Forever Skies is a gentle survival game of lonely, desolate beauty

When I played a timed early demo of Forever Skies last year, my key question about this airborne Subnautica-like was how it would successfully guide its players across its boundless world of ruined, rusting skyscrapers, overgrown plant tendrils and swampy, toxic clouds. As we searched for a rumoured cure that would save what's left of humanity back in the depths of space, would we be ping-ponging from perilous rooftop to perilous turbine pad unaided as we bobbed along the nauseous expanse below? Or would it be a more guided affair, with forgotten text logs and computer terminals nudging us toward tailored waypoints?

Having now played its recently-released early access version, the answer is a mix of both, with the freedom to scavenge and craft new modules for your burgeoning airship at your leisure while a handy radar points you in the direction of its critical story path. Assuming you've found a busted one to research and 3D print yourself, of course. The tools you need to survive don't come easily in this strangely picturesque wasteland, but they're also not so hard to track down that you ever feel truly threatened by the minutiae of staying alive. It's a pleasant mix for casual survival toe dippers like myself right now, but the dramatic climax of its first major story chunk suggests this is but a brief calm before the eventual storm.

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