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Over a year after it smashed its Kickstarter goal 10 times over, open-world survival crafting game Solarpunk has released a demo as part of Steam Next Fest. It's quickly become the most-played survival game of the whole event, with "1-2+ hours of gameplay" available ahead of the game's proper launch, scheduled for later this year according to its Steam page.
Solarpunk was pitched as a familiar survival game core largely enlivened by its setting: a fractured world of floating islands. You'll decorate the interior of your house and perfectly optimize the customary farm, sure, but also take airships to distant territory in search of specific resources, harness the wind and weather for energy, and set up hovering off-island platforms for extra space or special uses. As someone who's become enamored with floating islands thanks to loads of JRPGs, something about Solarpunk's riff on the survival-craft formula speaks to me.
"This demo offers a first glimpse into Solarpunk, but there’s so much more on the way!" developer Cyberwave says in a Steam post. "Some features and items are not yet included, and multiplayer is still in development. Your feedback is crucial in helping us refine and expand the game!"
- Craft your first tools, grow crops, and start building your base
- Use the construction system to create your first home
- Fly your airship and explore the world from above
- Harness renewable energy with solar panels, wind turbines, and more
- Experience a dynamic weather system that affects gameplay
This has been a pretty good Next Fest for survival games overall. I was quite smitten with the Minecraft x No Man's Sky mashup of Cubic Odyssey, which has a lot more guns than I anticipated going in, but an expected volume of spaceships.
Solarpunk is currently targeting PC as well as consoles.
