Aloft, it's an upcoming Online Co-Op, Open-World, Naval Combat, survival game. Now, the naval part just makes me laugh because there aren't any actual "ships" in the game... per se. However, there are giant floating islands that you can turn into a ship and pilot around the skies. What's better was that going into the Demo I had no idea what I was getting into. We were invited to review the Demo on Lurkit and while it was a game we'd seen before, we'd never taken the time to read too deeply into it but boy are we invested now.
The demo is far from what the entire game has to offer and I can confidently say that I'm incredibly excited for this game's full release. The co-op isn't fully functional yet so we didn't get to experience that part, but as soon as it's out, I'm taking an entire hoard of people (up to 8) and having sky island battles like you wouldn't believe. I played this solo and loved it, and while I'm a fan of survival games, I rarely enjoy them solo, but in Aloft... I did. It gave me a taste of what Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender feels and it's incredible.
So! Let's take a few lines to review some core gameplay aspects we got to look at during our time in the Demo.
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The Floating Island Experience...
Right from the start I want to state that I'm sure the full version incorporates more depth to the story, but as far as my time in the game, there were absolutely no story scenes or dialogue that helped me along my journey, aside from a few peculiarly placed rocks that had some text scribbled on them. They gave me new recipes and through the recipes I unlocked, I figured out what I needed to do... or rather... could do, because it didn't really feel like I *needed* to do anything. I mostly stumbled around my first island and did what any good survivor does and chopped down every tree, picked up every stick, and hoarded every stone. Thank goodness this game utilizes stockpiles because my inventory couldn't handle it.
After stumbling around for a while I managed to unlock new recipes through the simple crafting menu in your inventory screen. That led to then crafting a workbench which unlocked more recipes. Soon I discovered you could craft a pair of leaf wings and while I don't know how realistic these really are, we don't play games with flying islands in them for realism. Anyways... I was being a complete and utter fool and not reading the help text, and I swore it wasn't my fault that I missed it because it was too tiny to realistically notice when staring at a menu screen (it wasn't too tiny, it was completely my fault, but I did have to google it because I did happen to miss it). I will state that I wasn't the *only* one who missed it considering there was a short thread, so at least I'm not alone (lol). Well, after my complete lapse in ability to pay attention, I took to the skies, and wow was it fun. Yes, the controls were a little wonky and took some time to get used to, just as every new game does, but after I got the hang of it, it was honestly no trouble at all.
I bounced from island to island, finding new recipes that led me to believe I was going to build a sky boat, but soon realized the islands were the boats. Yep. I used my collected wood, stone, and leaves to strap some sails and a steering wheel to our island and set off in order to purge the land from the rather adorable yet annoying mushrooms that were plaguing them. I was actually laughing in Discord with a few friends as they watched me beat up spores and pilot my giant island horribly into other islands. I'd jump off my own and act like Thor coming to save the day, though, I don't know who we're saving this world for as it appears we're the only human around on these scattered islands, but that's probably the part of the story that we can't experience just yet. Maybe we're just the big bad guys and the mushrooms are the locals we're exterminating... now I just feel kind of bad.
Regardless of whatever the truth to the story is, it was fun. I don't normally enjoy Demos all that much as they're either too short to get a good enough taste of a game, or lacking in such vital content that I can't bear to get through it, but Aloft has a decently well-built Demo that I spent 2 hours in and still could've kept going. I'm not even completely sure how long you can spend or how far you can progress but we'd tackled all the islands in our direct vicinity so we figured we had a good enough look at the game to share it with you.
Visually and auditorially the game was pretty incredible. I especially loved when giant tornados spawned around the islands during violent thunderstorms. The trees would sway drastically and the wind sounds were pretty epic. It made me better understand the purpose of the small wooden hut I'd made as it kept me from getting too wet and cold. I want to quickly add a note about the building, it does appear that there are going to be some pretty awesome customization features when it comes to building. They do seem to operate on a grid style but aren't fully locked to it, so I can see all the builder fans going wild with some of their bases in this game.
I will state that there appear to be more survival aspects such as vital signs and the like in the full release, but of course, this was just a taste so let's make sure to form our opinions accordingly. As much as I love reviewing demos, sometimes they do more harm for a game than good because if they're missing key gameplay features, it might send the wrong message. Thankfully, you have us to remind you... not everything is in this version of the game.
I did take to Steam and Social media to do some investigative work for you, and I can safely say it does appear that the story is going to revolve around making your way toward the giant tornado in the middle of the map, stating that the secrets of your past are hidden in the eye of the storm. That's a pretty cool premise just from a text description standpoint, so I'm excited for what the full game will bring.
If you're like me and have a fun group of friends that adore co-op games, and especially survival style... think 7 Days to Die & the Forest, but less zombies or cannibals and more funky mushrooms and island hopping), then this is one you're going to want to keep your eyes on. It's set to release in 2024 and you can bet we'll keep you updated.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that we have not been paid or promoted for this review, and are not affiliated with Aloft or its developers officially in any way. All thoughts are based on our own genuine experience of the game. All footage is based on the Game in its current state as of 05/31/2023 and is subject to change or be completely omitted in future patches at the developer's discretion.
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