Forever Skies is a first-person action survival game. Return to Earth destroyed by an ecological disaster, fly a high-tech airship, expand, rebuild and repair it. Scavenge resources to survive, face the dangers of the surface as you will hunt for viral pathogens to cure a mysterious illness.
Game Details
Developer: Far From Home
Platforms: Steam, Future plans for latest consoles
Link: Website, Discord
Release Date: The only release relevant info given has been Steam Early Access first, followed by full launch alongside latest generation console launch. No dates given.
Status: In development
Planned Features
● Return To Earth – Take on the role of a scientist returning to Earth devastated by a
global ecological disaster. This event caused the surface of the planet to be covered in a
colossal layer of toxic dust, forcing humanity to build massive towers to try to survive.
● Build & Control Your Advanced Airship – Build and customize a high-tech airship. It
will be your home, workshop, laboratory. Extract and gather resources to improve it to
make it fit your gaming tactics.
● Utilize Science To Survive – Analyze scanned items and reverse engineer lost
technology. Research new ways of obtaining food, resources, new tools and more.
● Scavenge Ruined Skies – Explore and discover the remains of our civilization. Extract
resources from the ruins that were built up high to escape the dust. Find out what
happened and how we lost Earth.
● Descend Below The Dust – Discover a strange new world that changed with the
absence of humanity. Hunt for viral pathogens, use them as weapons or better yourself
with viral boosts.
● Fight for Your Life – Below the dust lies a totally new ecosystem so expect a fight
against evolved and dangerous creatures.
Visuals
Game Bytes:
- Co-op is planned for shortly after release into Steam Early Access.
- This Dev Steam Post remarked on development keeping an eye out for folks who wanted non violent/no combat survival, but this thread specifically on combat doesn’t expand on the point.
- “In Forever Skies falling ill and recovering is an integral part of the survival loop,” Blumenfeld says. “On one hand it is unavoidable, resulting with symptoms impacting breath rate, tolerance to foods or causing dehydration. But on the other hand, in some cases it is required to extract pathogens for developing, and later testing of vaccines. We wanted to show how interaction with microbes is an absolutely central part of the human body’s functioning, and how thin a line is between being healthy and sick. In Forever Skies games will have open doors to experimentation, and to deciding whether to use the modified viruses as weapons, or perhaps self-infect to boost life functions and the body’s performance.” ( Jan 2022, IGN )
- There are no plans to bring it to prior-gen consoles, not even via a port, and will instead focus on making a truly next-gen title. “The last two years of development solidified our standpoint that among consoles, next-gen is the only gen,” he continues. “We also believe that it’s high time for devs to commit [i]n the name of quality and progress.” (Jan of 2022- Speaking to IGN, Far From Home CEO Andrzej Blumenfeld)
- Back in 2020, developers stance on combat was as follows; “..it wants to avoid a “guns solve all problems” mentality, especially because the protagonist is a scientist, not a soldier. Players will have a range of tools at their disposal to “resolve problems or confrontations along the way.” Players will need to think critically and use problem-solving to deal with issues as they arise. Far From Home makes it clear, strength and violence won’t get players far..”. ( July 2020, Powerup Gaming )
- Far From Home found inspiration from many games including; Subnautica, Green Hell, Raft, The Long Dark and Don’t Starve. ( July 2020, Powerup Gaming )
- Similar to Green Hell, Far From Home credits the booming game development scene in Poland as helping them meet their budget needs without having to compromise on game quality or direction under a publisher. ( July 2020, Powerup Gaming )
My Thoughts
I really wish I was more into the whole space thing. At the very least I’m not into it being the 24/7 focus of a game- bouts of rocketing amongst the stars is fine if I can plant my boots onto the soil at some point in time.
Cautiously optimistic about the list of games (Subnautica, Green Hell, Raft, The Long Dark and Don’t Starve) the Far From Home team stated were of inspiration to them. I didn’t click at all with Subnautica and I flat out didn’t like both Raft and Don’t Starve. However! I can acknowledge that they are all good games AND I AM ALL OVER LOVE FOR GH AND TLD. I like this gameplay loop idea of dipping back and forth from your ship/base of operations- though it does feel a smidgen “seen it before” now that Icarus and their mission/landing style play-loop is on the scene. On paper/by description, Forever Skies seems to be more of a gritty survival/exploration version of No Man’s Sky.
I’m definitely curious to see how they plan on factoring the future co-operative play aspect into the game. Adding more folks into the mix can easily trivialize content outside of scaled combat encounters. Especially in survival-esque games, where having more hands on deck can quickly push your progress past that “struggling to survive” curve and into “what is there to do”.
Follow my Curator Page (join the group for alerts!) and add it to your wish list, maybe add a few others too!
Far North